Should Direct Mail Still Have a Place in Your Marketing Plan?

Paper marketing solutions are seeing resurgence in a digital world

SPONSOREDUpdated 9:09AM • 06/27/16

Digital ads. Search engine marketing. Content marketing. When you think of the present and future of promotion and client acquisition, these are likely the modern and forward-thinking tools that jump to mind. But in today’s digital age, one in which discerning consumers are able to block out the din of digital noise with increasing ease, an old marketing stand-by is seeing a renewed focus for intelligent brands looking to find new customers: direct mail.

“Today’s world of marketing is in constant change,” said President and CEO of Welcomemat Services, Brian Mattingly. “With the rise of digital, mobile, and social platforms, marketing professionals are always looking for the next ‘holy grail’ to help drive customer response and build brands.”

Welcomemat Services is a company that knows a thing or two about direct mail; the franchise brand’s business model is based on connecting small businesses with mailing lists of new residents of a city. And even though Mattingly knows the idea of direct mail may seem antiquated, it is now more than ever an integral part of a smart marketing balance.

“What has become clear over the past 10 years in the digital age is that customers are consuming information across all types of mediums,” said Mattingly. “If you look at today’s most successful marketing campaigns, you’ll see the common thread is that they are touching consumers in a capacity that includes print, digital, mobile, social, etc. and connecting the different mediums to build cohesive messaging that leverages each specific medium in the most powerful way.”

Another important aspect of direct mail is its rare ability in today’s media landscape to actively seek the right target consumer, rather than trying to catch internet and other mass media users when they need something.

“Other forms of marketing, specifically digital marketing methods, are more focused on being in the right place when someone has a need and is looking for a service or a service provider,” said Heather McLeod, director of marketing for the home cleaning franchise The Cleaning Authority. “Direct mail allows us to ‘hunt’ for the customers we want, and get in front of them without them needing to do anything.”

McLeod also emphasizes the effectiveness of direct mail as a tool for franchisors, saying that it makes sense as a way to roll out local marketing efforts across a national franchise system.

Said McLeod, “From a franchisor standpoint, it is a program that we can automate and execute on behalf of our franchisees. This takes the responsibility of executing local marketing off our franchisees and allows them to spend their time focusing on the customer, business operations, and employee relations.”

Both Mattingly and McLeod see challenges with running an effective direct mail campaign in today’s business climate, mostly stemming from having to rely on the United States Postal Service as a third party. Not knowing what the future of the Postal Service will look like is certainly something to keep in mind, but those uncertainties are not keeping smart marketers from seeing a huge opportunity to stand out from the digital clutter.

“One thing is certain: there is less competition in the mail box,” said Mattingly. “So many brands have shifted to email and digital delivery to keep costs down and this reduction in mailbox clutter creates a huge opportunity for brands. Those who understand how to tie direct mail together with technology will be the winners in the long term.”