Marketing 101: Direct Mail Marketing

We live in a digital world, so chances are, when you think of the different types of marketing, direct mail marketing probably doesn’t come to mind. In fact, you might even think it’s well…a bit outdated. However, it’s not at all!

According to an article from Forbes, direct mail marketing is far from dead. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. The article goes on to say that while there has been a little bit of a drop off in response rates for direct mail marketing over the course of the last 10 years or so, it’s still quite effective. 

What is Direct Mail Marketing?

Direct mail marketing is a type of outbound marketing where you send a piece of mail marketing your products and services directly to your potential customers. Instead of hitting up their inbox, you go for their mailbox. We consider it to be the “non-virtual equivalent” to email marketing. 

Types of Direct Mail Marketing

Direct mail marketing consists of:

• Postcards
• Fliers 
• Self-mailers 
• Dimensional packages 
• Corporate swag
• Letters
• Catalogs
• Coupons
• Product samples 

Stats that Show Direct Mail Marketing is Alive and Well!

The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) insists that direct mail marketing can be a great addition to an existing digital marketing campaign because its “effectiveness is fairly stable, and it builds up steadily across the customer journey.”

Additionally, London Research and dotdigital put out a report in 2020 that showed that: 

• 13% of businesses see direct mail marketing as the most effective way to build brand awareness.
• 19% of businesses find direct mail marketing helpful for nurturing leads and engaging customers.
• 20% of businesses believe direct mail marketing helps in converting leads into customers.
• 25% of businesses find it beneficial for customer retention and fostering loyalty.

Also, Forbes explains that direct mail marketing has an average response rate of 4.4%, which is significantly larger than the .12% response rate reported for marketing emails. 

This is possibly due to the fact that our email inboxes are constantly getting bombarded with unsolicited marketing emails. Think about it. How many marketing emails do you get in a day? 

Customers, business owners, or company decision makers may be more receptive to responding to a direct mail marketing piece. 

Compu-Mail, a direct mail production company in Western New York, has some great stats on direct mail marketing. Here are some of the stats we found quite intriguing;

• 73% of consumers in the US say they actually prefer being contacted by brands through direct mail instead of email because they can read the piece at their leisure.
• 59% of consumers in the US enjoy getting mail from brands about new products and services. 
• 60% of catalog recipients end up visiting the company’s website. 
• A whopping 90% of direct mail gets opened, compared to only 20-30% of emails.
• 68% of companies surveyed said that combining digital and direct mail marketing increased their website visits, and 60% said it increased their ROI. 

At the end of the day, these stats show that adding direct mail marketing to your existing marketing strategy can really help boost your bottom line. 

EmoryDay’s Marketing Services

EmoryDay is a full-service digital marketing agency that can help your company increase quality leads as well as help you get those leads to convert into sales. 

While digital marketing may be our bread and butter, our team of marketing experts are just that…experts! So, they are highly knowledgeable about ALL types of marketing, including direct mail. 

Give us a try! We are currently offering a 30-day free trial so you can see what we’re all about. If you have any questions about our services, fill out our contact form or give us a call at (866) 407-2075. We cannot wait to help accelerate your business!

Resources: