You put a lot of effort into creating an effective marketing strategy. When it comes time to print and mail your direct mail campaigns, you want to be sure you’re maximizing your marketing dollars. That’s why you need a full-service direct mail marketing company that will help you create innovative marketing campaigns to excite and engage your customers.

 

Here’s how to make the most of direct mail printing and mailing services so you can have success with your next direct mail marketing campaign.

 

Mailing Techniques to Stand Out from Your Competition

 

direct mail printing and mailing servicesDirect mail printing and mailing services should provide a roadmap for your success.

 

From inception to delivery, your direct mail marketing campaigns can flourish with the right provider. Here are some of the qualities to look for that will help you stand out from your competition.

 

Mailing Techniques and Experience

 

  • How long has your provider been in business?
  • Do they continually refresh their services to incorporate the latest direct marketing update?
  • Are they widely considered direct mail management experts?
  • Do they offer testimonials from other clients who would recommend their services?

 

It’s important to collaborate with a provider who has the knowledge and experience to guide you in the right direction. Like the popular Farmer’s Insurance commercial, they “know a thing or two because they’ve seen a thing or two.” Accomplished direct mail management experts deal with a wide variety of businesses from different industries, so they’re adaptable to almost any situation. They have the answers to your direct mail dilemmas—from design to production to delivery.

 

Flexibility

 

Your direct mail campaign is not the same as another company. A “one-size-fits-all” approach is not the best option for your business. You need a customized solution that speaks to your unique goals and challenges. Direct mail printing and mailing services should provide the flexibility to adapt to your needs.

 

Consider this example. Let’s say there are two companies. Both have similar goals in terms of their marketing efforts. They want to reach as many people as possible with their message and they want a high return on their investment. Company A has been in business for more than 15 years. They’re well established with their client base and they know the path they want to take. Aside from some tweaks here and there, they pretty much have their marketing strategy down to a science. Direct mail is a way of life for them.

 

Company B, however, is a fledgling startup. In fact, this is their first attempt at a direct mail marketing campaign. Their research tells them it would be a good idea to combine it with their digital marketing efforts for an effective multichannel campaign.

 

It’s obvious these two businesses have different needs. One only requires occasional advice while the other needs counsel and guidance from start to finish as they attempt to reach their target markets. The more experience your direct mail provider has the better. You’ll get a prescription based on proven facts, best practices, and statistics that have worked for similar organizations in the past. That makes predicting your business’s future a lot easier.

 

State-of-the-Art Equipment

 

You’ll make the most of your direct mail efforts if you print and ship your campaign using the latest equipment. A state-of-the-art facility that’s capable of producing up to millions of pieces of direct mail daily will get your marketing campaigns out the door quickly.

 

Postal Optimization Techniques

 

One of the best ways to stand out from the crowd is to arrive in your customer’s mailboxes before your competitors. To make the most of direct mail printing and mailing services, be sure your provider handles your direct mail efficiently. That means providing a variety of postal logistic options.

 

  • Data Quality Verification. Running mail files through data quality and data-driven marketing tools, including National Change of Address (NCOA) to be sure your data is clean and up to date.
  • Variety of Postal Sorting Options. Choosing how you can group or combine your mail for the best rate and speed to market.
  • Postage/Freight Feasibility Report. Establishing that you’re getting the best rates while also fulfilling your data requirements.

 

Understand Direct Mail Management

 

direct mail managementSmart marketers will tell you the real work begins after you print and mail your campaign. That’s where you gain the insights that tell you how your direct mail performed—and what you can do to improve future campaigns.

 

To get the most out of printing and mailing services, ensure there are proper direct mail management systems in place.

 

Direct Mail Panorama is a software solution from MSP that allows marketing managers to track and evaluate every aspect of their direct mail marketing campaigns. Smart marketers agree it’s imperative to know how their campaigns performed. That way they can make any necessary adjustments and improve upon the next one. Direct Mail Panorama goes far beyond statistics, however. It streamlines your entire direct mail management process by simplifying the editing and approval process.

 

An automated proofing system distinguishes changes, determines which templates to apply them to, and then sends the relevant proofs to the proper users for fastest approval. When you speed up your editing and approval process, you speed up your printing and mailing techniques. From there, you can track and analyze every step of the mailing process. It’s total transparency into your campaign’s performance.

 

Direct mail printing and mailing services may provide some kind of tracking and reporting capabilities, but only MSP offers the sophistication of Direct Mail Panorama.

 

Increase Opens and Response Rates with Personalized Direct Mail

 

personalized direct mail marketingIf you want to increase your opens and response rates, personalize your direct mail. Almost 85% of consumers said they’d be more likely to open a piece of personalized mail than mail that was not personalized. Smart marketers know this. That’s why about 90% of them report improvements with personalization techniques. You can, too.

 

Variable data printing allows for mass customization. If you want to change one part of a direct mail piece without delaying the campaign’s printing, VDP lets you do it. You can adjust text, color, graphics, or images to personalize the process.

 

Here’s an example. Let’s say you create 10,000 brochures, all with the same marketing message. The only difference is you want to include location-specific information in a designated area of the brochure so your customers can visit their nearest store. Since you’re sending these all over the country, there will be a variety of location changes.

 

That’s a pretty effective form of personalization. Rather than having your customers search for their nearest location, they have the necessary information right in front of them.

 

Related: A Very Merry Mailbox: How to Send Business Holiday Cards Clients and Customers Love

 

 

Deliver Targeted, Repeatable Campaigns Using Automated Marketing

 

automated marketingTo make the most of direct mail printing and mailing services, turn to automated marketing.

 

Marketing automation lets you create a marketing strategy without manual controls. Direct marketing automation systems help you identify your target audience, create the proper content, then automatically trigger actions based on a predefined schedule and/or a customer’s actions.

 

This allows you to send a campaign and then concentrate on other tasks—like analyzing and adjusting your marketing strategy as you receive campaign reporting results. An automated marketing strategy can save time and resources, driving revenue and ROI while you focus on growing your business.

 

Automated marketing is about targeting customers with automated messages. You can use email or text messages to accomplish this, of course, but you can also use direct mail. After all, direct mail produces 10% more customers than email. Ideally, however, you’ll combine the two into a multichannel marketing approach. Why? Because customers spend 25% more when they receive a mix of email and direct mail from a company.

 

Automated Marketing Examples

 

Let’s say you have a customer shopping on your website and they’ve added one of your products to their shopping cart. For whatever reason, they walk away from it, deciding not to complete the purchase at that time. This action could trigger an email alert, but it could also trigger a direct mail message, prompting them to revisit the product they initially added to their cart. Triggered messages can help you increase your sales from 15-30%.

 

You can also schedule repeatable direct mail. Let’s say you want to remind your customers of yearly appointments. At a designated time each year, you can send a direct mail piece reminding them of their upcoming appointment. You could also use repeat mailings as part of a lead nurturing campaign where you build trust with a lead until they’re ready to become a paying customer.

 

Combine Digital and Direct Mail via Omnichannel Marketing

 

printing and mailing techniquesTo make the most of direct mail printing and mailing services, be sure to utilize omnichannel marketing so you can combine your digital marketing with your direct mail. The primary difference between omnichannel and multichannel marketing is integration. All the channels work as a unit with omnichannel marketing.

 

Companies that adopt an omnichannel approach to their marketing efforts keep almost 90% of their customers. That’s a 57% higher retention rate than those that don’t use omnichannel marketing. Let’s look at a couple of examples of how omnichannel marketing works with direct mail.

 

Omnichannel Marketing Examples

 

Let’s say you’re shopping on a national retailer’s app. You place an item in your shopping cart, but you don’t make a purchase. Later in the day, you find yourself out shopping and you go into that same retailer’s physical store. As you enter the store, you receive an alert on your phone welcoming you and announcing the exact item you have in your cart is there in the store. So you buy the item, and in a couple of weeks, you receive a catalog (and a coupon) from that retailer with similar items of interest. That’s a full omnichannel experience at work.

 

Here are a few ways you can combine digital with direct mail.

 

  • QR Codes. When you place a QR code on a printed mailer, the recipient can scan the image with their smartphone to access a website or landing page. In doing so, you’ll receive a record of each visit so you’ll know who and how many people scanned through the direct mail piece to the landing page.
  • PURLs. As with QR code marketing, a PURL takes a customer from a direct mailing to a web page—in this case via a personal URL.
  • Coupons. You receive a coupon in the mail. You take that coupon into your local store for a discount or you use the coupon code to receive an online discount. It may seem old school, but it’s still omnichannel.

 

Make the Most of Direct Mail Printing and Mailing Services

 

To make the most of direct mail printing and mailing services, you should stand out from your competition. MSP provides the experience, flexibility, state-of-the-art equipment, and postal optimization techniques you need to succeed. When you have a provider that truly helps you understand what your direct mail is doing and helps you manage it from start to finish, you’ll reach your direct mail marketing goals.

 

MSP is one of the most respected, privately-owned direct mail marketing services facilities in the country. We offer effective direct mail solutions for all your marketing needs. Learn more about how our expertise can work for you. Contact an MSP representative today.

Achieve direct mail marketing success.

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