Read Full Mix Marketing’s latest marketing how-to column from the February 2019 edition of ‘Connected’ magazine from Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce.

Direct Marketing – Email Vs Mail

Though digital marketing gets the limelight, many businesses find more direct methods more effective. Sarah West from Norwich marketing agency, Full Mix Marketing, shares her tips on direct marketing:

1 – Is Direct Marketing right?

Particularly with B2B marketing, if you know the type of customer most likely to need your product, you can often use mail and email to put your message directly in front of them.

You can target specific job titles or the most senior decision makers. Often anything which catches a director’s eye will find its way to the correct person.

If you’re targeting consumers, or there are already many businesses looking for what you deliver, other forms of ‘pull’ marketing might be more effective, like Pay-Per-Click or offline advertising.

2 – Mail

Direct mail was once a feature of most successful business’s marketing. Since the advent of email, its use has fallen due to the relative cost. However, as less mail is sent, the effectiveness of well-designed and targeted mailers has risen.

Unlike email, almost all physical mail is opened, considered and often retained. The likelihood of the recipient recalling the brand and contents is also greater.

The higher cost is balanced against better response rates and the ability to send more powerful content like brochures.

3 – Email

The low cost of sending an email makes it attractive.

The design and contents of your email are irrelevant if it’s not opened. Counterintuitively, the more factual an email’s title, the more likely it is to be opened. As well as putting recipients off, superlative titles get caught by spam filters.

Emails have a split second to grab attention, so the use of images, headlines and valuable content is critical. An update about a recent development is usually more effective than a sales message alone.

4 – Getting results

To balance costs, a good approach is to email an entire database and mail a smaller number of the ‘top’ targets. Gathering or buying data from multiple sources ensures your message goes to the most productive people.

GDPR prohibits emails to consumers who have not signed up, though mail remains OK within certain constraints. B2B emails and mailers can still be sent to businesses who may have a ‘legitimate interest’ in what you deliver.

It typically takes three or more pieces of direct marketing to create results but sustained campaigns can deliver business-changing success!

Want to get more from your direct marketing? Click here for more support.