Making the Most of your Postal Marketing Campaign

Despite what you might think with the rise of smart phones, tablets, and social media, postal marketing isn’t dead. It’s still a popular marketing tactics for many businesses, and when done correctly, can actually create strong response rates, and consequently great ROI. Sure, direct mail does get a bad rap for the rising cost of postage and supposedly disinterested consumers, but the problem is that far too many businesses who get involved with direct mail either aren’t basing their data off of the right info, or aren’t targeting the right consumers with their material. 

The definition of direct mail for lots of business just means sending a mass mailing to specific zip codes or broad demographics. In those cases, the average response rate usually hovers around 2-4%, compared to the .12% response rate for email marketing. However, because of email’s low cost, email marketing still provides a better ROI. For that reason, a lot of businesses forget about direct mail altogether because of one bad experience, or just keep wasting money on ineffective marketing and advertising strategies. But with the right data, response rates of direct marketing don’t have to stay that low. 

At Take5 Solutions, we specialize in creating highly-targeted lists for all forms of marketing, including direct mail.  With our new Flexible Inference Technology (FIT), we’re able to go even beyond that to give our clients the tools they need to get ahead of the competition. Using FIT, we’re able to collect in-depth information from social media users and match that consumer market behavior data back to our more than 360 million consumer records, including addresses. Because our information comes from opt-in users, we’re able to keep it maintained and updated so that data never goes stale. With FIT, you can target much more than a zip code with your direct mail. You can use dozens of different lifestyle triggers and spending behavior overlays to create an exceptionally targeted list that will produce optimal response rates. 

Want to learn more? Find out how Take5 Solutions can take your direct mail campaign to the next level here. 

Email Marketing

Remember back in the late 1990’s when email was the latest and greatest thing to happen to society? Not only did it keep friends, families, and businesses connected, but it created a whole new realm of marketing activity that took the world by storm. Fast-forward a few years to the rise of social media networks like Facebook and Twitter, and the world of Internet marketing shifted once again. With the boom in social media use, many people assumed that email marketing would soon become obsolete and lose its status to social media marketing. However, that assumption is far from reality based one some of the most recent statistics. 


Email still dominates in information sharing, with more than 100 trillion messages sent each year. Statistics released by the Direct Marketing Association show that in 2011, firms made $40 on average for each dollar spent on email marketing. Why is this? By the numbers, there are still far more email accounts worldwide than social media users, with about 3.3 billion email accounts compared to about 1.73 billion social media users in 2013. Additionally, email is becoming more and more accessible with the rise of smartphones. In fact, 8 out of 10 smartphone users report checking and sending email with their device. And intuitively, it makes sense that email still reaches the majority of online users since it’s more of a cross-generational tool. While the 18-29 age group makes up about 89 percent of social media users, email is still a popular tool for those in their middle ages or senior years whether for work, keeping in touch with friends and family, or for online shopping. 

But not all email marketing is created equal. The most successful campaigns incorporate the right strategy for the best, highly-targeted audience. At Take5 Solutions, we’ve found a way to create email marketing strategies combined with other aggregated consumer data that boosts effectiveness and ROI of email marketing campaigns drastically. For example, just by combining email marketing with direct marketing, you could boost response rates by 25%. With our Flexible Interface Technology (FIT), we’re able to provide marketers and advertisers with the benefits of both email and social media marketing. With this technology, we identify consumer niche markets through individual social media usage, and we match back that data with robust in-house files, including email address. Learn more about how FIT can boost your email marketing campaigns here.  

How to Use Direct Mail to Drive Targeted Website Traffic

by Dean Rieck 

If you want to drive traffic to your website, which media should you use?

Email delivers traffic quickly and at low cost, though open rates can be low. Social marketing shows great potential, but it takes effort to make it work. Then there are PPC, banner ads, and other online strategies, all of which deliver varying results.

But what about traditional direct mail? 

Too many people suffer from an "oil and water" mentality when it comes to mixing online and offline media. But they work well together. And when you need to drive online traffic, an integrated approach can often work wonders.

According to the 2009 Channel Preference Study by ExactTarget, direct mail influences 76% of Internet users to buy a product or service online. Better still, direct mail remains the one medium that gives you direct and reliable access to nearly everyone in your target market.

How do you drive Web traffic with direct mail? Here are some pointers.

Make a compelling offer. It's not enough to ask people to visit your website. You need to give them a powerful reason to do so—a compelling and valuable offer, such as a free trial, seminar, white paper, savings coupons, or sample. It must be something they want, not just something you want them to see.

• Use an easy-to-type URL. Unlike email, where you can include a clickable link to your landing page, in direct mail you can only print a URL. Your prospect must type it into a browser. The shorter and easier it is to spell, then, the easier it will be for people to visit your page. If you create a separate domain exclusively for the promotion, the URL can be much shorter. If you want the landing page on your site, redirect from the unique URL to your page.

• Test a personalized URL (pURL). a pURL gets extra attention and creates curiosity. For example, a pURL using my name might look like this: DeanRieck.Widget.com. This is easy to type and allows for tight integration of the direct mail piece and landing page for tracking.
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• Try personalized copy. Just as a pURL gets attention, personalized teasers, headlines, subheads, and body copy attract attention and encourage reading. Use personalization with restraint—to avoid the appearance of an over-the-top sweepstakes mailing.
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• Issue a clear call-to-action. If you want your prospect to complete a survey, for example, say "Go to BobSmith.Gadget.com and fill out our survey to claim your $100 Savings Coupon." People are more likely to respond when you specifically tell them what to do.
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• Push response with a deadline. As in most direct marketing situations, people are more apt to respond immediately when they know they have a limited time for doing so. With whatever offer you make, state a deadline near the call-to-action.
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• Test various formats. Because of printing and postage costs, many people use postcards to drive Web traffic. But you can also test self-mailers, flyers, and envelope packages. The amount of pre-sell required should dictate the format. The simpler and more valuable your offer, the less pre-sell you need. Only testing can show you for sure.
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• Build a special landing page. Generally, it's not a good idea to drive traffic to your homepage. There are too many choices on those pages and too many ways for prospects to get lost. By creating a unique landing page and driving people to that page, you can control the message, track response, and collect information for follow-up and future direct marketing efforts.
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• Capture contact information. A one-time visit offers limited value. Good direct marketing practice dictates that you use a first visit to begin a dialog. And to do that, you must at least ask for the visitor's email address and maybe first name (to personalize future communications). Depending on the value of the offer, you might also be able to get full name, mailing address, and other information to build your in-house database.

Should you use email, social, and other online media? Absolutely. But smart business people don't make decisions based on personal preferences or novelty. They make decisions based on what works.

So if traditional direct mail is working for others, you should test to see whether it can work for you as well.

Read more: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2010/3796/how-to-use-direct-mail-to-drive-targeted-website-traffic#ixzz2dqEClKtT