Direct Mail: An Enabler of Omnichannel Marketing
From their mailboxes to their smartphones, tablets, notebooks and more, consumers now have a huge range of ways to receive marketing messages, connect with brands, and learn more about the companies and products they care about.
While some may associate omnichannel marketing with smartphone apps, email newsletters and connectivity, the reality is that offline marketing – including direct mail and in-store experiences – plays a major role in executing a successful omnichannel campaign.
From QR codes to online coupons, let’s take a look at how direct mail can be integrated into your omnichannel marketing campaign to connect with your target audience, increase brand recognition, and produce results.
Create a personalized experience
When you hear the words “direct mail” do you think of mass-produced brochures, postcards, and other pieces or personal communications? Today’s direct mail is far more personalized than many digital-only marketers assume.
Thanks to digital printing, it’s easy to customize your direct mail pieces with recipient names, unique QR codes, alphanumeric coupon codes, account information, and more. Personalizing communications based on customer behavior or prospect demographics is an excellent strategy for increasing the response rate from your campaigns. From mobile apps to webpages, it’s easy to promote digital content using direct mail, creating an integrated experience for your customers and prospects.
Scan, connect, and interact with your brand
Does your business have a mobile app that helps customers discover new products, offers, and more? Instead of promoting it through mobile advertising alone, you can inform your existing customers via targeted direct mail using QR codes.
QR codes let you bridge the gap between offline and online. With 68% of US-based mobile phone users owning smartphones, QR codes give you access to a large and qualified audience that’s eager to interact with your marketing message.
Dig into the demographic data and the incentives to use direct mail to promote your omnichannel campaign increases even more. People aged 44 and under – Gen X and Y – are far more likely to own and regularly use a smartphone than not.
Guide and direct your audience with ease
One of the biggest challenges direct marketers face is getting people to take action after receiving a communication. From visiting a store to dialing on the phone, the traditional direct marketing methods of action are often far from simple.
By using your direct mail campaign to attract new prospects as part of an omnichannel approach, you reduce the friction involved in taking action. Recipients can choose their own form of response by visiting your store in person to claim an offer, scanning a QR code, and more.
From your digital direct mail postcard, you can direct people to the exact page on your online store for a specific product, to a customize catalog based on their own shopping habits, or to the contact information for your retail store nearest to them.
Each step of the process is one that you control, and one that you can use to further increase your target audience’s involvement with your brand. Far from being mass-produced, today’s digital postcard marketing is highly unique and personalized.
How could you use direct mail in your omnichannel campaign?
Omnichannel marketing is a new, disruptive method of communicating with your target audience. Despite the newness of omnichannel marketing, it’s already been put to use – and proven hugely effective – by many of the world’s top retail brands. Many of these brands have made direct mail a vital component of their omnichannel campaigns.
Does your business rely on direct mail marketing to generate leads, improve its brand recognition, and drive sales? If so, consider how your small business could use digital direct mail as part of an omnichannel strategy to further engage new and existing customers.
