Using Direct Mail to Stimulate Your Customer’s Needs

Are you connecting with your customers on a level that addresses a need or creates a need that drives them to your brand?  One great way to do this is with personalized direct mail.  It’s a valuable way to connect with customers that is targeted and addresses individual interests and needs for maximum effectiveness and relevance.  You current and future potential customers all have needs that are unique and waiting for you to bring them a solution.

What kind of direct mail uses personalization?

The question is, what kind of mail doesn’t?  If you’re sending out a mass mail campaign that’s not targeted and specialized, you may as well be throwing paper in the wind.

Direct mail doesn’t have to be complicated, however.  Digital printing allows for the variable printing that makes personalized pieces easy to produce for as many customers as you need.  With this technology you can print on the material you want to create the perfect piece.  Even a loyalty campaign with a coupon and details about the customer’s last visit can make a striking impression.

Epsilion, a marketing research firm, published a study in 2012 noting that “73% of U.S. consumers said they prefer direct mail for brand communications because they can read the information at their convenience. “  That sounds like an excellent reason to use direct mail.  As a member of Gen Y, I’m constantly reading emails, things online, and many of them slip by my attention as I see one colorful banner and offer after another.  When I open my mailbox after a day of work and go through my mail, I often get my attention captured by unique designs and materials that I save and use.  I like being able to see and feel the offer in my hands.  Ben Franklin once said, “Tell me and I’ll forget.  Show me and I might remember.  Involve me and I’ll understand.”  Sending a customer a direct mail piece is involving them in the marketing process because it puts the piece of mail in their hands, and promises if they open or read it they get a benefit.  This involvement also beings the five senses into play, especially sight and touch.  That is why it is important to make sure that direct mail pieces are visually appealing and have a unique feel that captures customer’s attention.

What personality are you portraying?

Creating the perfect direct mail piece begins with printing it.  This requires a design and a substrate that both work together to show your brand’s personality.  The material used should also be durable, because it’s going to go through the mail and possibly be subjected to different temperatures and humidity.   An example we’d love to see?  The Gap is known for refined styles that are laid back, and every store has a hardwood floor.  Imagine getting a coupon for your favorite Gap jean with your name printed on wood, so it’s like they’ve sent you a piece of the store you can feel the wood grain of.  By this time I’d already be out the door.  Forming a connection from first sight and touch is essential with this type of marketing.  A sports mailer might be printed on a silver foil board so it’s exciting and highlights the snow on a ski slope.  Loyalty cards and offers could be printed on a silver or gold PVC for a sophisticated look and experience.

Where to begin?

Direct mailing is one of the most viable forms of marketing today.  Whether you’re a customer getting printing done, or a printer who works with customers to create incredible digital print masterpieces, you have to start in the same place.  This is by identifying:

•                 What offer you’re trying to convey
•                 How you want to present your brand
•                 The need your customer has that you are satisfying

After that, the work begins.  We work with printers and customers to find materials that fit your brand, message, and price point to make sure your printed pieces are a success.  We have digitally ready materials for every type of company, whether you’re a vintage shop that wants to print on wood for an antique feel or a modern simplistic agency that wants the brightest white synthetics for a clean look.  Our material certifications and digital material experts help guide you towards a material solution that is best for you.  This helps our customers spend less time worrying about printing with quick leads times and increased print quality.  Please feel free to contact us for samples of our material and our work or to speak to one of our digital material specialists to see how we can make your next direct mailing a masterpiece.