SYNOPSIS IN POINT FORM

• Direct mail works in large quantities
• Although it is not usually specific, it works through its widespread reach and cost-effectiveness
• Certain targeting may still be achieved, as with exclusive coverage of premium households and businesses
• It is the best way of targeting by geographical location
• It is the best way of covering all prospects in a geographical location or even nationwide
• It effectively manages to place a physical presence in every household
• All advertising is discarded, not just direct mailed material, but only after the message has been delivered
• Give your material a monetary value by including offers and discounts, also enabling you to measure response
• Discretion has no part in direct mail, make sure you have a big striking message for full visibility and impact
• Direct mail is an excellent means of promoting your online presence

FULL ARTICLE

The door to door distribution of promotional material, or direct mail, has been around for some time now. It is one of the most effective direct marketing promotional methods, which can still have considerable impact.

Like any other marketing process, direct mail must be used wisely and employed correctly, so as to have the best impact.

Direct mail is not about specifics and preciseness. In fact it works best when large quantities of recipients are blanket covered, in an admittedly hit and miss situation. This lack of fine-tuned targeting has contributed towards its weakening popularity, over the last few years.

What many fail to realise however, is that its cost-effectiveness combined with its widespread reach, still often results in great impact for its users.

Over the last decade, marketing in general has been all about targeting. However, sometimes by sparing all the efforts and resources to refine your target to a more and more select audience, you seem to come round a full circle and are able to hit a greatly larger audience, with less hassle and expense, which in this case at least can defeat the whole purpose of targeting.

Due to the nonspecific nature of direct mail, it is in fact recommended that large quantities of households are covered, so as to ensure that in the many thousands involved, several will be interested in the advertised products and services.

However in reality there is still a certain amount of targeting that may be availed of.

Targeting by location is the first that comes to mind. There are very few media which can better select by geographical location of residence than direct mail. For certain types of businesses this might be one of their most important factors. For example, for anyone running a delivery service and wishing to limit it to certain areas only, this is about the most effective means of advertising that exists. Similarly, with small retain outlets it is an ideal medium to inform locals and locals alone.

It is also amongst the only medium which covers your entire audience within a given location, as all households are covered and therefore exposed to your advertising. Using even a huge mix of media could never achieve this, due to its fragmented nature.

Malta being such a small country, it is also feasible to cover all households in a nationwide distribution. The exposure of such a single campaign, due to its universal nature, is largely unmatched by any other method, which will always necessarily only hit a small proportion of the population.

It is also possible to distribute to certain types of areas and households only, as often required by top end products, whereby premium households such as villas and luxury apartments may be specifically targeted.

Similarly, businesses operating on a B2B basis, can limit their distribution to other businesses only, rather than private households.

But perhaps the most effective aspect of direct mail, is that it actually succeeds in putting a physical presence into the hands of your potential customers. This is a very powerful means and often a very long-lasting one too, whereby many retain this information for weeks and also months, until they make use of it.

The common fallacy that it goes straight into the bin, ignores the fact that before it does, we first go through them quickly, to ensure that there is nothing of interest and if there is, we put that aside before discarding the others. This contrasts sharply with other media advertising such as TV, radio, or print media, whereby the chances of even viewing or hearing the advert are already exceedingly slim. Furthermore, every newspaper and magazine advert also goes into the bin and radio and TV advertising goes nowhere as the very most that could be retained is a mental image. In this too, direct mail also succeeds, as once you have viewed the material, the advertising message has already been delivered, even if you then discard it. If, on the other hand, you actually retain the material, then this is just an added bonus, and a very big one at that.

It is always best to give value to your promotional material by including some form of offer. The options are endless and include discounts, free gifts and other advantages upon presentation of your flyer, including vouchers and coupons, asking recipients to complete a form, thus obtaining their contact information against an incentive, and several others. This automatically transforms your leaflets and flyers into much more than a piece of paper, giving them a real monetary value.

This also allows you to perfectly measure the impact and the return on your door to door campaign.

A common mistake in many promotional mail designs is that they tend to be too smart and discreet to work. Many clients tend to think that this might be more in line with their particular business’s subtle image. This is very misplaced and incorrect thinking, as full visibility and immediate impact in a big bold message is what it should really be all about, very much the opposite to discretion and subtlety.

A discreet promotional flyer is like a roadside billboard written in small feint text, or a radio or TV advert with very low volume and ultra-vague images. That is not how it works!

So make sure that your message is big and strong enough to hit everyone in the face as soon as they open their letterbox. Otherwise go for the complete opposite, enclose your flyer in a blank envelope which everyone will have to open up to check, before they decide whether to discard it or act on it.

Lastly, as many of us tend today to focus our marketing via online channels, you might be asking whether there is still space for such offline print based marketing. Well do keep in mind that this could also be one of the most effective means of promoting your online presence, and a wise direct mailing campaign may be specifically directed at driving traffic to your web site and social media platforms.