From the perspective of reaching out to customers, marketing efforts are often divided into two categories: inbound and outbound. The latter option is often considered as a disruptive and aggressive way of promotion where users are ‘forced’ to engage with businesses.

On the other hand, inbound marketing tactics are considered more seamless and natural methods of promotion where prospective consumers are organically engaged through content marketing. Many marketing experts are of the opinion that direct mail is a tool of outbound marketing. This is partially true since direct mail primarily entails unsolicited promotion to the targeted recipients through postal services.

Nonetheless, that doesn’t mean direct mail marketing is exclusive to outbound marketing only. The flexible and adaptable nature of direct mail marketing is the reason why it has been paying dividends to businesses for more than 100 years.

Using direct mail can also fit into an inbound marketing strategy as well. In this blog, we will discuss how direct mail can be employed in inbound marketing campaigns.

Reaching Out to Cold Prospects

Among all the cohorts, promotion among cold prospects is the trickiest. People not exposed to your marketing message earlier adversely react to any direct approach. Emailing them in bulk, for instance, can act as a counterproductive measure.  

This is the reason why businesses have to take extra care in targeting cold prospects. Firstly, using inbound marketing is a must to reach them. Secondly, businesses are required to moderate their message in a way where recipients don’t get the impression that they are being targeted for a sale.

Direct mails can come in really handy in this regard.  After procuring the right targeted mailing lists, businesses can reach out to cold prospects with information and content that’s not explicitly sales-oriented.  For the first two rounds, businesses should only dispatch mails with relevant and interesting information with pictorial content.  In these dispatches, they can somewhere plug in the web details of their business. People engaging with the content in the direct mail will eventually arrive at the online platforms of the business as well. In short, a lead from a cold prospect can be generated through a direct mail campaign, which can be nurtured into sales on different mediums.

Customer Profiling and Offline Consumers Base

These days, inbound marketing primarily depends on the digital medium. On the other hand, it’s a reality that, amid all the sweeping progress of information technology, not every consumer is online. Direct mail can be used as one of the inbound marketing tactics for targeting the offline consumer base.

With the help of information-concentrated lists like PRIZM code mailing lists and behavioral interest mailing lists, businesses can gather a lot of information regarding offline customers which helps in profiling them. In other words, targeted mailing lists can be used to curate content for offline prospects just like internet is used for online prospects.

After customer profiling, relevant mail can be written and sent to all the recipients as the part of the inbound marketing strategy. Spreading brand awareness is an integral part of comprehensive marketing strategies. Read this blog to know how direct mail marketing can be used to spread brand awareness.