The spirit of any business’s prosperity lies in a successful marketing strategy. Among all the different marketing strategies, direct mail is a tried and tested method to target potential customers or to retain the existing consumer base. In this blog, we will discuss how direct mail marketing is augmented with the services of mailing list brokers and how it is still a workable marketing option amid the strong influence of technology.
HOW MAILING LISTS STILL TRIUMPHS OVER EMAILING LISTS?
A perception that direct mail is not the right type of marketing in the age of internet has become so prevalent without rationally looking into the subject. For all the non-believers, following points will suffice to prove that direct mail marketing has an edge over electronic options due to many virtues of the mailing lists used for the purpose.
HOME MAIL BOX DOESN’T HAVE A JUNK OR SPAM SECTION
Due to prompt improvement in technology, it has become difficult to market through emails. Now people mark all the messages that are not on their list, even if they offer great value, as junk or spam so that they won’t receive them in their inbox anymore.
On the other hand, house mail boxes don’t have sections like email accounts. If you are using direct mail as your marketing tool then there are 99 percent chances that that all the addresses on the mailing list will get your mail.
INACTIVE EMAIL ADDRESSES VS. ACTIVE HOME ADDRESSES
Count all the email addresses that you have made since your first use of internet; you might not even remember half of them. Dormant email accounts have always been an ongoing problem for email marketers. There are hundreds of thousands of email accounts that are not active anymore. With direct mail marketing, you don’t have to worry about the dormancy of a physical address because it is very unlikely. Especially, if you are using up-to-date mailing lists then there is no chance that your direct mail will end up on the address of an empty house.
LESS PEOPLE ARE USING EMAILS FOR THEIR WORK
For emails it is often boasted that they are exponentially quick. Within seconds, your mail reaches thousands of email addresses. But what’s the point of all this swiftness if you are not getting the desired response? It might sound as a revelation but reality is that more of desk job customers are using Outlook and other office management tools for inter and intra-official communications. Most of them don’t check their personal email accounts on a regular basis.
EMAILS CAN’T CARRY PROMOTIONAL ITEMS
There will always be limitations with the virtual world of the internet. No matter how good you are with your internet marketing strategy, you can’t send promotional gifts and product samples through emails. In contrast, you can add physical items in your direct mails. Having a stuffed mail sent to targeted mailing lists can be very helpful in a good leas generation.
UNPARALLEL NICHE TARGETING
If you want to target a fringe market, then there is no better option than adopting direct mail marketing. There is a range of targeted mailing lists based on different market niches which increases the chances of lead generation and conversion.
At this point, if you are convinced that direct mailing lists are better option to invest your marketing capital than to go on an email spree then you should continue to read on.
MAILING LISTS AND ROLE OF MAILING LIST BROKER
For direct mail marketing, getting good mailing lists solve half of your marketing headache. There are several key factors that you should consider while getting a mailing list.
COMPILING ON YOUR OWN CAN BE RISKY
Compiling mailing lists on your own might not be a good idea especially if you are doing it for the first time. Even though you can do it with the help of postal service considering your consumer base and prospects, but it will take a considerable amount of your precious business time. Moreover, in compiling mailing lists on your own, there are chances of getting your estimates wrong. Spending too much effort on a failed marketing campaign will be very upsetting for business owners resulting in their skepticism for direct marketing in future.
So what’s the alternative? The perfect alternative is to buy lists from professional and experienced mailing list brokers. There are several reasons as how these professionals can assist you in marketing campaigns with their dedicated skill set.
ENSURE HIGHEST DELIVERABILITY RATE
You will need a deliverability rate of more than 90 percent to reap the benefits of direct mail marketing and any proficient broker in the field will ensure the best deliverability.
PROVIDE VALUABLE ADVICE
If you are dealing with an experienced mailing list company then they can also provide you with a valuable advice on how to gauge ideal prospects and how to enter new markets. These valuable marketing advices come as complimentary add-ons with mailing lists.
CARRY UPDATED MAILING LISTS
Update mailings lists are important because customer changes their addresses and it’s very imperative to hit right demographics. If you are targeting elderly consumers but the current residence of the house is a young family then the message of your direct mail won’t resonate with them. Updated mailing lists are also important to target new audience.
HELP IN TARGETING SPECIFIC AUDIENCE
World has moved towards specialization. Businesses are now more specified and narrowed down with their products and services and this has also created the need for pinpoint targeting in marketing strategies. For a more specialized direct mail marketing campaign, you can’t use the entire zip code as your mailing list.
In this situation, mailing list brokers come to the help because they can provide you with targeted mailing lists. These mailing lists have different underlying methods behind their compilation. In the later section of the blog, we will see the different types of targeted mailing lists and how they are used for the purpose of marketing.
WHY TARGETED MAILING LISTS?
There are very substantial reasons to consider getting targeted mailing lists for a smart and effective direct marketing campaign.
FEWER SERVICE CHARGES
Apart from finding new avenues to generate profit, businesses also thrive on cutting down their expenses. Instead of going with door-to-door marketing approach, where you have to spend a significant amount of money on postal charges and printing a whole lot of mails, targeted mailing lists mean will save you a big chunk of expenses on your marketing mails. With more postage and printing cost, the return on investment of your marketing will be reduced to insignificant levels.
DEVISING A PROMOTION OFFER WILL BE EASY AND PROFITABLE
Business often hit marketing when they are doing something other than their regulation business i.e. launching a new product/service or introducing a new promotional offer. In direct mail marketing, without keeping a targeted audience in mind, it becomes very difficult to ‘come up with an offer that everyone can’t refuse’.
POWER OF PERSONALIZATION
There are proven behavioral changes that occur through personalization. You can use the power of personalization to benefit your business with the help of targeted mailing lists. For instance, if you are insurance or ailment mailing lists for your marketing campaign then you can personalize the mail by choosing soft color theme, thoughtful language and relatable imagery.
EASY TO GAUGE THE SUCCESS OF MARKETING CAMPAIGN
Continuous assessment of your business model is necessary to make it viable for a long run. Therefore you need to gauge the success or failure of your marketing campaign for better future strategies. With a targeted campaign, you will be having less data on your hand to go through to infer the end result. With door-to-door direct marketing campaign, it will be hard and often get confusing to conclude the precise results.
HOW DIFFERENT TARGETED MAILING LISTS CAN BE USED?
Let’s move to discuss the different sub-categories of targeted mailing lists and how they benefit different businesses.
MORTGAGE MAILING LISTS- TO TARGET ABOVE-AVERAGE INCOME GROUP
This type of targeted mailing lists has the information on homeowners and mortgage seekers. These lists are continuously get updated from home sales records, market trends and county assessed data. Mortgage mailing lists can be a good option for targeted mail marketing for two reasons.
- If your business deals with financing, refinancing and loans then this cohort is a good choice of target
- Since mortgage seekers and homeowners fall on the stratum of above-average income group, they have bigger buying needs. This cohort also has more purchase power than people living on rent
BEHAVIORAL INTEREST MAILING LISTS- TARGETING LIFESTYLE
Many business products/services heavily rely on certain lifestyle attributes. Having mailing lists composed on individual interest and hobbies will help businesses to only aim the right consumers for their businesses.
HOW BEHAVIORAL INTEREST MAILING LISTS ARE EFFECTIVE?
Let’s suppose your business deals in golf accessories. Now just ask yourself, wouldn’t it be better to target the people interested in golf instead of mailing to the entire zip code? If you are using golf jargon in the body of mail then it will spark the interest of golf lovers. On the other hand, the same language will put off the general targeted audience.
ETHNIC TARGETED MAILING LISTS- FOR CULTURAL SPECIFIC PRODUCTS AND TENDENCIES
Our country hosted lots of different ethnicities, nationalities and language groups. There are plenty of products and services that are cultural specific and you can tap into that market through ethnic targeted mailing lists. Apart from that, certain ethnicities spend more on specific commodities/services and this information can be helpful in targeting a specific ethnic group.
According to a research study, Asian-American spend more than an average US household on housing food and automobiles. Now if your business deals in any of these sectors then you know who to target and how to reach them. Similarly, you can look for different ethnic consumer behaviors and then can devise a marketing plan accordingly.
RESPONSE MAILING LISTS- FOR HIGHER LEAD GENERATION
Response mailing lists are a next level targeted option for your direct market campaign. This data is comprised of all those people who have earlier showed their interest in the product/service you are offering. The data is gathered through buying history, surveys and newsletter subscriptions. Response mailing lists are a good choice to target the already established consumer base of any product.
These mailing lists are also known for high response rates and better lead conversion.
PRIZM CODE MAILING LISTS- THE MOST RESEARCH-EXTENSIVE MAILING DATA
Prizm (potential rating index zip code market) Code is a set of geo-demographic segmentation of American population into more than 60 different groups. Description of each of this sub group offers great insight about their lifestyle and income. Now direct mail marketing has also incorporated Prizm code in its fold. There is now Prizm code mailing lists available based on this geo-demographic segmentation.
With an example or two, we will try to explain how Prizm Code Mailing lists can be used.
- Blue Blood Estates is one of the groups among the 63 groups of PRIZM list. It is a portrait of affluent families living in suburban areas, owning million-dollar homes, expensive cars and other high-end high-maintenance items. This detail can be very useful in formulating a mail that can be used to target these wealthy potential customers.
- Another group, Young Digerati, is comprised of populace from generation X, who is tech savvy, mostly graduates and living on the urban periphery in stylized condos and apartments. For businesses dealing in technological services and products, targeting this group can be a good idea.
FINAL WORDS
It has been very evident from the above discussion that direct mail, if used properly, is still an effective marketing tool. Proper use of direct mail entails that you must have effective targeted mailing lists and marketing plan. To get mailing lists of your choice, you can avail the services of an experienced mailing list brokerage.