By Dove Direct on Friday, 24 September 2021
Category: Content Marketing

What Planet Is Your Marketing On?

​Welcome to the Dove Direct Print and Marketing Blog. Today's post, "What Planet Is Your Marketing On?" speaks to the thought disparity in aligning the marketing planets that share the same data but are not connected.  Sure, you may say, all marketing exists on planet earth.  That is true; however, for the likes of connecting targets that respond to various marketing mediums, for many organizations, some of those mediums might as well exist on earth two or beyond. Similar to the Netflix series, The Flash, many practical technological advances were advanced on earth 2,3,4, and so on, where the same objectives were sought after on the original planet earth.  To that end, this post sheds light on the many organizations that are failing to connect digital marketing and direct mail, which for the most part appear to be existing on different planets, that being able to consider both digital marketing and direct mail reside in the same creative marketing breath. Both of these mediums share a common data alignment, in that, for example, email and direct mail both draw from the same data.  When we speak about customer lifecycle objectives, there is also a lifecycle marketing plan that offers one set that can work together with one-to-one personalization communications among a variety of marketing choices.


Our Quote of the Day:  "Having an excellent sales piece is a critical part of the success of any direct mail campaign. With the right sales piece, you could see your phone ring off the hook, your mailbox overflow with orders or your web page receive hundreds or even thousands of hits."  —Craig Simpson




Comfortable Consumer Behavior

Reaching both customers and prospects wherever they are during the sales funnel journey is vital.  This idea stems from reaching them at the right time, at the right place, with the right offer.   That ideology is now more necessary than in times past as a result of the pandemic.  Several recent surveys and reports from multiple data organizations support how divergent marketing mediums perform pre-pandemic versus current pandemic status.

For example, did you know that consumers who remain comfortable receiving direct mail marketing communications, including catalogs, are clocking in at 25%?   In addition, the same 25% of consumers represent a preferred choice versus receiving advertisements from television, radio, apps, websites, and social media?  Is your organization comfortable with missing 25% of the consumer base?  According to a LoopMe data survey, 25% is the base number that prefers direct mail over all other mediums per Insider Intelligence.  Investing in a mailing tactic is an intelligent marketing strategy; besides, you are exponentially increasing your target market reach to a receptive set of folks when following direct mail best practices.  These consumers are comfortable receiving direct mail messages; however, the question remains, will your organization be pleased missing that 25% of consumers?


Direct Mail Technology Upgrades

To some organizations, the mere mention of direct mail brings up the old standby mentality commonly associated with direct mail.  They may think that direct mail is often sent in bulk packs, with many other business offerings, some in direct competition with each other.  On today's planet earth, organizations are now able to send independent mail collateral.  Combining technological advances in digital printing presses that can accept data, various paper types, and an assortment of inks, die cuts, embossing, debossing and more.  Other state-of-the-art printing effects provide a method to create individual sensational mail pieces.  When you marry those advanced direct mail pieces to the postcard, you have a winning combination. Why?  Postcards continue to be the default preferred mailing collateral of the direct mail marketing sector.  You can send postcards usually; however, when you select a "First Class" size, which is an upgrade (for a few cents more), and those postcards become strategically more valuable as a marketing tool when combined with digital marketing efforts. This process increases customer touchpoints.


Direct Mail Expands Lifecycle Touchpoints

Most organizations are focused on new consumer acquisitions to help alleviate churn, and in the retail environment, the marketing sentiment has moved to inbound marketing.  You can think of inbound marketing as the content you create and distribute to entice people to visit your website. In a retail setting, the typical inbound process can get things started with a welcome email, succeeded by a couple of follow-up communications designed to engage the customer to return to the website, with the optional call to actions with the intent to convert, purchase, sign up, and determine preferences.  Ultimately, this type set of marketing set is a gateway to inform the consumer of the brand value statement while simultaneously collecting data, which will be the backbone for personalization.

Most savvy retailers will track customer engagements and responses with email marketing efforts.  When they establish that some customers fail to engage or respond, this sends a warning sign of disinterest.  More importantly, the retailer risks that these non-interested parties could be headed toward the door or become inactive non-buys.

This is where the direct mail marketing postcard enters the mix to help mitigate losing customers, re-establish interest, increase the prospect responses, or cement future communications.  Brands can determine when to send a postcard; however, the email response threshold could be created to automatically trigger this process.  To be effective, most marketers will plan to send a follow-up postcard 20-to-45 days after the initial email response with some incentive for the customer to reengage.

Another alternative is to send a thank-you note while the consumer is engaged in the initial email response time frame.  This is helpful and serves as an intuitive method to track the consumers' preferred response channel. This process is an effective cross-functional campaign method that can ignite efforts to create a more in-depth customer profile, providing a personal communication data point.




Thanks for Post Purchases

More and more B2B brand CEOs send handwritten thank-you notes to customers who have recently purchased or based on certain expenditure levels.   While this tactic has become the norm, it is essential to remember that this process can be effective at all levels.

As previously stated, it is recommended as a best practice to create an automated program that can send postcards or private letters with content that appears to be handwritten.  In addition, you should ensure that the correspondence includes the data points acquired, such as the customer's name, address, and other personalized information relevant to the customer's preferences.


Future Purchases

Another standard retail action is to create what is known as a bounce-back offer.  This process assumes that a customer who has purchased once or multiple times is more likely to entertain future purchases. Effective communication in this scenario is when the next call to action includes a sweetened discount or a special offer based on the purchase history.

Email bounce-backs are designed to offer a special incentive as a post-purchase reward.  A critical aspect of this tactic includes a postcard mailing as an integral part of the marketing strategy.  Postcards effectively reach and entice customers that are more likely to engage quicker when receiving mail over and above an email, web directive, or app notifications.

Let's not forget how important personalized content has become; therefore, it's also a best practice to send a flyer or short brochure complete with engaging user information, trends, special tips and tricks, or any other useful content.


Alternative Angles

It's a known fact that your email subscribers can be a bit complacent when receiving email messages suggesting more products for your customers to buy.  If these folks have been reticent to engage with that type of email strategy, it may be time to take a different tack. This is where an effective postcard campaign that offers a unique promotional code can be particularly effective.  Besides the obvious, it can provide a tracking method to ascertain if the response levels are improving. Best practices would suggest that this type of campaign not be part of the original email campaign.  Follow-on postcards should target those email recipients that have failed to respond for at least 90 days.  In addition, think of this type of campaign as a broader reactivation campaign, complete with fresh offerings and unique discounts.




The Net-Net

Merging direct mail marketing recipients and email subscribers on the same planetary marketing plan is the best alternative when managing seemingly disparate marketing entities in today's environment.  Brands should engage creative efforts to integrate email and direct mail campaigns into a single focus which can be implemented at any time and cycle during the buying process.  This method can either begin with a direct mail offer with an email follow-up or the other way around. One also assumes that brands collect customer and prospect data to create a particular demographic target type and improve brand communications. Marketers can use repurposing data messages based on the same data to create a myriad of messages for various channels.  Therefore, email marketing and direct mail marketing can reside on the same planet and in partnership with each other. Thanks for reading "What Planet Is Your Marketing On?"



Let's talk about integrated business solutions and how they can move your messages forward, help grow your business, change behavior, and improve the customer experience. Let us show you how to improve your document processes to optimize your workflow, reduce costs, and maximize your organization's printing, letter shop, and mailing capabilities. Dove Direct has an official USPS certified bureau located within our offices to save you time and money. We can even create a demo file for you. For more information, call Carla Eubanks at 404-629-0122 or email Carla at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 
 


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