Many marketing experts are touting “Integrated Marketing” as the approach to take when developing a marketing strategy, and this can be a very effective game plan. If you’re a company that has historically relied on direct mail as your marketing workhorse, you know that direct mail is still a trusted and reliable tool in a marketing strategy, as highlighted in this chart from Marketing Sherpa.[1]

Despite the reliability of direct mail, you may be looking for some specific examples of how you can enhance your direct mail by combining it with other marketing strategies and techniques. Read on to learn how you can boost the effectiveness of your direct mail.

 
Direct Mail with PURLs

A PURL, or personalized URL, is a unique web site address that allows a user to access personalized content by entering the URL into their web browser. PURLs are a natural match for direct mail because it’s so easy to include a PURL in the print process whether the mailing is being done digital or traditional. Each of your recipients receives a unique URL specific to them. The URL usually contains their name in order to make it more memorable. Since your recipients will have to type the link into their web browser, you’ll want to keep the PURL as short and as simple as possible.

A PURL should lead to a landing page with a specific offer and personalized information. According to Tom Searcy of CBS News, “In most cases, a campaign with only a home page link generates higher website ‘hits’, but that traffic can get lost after the home page. When using links, it is better to have a landing page tailored specifically for the offer in the message. Still, even a landing page cannot overcome an uncompelling offer.”[2]

So what can a PURL lead to? You essentially have two options: a PURL redirect or a direct PURL. A PURL redirect takes the PURL as its input and redirects the person to a static landing page that you specify. While the PURL itself may be unique to each user, the landing page is not. The advantage of this over a normal URL is the PURL allows you to track who is visiting your site not just how many are visiting. On the other hand, a direct PURL links to a specific, personalized page for each individual, and each page will be different for each user. This landing page is custom created specifically for the PURL campaign and you usually swap out images and copy, and include a pre-populated response form.

 
Direct Mail with Email

Some people have played down the importance of direct mail in today’s email age, but studies have shown that it still has a critical role in marketing strategies, and is preferred and trusted by many demographics over email.[3] We think direct mail and email should be utilized together.

According to Tony Pires of Lime Marketing, “Consumers still like to receive mail. It’s tangible and real and we can leave it on our desk or counter and look at it later. We can’t just hit the delete button and make it go away. Now imagine taking that same message and a short time later sending out an e-mail blast that promotes the same information. That integrated approach and consistent message using two different mediums to touch your client or prospect can have a dramatic affect on the success of the campaign.”[4]

Email is a natural follow up to direct mail. For example, if a direct mail piece is delivered to your prospects early in the week, you can follow up later in the week with an email reminding them of your offers. The email can reference the message you provided in the direct mail piece, provide additional follow-up information, and include either a link to a landing page, or a PURL for a personalized experience as described previously.

This also works in reverse. You can send out an email to your list, and then take a look at who responds. For prospects who don’t respond to the email, you can follow up by sending only those prospects a direct mail piece. This approach will also save you printing and postage costs because you aren’t sending to those who are more likely to respond to an email. An email can also be used as a “preview” to let prospects know to expect an offer in the mail in the near future.

 
Direct Mail with Promotional Items

Promotional items have been traditionally associated with in-person communications, where you hand out items to a potential customer, whether in your office, at a trade show, or at a chance meeting. However, you can also distribute promotional items through direct mail. While the standard direct mail piece consists of a letter in an envelope, a postcard, or a catalog, direct mail can be easily enhanced by combining the basic message with a promotional item.

There are many promotional items that can be easily included in a standard mailing, while others require more creative designs. Small flat items, such as a decal, smartphone screen cleaner, imprinted rulers or bookmarks, can be included in most envelopes or other traditional mailing forms with little to no modification to the design. Magnets are another type of promotional item that can be easily added to most direct mail pieces and provides a bit of real estate for your brand to get some face time.

However, more complex promotional items can also be integrated into direct mail pieces in more creative ways. For example, we recently created a mailing for a healthcare client involving an imprinted flower pot-shaped pen holder with an imprinted pen. The items were enclosed in a small box along with a brief letter. Obviously, a mailer of this type is going to have a higher cost per piece than a standard envelope, but it’s far more likely to be opened, and of course, that’s the first goal in direct mail. Once the piece is open, the promotional items will do their job by providing brand recognition to your potential customers.

As you can see, direct mail can be enhanced by combining it with other marketing strategies and media, resulting in enhanced visibility for your brand.

How are you enhancing your direct mail?

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[1] http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=31852

[2] http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505183_162-57415782-10391735/10-ways-to-stop-prospects-from-trashing-your-email/

[3] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ernan-roman/have-you-forgotten-about-_b_1465914.html

[4] http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120420/NEBULLETIN/205010321/-1/rss57

In keeping with the smartphone theme per our previous blog post about smartphone stands, here’s a new promotional item idea for you.

It’s a smartphone screen cleaner. The cleaning pad sticks to the back of your phone and you just peel it off to clean your screen and then it re-sticks back to your phone.

As you can see, you can personalize this screen cleaner with full-color artwork. For pricing or more information, please contact us. Thanks!

Today’s mini marketing interview features Doreen Johnson, Director of Campaign Management at Reed Elsevier.

In case you’re new here, our mini marketing interviews feature various Marketers with different areas of expertise. So even if today’s interview isn’t relevant to you, the next one might be.

 
1. Can you give me a very brief bio about yourself and your company?

Elsevier was established over 125 years ago as a leading publisher of science & health information. Elsevier serves more than 30 million scientists, student and health & information professionals worldwide. We publish around 2,000 journals and close to 20,000 books and major reference works. We provide our products and services in two divisions, Science & Technology and Health Sciences. I have worked for magazine publishers for over 20 years in the high tech field and now STM.

 
2. What is your marketing expertise?

My expertise is in Marketing and Circulation Management specifically with acquisition and retention of subscriptions.

 
3. Regarding your expertise, if you had to choose one tip to share, what would it be?

No two industries are the same. What works well for one may not be the answer for the other. You need to continuously test all facets of direct marketing to understand your customer. The commonality of all industries is knowing your customer and marketing to them in the way they want to be reached.

 
4. What do you think the future of direct marketing is?

For a long time people have said direct mail is dead, email marketing is the future. I don’t think direct mail will ever go away. It will continue to be a viable part of an overall marketing mix. It’s the best way to drive people to your website. In the STM market, all the research shows that most doctors have SmartPhones or iPads, however our best responses continue to come through direct mail.

 
5. If you use direct mail, what is working for you right now?

What works for us is a #10 package. We vary what goes inside the envelope. By taking advantage of PURLs, QR codes and variable printing we continue to see solid responses relative to our market.

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If you want to be considered for our interview series, please send your answers to the same questions above to Ryan Cote. Thank you!