Hi Boox Popular Magazine 2024
As we have progressed through the decades, we’ve seen plenty of marketing methods built to increase sales, build brand awareness, and promote new products. People have said that cold calling is dead, that direct mail doesn’t work, and that social media is something to waste time on. If these statements were true then how come almost every one of the largest companies in the world sends you promotional material through the mail? Because it works. Companies and business owners spend hundreds of thousands of direct mail campaigns because they continue to get a larger return on their investment than other methods. For these reasons, this article will be a detailed report on why brochures, print marketing, and direct mail marketing are still being used in today’s economy. Even though technology seems to be taken over, the traditional methods are not dead yet.
One Foot in the Grave? Not Even Close!
So why do people think that print materials and direct advertising are dead? Because they get bombarded with advertisements everywhere they go. You turn on the news, what do you see? Ads. You go on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and thousands of websites, and we guarantee you there will be hundreds of ads just on a couple of websites alone. We’re almost becoming numb to the internet’s advertisements, and so print materials become a novelty again. There are advantages to print marketing that beat digital marketing. For example, in digital marketing, you can get blocked from a certain mailer or subscription, while printed material will get delivered to the addresses you select no matter what. Sending multiple marketing pieces during a certain period of time can increase brand awareness for your company.
Another advantage of print marketing is that the potential customer can physically see and feel the advertisement. It’s easy to click the x button on a pop-up advertisement online because you’re not physically feeling anything. When you compare different paperweight and materials, colors, typography, photos, it evokes a different emotion. You want to first capture the receiver’s attention with an envelope or color that the eye can quickly recognize. Yellow or pink envelopes work the best. Sometimes people keep certain print materials for later, and so the advertiser may not get business from the first campaign, but later down the road, the receiver will see the marketing piece and convert business. It’s both a short-term and long-term strategy that advertisement companies use to continue growing their businesses.
Direct Mail Strategies
Direct mail marketing works in almost any industry but tends to work better for certain industries, especially real estate, which the online print company Wise Pelican specializes in. People love getting coupons to save on meat or fish at their local grocery store. They also like to find deals online. Believe it or not, a lot of the direct mail marketing that happens is done to bring customers to a website or to call a number. Ironically this is the same thing that online advertising is looking for. It doesn’t matter where the call comes from or where the individual got online and bought the advertised item. For advertising companies, it becomes a sort of like an investment fund. The company sets aside a certain budget, and from there, it gets divided into different marketing channels to certain wide audiences and to test different campaigns. You might want to do a campaign with postcards on one zip code, a campaign with letters on another zip code, and then a campaign with flyers on another. There exist a lot of different direct mail strategies, so we will define a few of them you can implement right away.
Door Hangers
These are not necessarily considered “mail,” but they act in a much more powerful way. You’ll have to contact a direct mail company to guide you on how they get these hung on every door, but it will be a great way to get right in the front door of your customer. The cool thing about door hangers is that you can design them in any way you want. They also come in different materials so that they’re durable enough to stay out for a night or two in case the family isn’t home.
Flyers
By themselves, flyers are a great choice if they are delivered directly into the home or apartment. Otherwise, they may end up getting tossed out like the majority of other print materials. Make sure the flyer has an impact photo and header to attract the attention of the reader right away. You don’t want your conversion rate to drop because the marketing piece wasn’t attractive.
Postcards
Postcards are great to invite people to events like weddings, seminars, luncheons, or to receive a free downloadable gift online. I used to work for a real estate company, and the postcards always had the best return on investment. There has to be something subconscious that occurs when someone receives a postcard. It’s like they remember all the movies they’ve watched where a postcard means a distant relative or friend.
Tickets
If your business is one where people have to meet one on one to buy a product or service, then you may have thought of this print material already. A set of two event tickets costs about twenty-five cents so you can invite thousands of people to an event without having to break the bank. From 1,000 people expect 10 to show up so if you want to increase your numbers you’ll have to rely on tickets and a combination of other advertising methods.
Research Papers
If your business is one that requires more education on behalf of the customer, then research papers and informational materials are great. The more time someone spends with your company’s branding and materials, the more likely the sale will convert. It is said that women need about seven hours or personal time with a man before they decide whether or not to have sex. It’s the same with sales. Customers will buy from you after about seven instances where they see your brand. If you’re able to have them read a 12-page editorial on a product and it takes them three hours to read, then you’re halfway there to converting them into a sale.
Conclusion
In conclusion, in this article, we discussed the topic of print advertising and why it is not dead. Those who tell you it is dead have either never done it or quit too soon. Print advertising takes time because you need to keep testing, and every time you test, you’re spending money. For some people or businesses, it may be best to do some other form of marketing since direct mail can get very expensive. However, when you do convert, one sale can pay your budget back plus some more. As you can see, direct mail is not dead. If it were, then the largest companies like Target would stop sending you mail. Go and test it out for yourself, but always remember that your budget should be treated like a hedge fund to put money into different marketing channels. There are literally hundreds of things you could send via direct mail, so just be aware of what you’re doing. You want the marketing piece to stand out, but you also want it to be powerful to keep the attention of the customer. If you test different channels and set aside a big enough budget, we guarantee you’ll get results.
