Even though the digital marketing age reigns in many ways, there are still many challenges that digital marketers face that people don’t like to discuss.
Many brands have become indelibly familiar to us over the years due to heavily researched ad campaigns that took up to months of work to develop. Before the digital age came about, advertisers understood that the best marketing campaigns were both appealing to the masses while specifically targeted.
Unfortunately for marketers, the volume of ads thanks to the internet makes it harder than ever to be found and stand out among the hundreds of companies pushing to be seen. With so many ads flashing in front of an audience’s eyes, many of those potential customers are likely to simply ignore them and find them annoying rather than appealing.
In an effort to appeal to their target audiences, marketers need a way to get around this saturation and attract their ideal target demographics.
Here are some of the reasons why using a direct mail campaign to supplement digital marketing efforts can be invaluable to your overall marketing campaigns.
Problems Building Trust
Digital advertising has become difficult as a result of poor quality and over-saturation, the combination of which is turning potential prospects away before they even give companies a chance to persuade them.
With such a large number of companies attempting to sell their products and services across the internet, many of those companies are more concerned with exposure rather than quality, resulting in a lot of advertising that feels “spammy” and comes off as low-quality in an attempt to reach as many people as possible. Subsequently, many of those audiences are simply tuning them out, even if a good-quality ad comes along in the mix, as they automatically turn away.
However, direct mail is giving certain marketers the chance to get away from this over-saturated market and exhibit their brands as unique among the many unoriginal competitors out there. The fact is that direct mail is essentially timeless as an effective marketing tool when used the right way.
Taking Advantage of the Mailbox
Many people still look forward to receiving printed catalogs in the mail, even if unexpected as long as it’s relevant to their interests. While online catalogs such as Amazon’s can be addictive to browse on their own, it can still be satisfying to look through physical mail pieces.
Apart from catalogs, people are still often likely to respond to many types of direct mail pieces, including offers, reminders, discounts, and other printed media.
One of the reasons for this is that people are still wired for print, as recent studies have shown such as a Canada Post neuromarketing study that looked at the psychological effects of paper marketing compared to digital. The study found that direct mail actually requires 21 percent less cognitive effort to process than digital advertising, and that the motivation-to-cognitive load ratio revealed that direct mail scored a median 1.31 as opposed to .87 for digital media.
With the right branding and design, people will also likely recognize your brand more easily and come to trust you when it comes to sending quality advertising materials, offers, and more. Considering how many businesses rely on digital media, you’ll also be able to gain an upper hand over the competition with direct mail that stands apart.
Ultimately, with direct mail print materials complementing your digital campaigns, you’ll be able to get the results that many purely digital competitors can only hope to achieve.
