You may have heard that direct mail marketing is dead. This is only half true. Direct mail marketing isn’t actually dead, but it may be fair to say it’s massively underused.
Most businesses are using digital marketing methods rather than paper. They’ve turned to PPC ads and email marketing online, for example, and using digital signage for marketing inside their stores.
The world of marketing has gone digital
Companies primarily use digital marketing tactics to raise brand awareness, generate sales, capture email addresses, and get traffic to their websites.
Digital marketing approaches include:
- Search engine optimization (SEO) through local optimization like business listings
- Search engine marketing (SEM)
- Content marketing
- Pay-per-click (PPC) ad marketing
- Influencer marketing
- Affiliate marketing
- Mobile advertising
- Social media marketing
All these methods are common because they reach consumers just about everywhere they go online. SEO reaches people on search engines, for instance, content marketing appeals to blog audiences, and mobile advertising contacts potential customers through mobile applications.
Digital signage software blends real-world marketing with digital marketing
Using digital signage to interact with customers in person is a perfect blend between the real world and the digital approach. Although the marketing messages are delivered digitally, it’s presented to people in person. This makes digital signage something of a hybrid marketing solution.
Among the marketing tactics used with digital signage are:
- Engaging consumers with a motion detector to invite them to interact with a touchscreen display
- Using video ads that speak to people as they walk by to grab their attention
- Displaying ads on screens for wayfinding and information kiosks
- Collecting customer feedback in exchange for an immediate discount
- Promoting seasonal offerings and upsells on digital menus
- Facilitating faster orders with touchscreen devices for restaurants, while also displaying ads to the consumer.
These are just some of the ways people are presented with marketing messages and offers through digital signage.
Some firms use digital displays to host virtual meetings between office staff and remote workers. Others mount displays to the wall to empower, motivate, and inspire employees as they walk around the office.
Although most digital marketing efforts are highly effective, it’s worthwhile to use physical marketing methods too. You don’t have to choose one over the other. Ideally, you should be using both.
Direct mail marketing is still king even though it’s a dying art
According to marketing statistics, direct mail generates the highest response rates of all marketing channels—even more than digital marketing components like PPC ads and email marketing. With a response rate of 9% for house lists and 5% for prospect lists, there’s no beating direct mail.
Despite its high effectiveness, many owners and entrepreneurs resist using direct mail. The reason? Direct mail isn’t a good candidate for DIY marketers. Also, many who try it don’t get immediate results and quit.
Effective direct mail campaigns typically require you to hire an experienced copywriter and an experienced marketer. It’s not possible for a newbie to learn everything you need to know about direct mail online. This tends to put direct mail out of reach for companies without a large budget.
Writing effective copy isn’t easy
Direct mail marketing rests on an effective copy. No matter how many blog posts you’ve written, copywriting is a largely different skill.
Copywriting is its own profession, and contrary to what influencers say, it’s not an easy skill to develop. Effective copywriting requires a deep understanding of marketing psychology as well as the ability to condense messages and speak directly to people’s pain points and desires.
This sounds easy, but it’s not. Writing effective copy is hard.
What might appear to be excellent copy often turns out to be ineffective. All the rules your high school English teacher taught you fail to apply to copywriting.
Most people who attempt DIY copywriting develop copy with perfect grammar, impeccable spelling, and the verbiage sounds great. But these elements don’t make copy effective.
In fact, effective copy is often not grammatically correct. It reads more the way a person speaks. Sentences may be choppy, incomplete, and replete with slang. Surprisingly, these very “weaknesses” often make content successful.
If you’re a business owner and you’d like to learn how to write your own copy, you’ll learn more from A-lister John Carlton than any other writer on the planet. It’s hard work, but if you’re committed to copywriting, you’ll seek to learn from the best.
It’s time to blend digital marketing with direct mail marketing
Since direct mail isn’t really dead, there’s less competition in that space. With less competition, you’re more likely to get responses and conversions through direct mail.
Rather than rely on one over the other, try using both direct mail automation and digital marketing strategies to optimize your results.
