We live in a world that is undoubtedly becoming more digital — but is it all becoming a bit too much? Businesses around the world are beginning to use email as one of their main routes for brand awareness to consumers who are likely to purchase already. But it’s vital to understand the thought process of the consumer, and this can prove to be a challenge.
We’ve teamed up with Direct Letterbox Marketing, which offers a door to door leaflet distribution service, to find out how marketing your business in the correct way can help you reap the benefits, as well as a look at how you can streamline a message to an audience and comply with the new GDPR regulations:
Communication is key
70% of people in the UK say that they receive “too many emails” — which is true, 74 trillion emails are sent every year and have an average lifespan of two seconds. With this knowledge, it might be time to rethink your email marketing strategies to ensure the best results possible from your campaign.
In contrast, only 13.8 billion letters are sent every year (over 12 million are direct mail) and have an average lifespan of 17 days in total — considerably longer than emails that arrive in our inbox and don’t take up any physical space.
Does this mean that a delivered letter is more effective than something we have at our fingertips at all times?
According to research carried out, direct mail is more memorable, as 75% of people asked could remember the brand after reading. This is an astonishing figure when you look at the amount of people who could remember the brand after reading a digital advertisement — which was as low as 44%.
The same research directly states that direct mail marketing outperforms email in all areas. 79% of consumers action direct mail straight away, while only 45% of people do so for email. This is probably down to the opening process — if you’re opening a physical letter, you have the intention to read it. Tapping a screen to access a new email in your inbox is effortless, and deleting it forever takes no real time either — this could be the reason why it is proving to be less effective.
From direct mail, expect a 4.4% response rate, too. A response rate for an email is only 0.12%, showing that more people interact thoroughly with a physical object than with something that just appears in their online inbox and can be deleted instantly.
However, it’s also important to know that direct mail generates more customers with a total of 34%, whereas email only pulls in 24%. This is a shockingly low figure when 57% of all email addresses are abandoned because of too many emails.
Picture this: your business has 1,000 members on its mailing list but over half of them aren’t responsive. This does not make a good investment, especially when the cost per acquisition is higher for email at £42.55 in comparison to direct mail which is only £39.59.
According to the Royal Mail, when it came to communicate with customers, 51% of people would prefer a mixture of both. However, 56% said that they felt valued when they received a letter in the post. It is beneficial to know that when both are used together, it can inevitably increase brand awareness, ROI and the overall customer experience.
But what should your printed materials give to your audience?
Targeting an audience is all about knowing what they want and what they need — and marketers shouldn’t be thinking about what they need from them. They’re the focus, so don’t try and sell them your product — sell them an idea. Your customer doesn’t want new shoes, they want to look stylish.
Creating a marketing piece that has no substance and nothing to offer is almost pointless, you need to find an existing audience and know what appeals to them. Play on their emotions, because once they become invested into your product, they will make the logical decision to convert.
Your direct marketing should give them the urge to know more and this can be achieved through the use of bright and bold colours throughout your printed piece. It’s important that you make your leaflet, brochure or poster stand out!
Make sure that your copy says what you want it to say — giving your potential customers a greater insight of what you want them to know. Be persuasive, be intriguing and don’t forget to accompany this with bold and beautiful lettering.
It’s vital that you do not make any mistakes with your design, because one mistake could cause all of your produce to be flawed, which would equal a waste of your marketing budget. Are you now thinking about changing your strategies?
Complying with GDPR
Print marketing involves gathering data from consumers which means that you must be compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) — which will be enforced on May 25th 2018 by the European Parliament. Although we are set to leave the European Union after the Brexit vote, this legislation will be adopted by Britain and will replace the Data Protection Act of 1998 in hopes to unify and strengthen data across the continent.
Part of the regulation states that, ‘processing of personal data for direct marketing purposes may be regarded as carried out for a legitimate interest’ —referring to the processing of personal data.
But, what does this mean for print marketing and more specifically, direct mailing? It means that you must seek consent to process the data required for mailing (names, addresses etc.) which could be achieved by an ‘opt in’ process. This may be problematic for companies that send out specifically addressed mail. Alternatively, sending out unaddressed mail to your target market is acceptable as it does not involve the handling of sensitive data — appropriate for marketing campaigns that select their demographic based on geography.
Even if you use off-site or cloud storage for your data, you must comply with the regulations or face the harsh penalties that could be 4% of your business’ annual global turnover or €20m — whichever is greater. Familiarise yourself with GDPR before you continue any print marketing efforts, and make the appropriate changes to become compliant today.
Sources:
https://www.digitaldoughnut.com/articles/2017/february/infographic-direct-mail-vs-email
