The power of direct mail

By managing director, Adam Benson

I was working offsite at a client office recently and had a huge reminder about the power of the right kind of direct mail, that is, marketing items or content that is relevant and interesting for your contacts. 

My businesses (Recognition PR and Outsource) produce a range of different direct mail pieces including the ICT media at a glance poster, business media at a glance poster and marketing planners.  Seeing them used in real life was a refreshing reminder that, when done well, direct mail is still a very powerful tool and a valuable element of the marketing mix.

On this particular day, I was delighted to see our marketing planner on someone’s desk wall, complete with notes about their own upcoming events and activities on it.

There are a couple of things that are particularly important when it comes to direct mail pieces.  The first is your data. If you don’t have a clean, up-to-date database, then you are wasting your time and money.

Make sure your campaign is going to the right type of contacts (segment your data by job title etc), and make sure these contacts are current (send something addressed to someone who has left the company and it’s likely to end up in the bin). 

Check the addresses. Are they complete?  Do they meet Australia Post standards?  The last thing you want is to send out 1,000 letters and have them come back.

The second is the actual direct mail piece, be that a promotional item, a poster or a letter.  I can’t stress enough the importance of being relevant. Remember the ‘what’s in it for me’ factor when you are planning your direct mail piece.

Lastly, make sure you design and package it properly.  An event invitation or special offer should look different to an information update or important legal notice.  Your contacts should be able to tell the nature of the direct mail item just by looking at it.

The bottom line for any direct mail piece: if it’s valuable content then people will keep it, display it and have a ready reference of your brand and information. 

If you’d like help developing a direct mail piece that works, or cleaning and managing your data please get in touch with me.