When you think of snail mail, the term “high-tech” probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. Direct mail marketing is a traditional method that is more appropriately associated with printers and mailboxes than technology. But this kind of thinking is outdated. Multichannel marketing and integrated media are no longer just clever tactics – they’re flat-out necessities. Not only do you need to market across numerous channels as a baseline, but those channels need to be seamlessly connected. Whether you’re a marketer who needs better integration between online and offline, or a purely digital marketer who could benefit from investing in direct mail – here are some tips that can help.
What is Integrated Direct Mail?
Integrated media means seamlessly combining multiple media channels to communicate the same message, with the same goal. Integrated direct mail is simply a term for doing the same thing with your direct mail. Merging online and offline marketing channels is a great way to reinforce your message and reach a wider audience, offering better brand awareness and market penetration in a world of increasingly limited attention spans. Another benefit of integration is that it can engage different demographics, geographics, and even psychographics at crucial stages of their decision-making process. If you’re limited to only one channel, you are limiting your reach – and likely your impact.
How to Integrate Effectively.
Integration is a long-term strategy that should be created long before a campaign sees the light of day. Consider where you want to be seen, by whom, and why. Then decide how your budget can best be utilized to achieve these goals. How will you incentivize action, and how will you make your campaign seamless across multiple channels? Part of a comprehensive plan, may include additional response channels such as QR codes, PURLs, and more, which mail service providers can implement for better direct mail tracking, integration, and overall campaign efficiency.
Direct Mail At The Center of An Integrated Plan.
If you thought multichannel marketing and integrated media was a digital-only practice, you’d be mistaken. Direct mail is an effective marketing channel on its own but when coupled with additional channels or “touch points” response rates rise significantly. The concept is rather straightforward, when planning and creating your direct mail take the extra step to plan digital marketing pieces to reinforce the direct mail. Offer an online landing page with the same offer and branded creative elements of your direct mail. With mail tracking you will know when each piece of mail is delivered to the recipient and that becomes the perfect time to reach out to your donor or customer with an email including the same offer and branding. Direct mail delivery can also be tied to your outbound telemarketing efforts and Facebook or other social media channels. Its important to ensure that you carry the same offer and branding through out all the supporting media channels and drive response to the same online landing page. You will also want to make sure you are using a service that will report on the responses from all these channels in a single location so you can properly attribute and evaluate response.
Informed Delivery Advertising
Integration isn’t reserved for other media channels. Another way you can integrate your direct mail is with the USPS. Informed Delivery is a service offered by the USPS that allows mail recipients to see what mail is incoming, via email, before it arrives. Technically, clients get the benefit of email marketing through their direct mail marketing campaign, and deliver extra impressions to thousands or millions of subscribers to this service. Since the beginning of this year, The USPS has been hosting discount promotions incentivizing the use of digital integration, interactive elements, and emerging technology – highlighting how important these tools are. The Informed Delivery promotion will continue running until December 31st, 2022, offering you a 4% discount for participating with First-Class Mail, letters, postcards, and flats.
How SnailWorks Makes the Difference.
So, now that you understand the meaning and importance of integrated media, how does SnailWorks Mail Tracking factor in? Well, for starters, when it comes to managing direct mail there is no tool more beneficial than mail tracking and our reports offer both ease of use and deep granular analysis. Being able to track your mail and results, process Informed Delivery ads, and do it all in one place? Priceless. Secondly, Informed Delivery advertising is incredibly important right now and SnailWorks makes it not just possible, but easy. Simply provide the creative, alongside a URL for the campaign’s landing page, and SnailWorks does the rest. Everything else is handled, from formatting to campaign creation within the USPS system. And, lastly, SnailWorks provides both online and offline marketing support for all direct mail and digitally-integrated campaigns.
For more information on SnailWorks , please reach out to us at:
Email: info@snailworks.com
Phone: 855-697-6245