Since the inception of civilization, the human population is divided into two groups: consumers and producers. Through the course of history, producers have kept on developing different strategies to market their products.

So, it can be said that the concept of marketing is not something that took shape post-industrialization. Nevertheless, producers have developed more effective ways to promote their business with the exponential human development witnessed in the last couple of decades. Moreover, the experience of hundreds of years to promote their selling commodities has also been squeezed into some basic marketing principles.

Direct mail, which has been around for more than 100 years as a marketing tool, can be used to implement all these different marketing principles in this day and age. This is one of the reasons why direct mail is still very feasible and relevant promotional device amid the aggressive growth of the digital medium. So much so that it can be very organically integrated with digital means of marketing.

It is worth mentioning that mailing list brokers and targeted mailing lists have played a significant role in preserving the status of direct mail marketing as an effective tool for marketing.

Principles of Marketing and Direct Mail

As mentioned earlier, a centuries-long experience of promoting different products and services have condensed into some fundamental principles of marketing that can be worked out through various means. In this blog, we will discuss in detail how direct mail can be used to practice these fundamental marketing principles and how targeted mailing lists facilitate the process.

1) Development of a Strategy Before Anything

You wake up one day and start marketing your product and services—it doesn’t work like that. You can’t rush into implementing the provisions of marketing before making a sound strategy. According to marketing gurus, having a marketing strategy is at the top of anything to sell your business. Therefore, developing a promotional strategy is considered a basic pillar of marketing principles.

Marketing Strategy Centered on Direct mail

There are four things C’s that should be considered when making a marketing strategy that is centered on direct mail.

Consumer

Is your business providing what your consumers want to solve their problems and fulfill their needs? This is an important question that you have to ask yourself first. After that, make sure that your direct mail effectively talks about it. Instead of bragging about your products, it’s always better to give more space to the consumer problems, needs, and solutions in your direct mail.

Cost

In making marketing strategies, sometimes it is necessary to factor in the cost of the product or service you offer. You have to provide an idea of the amount of money consumers will have to spend to purchase your product or avail your services. However, it is advised not to quote exact prices in your mail pieces.

If you’re promoting art pieces through behavioral mailing lists, talking about the exact cost of the product might be immaterial because the targeted consumers won’t be comparing the price of the product in their heads. However, for marketing devised on insurance mailing lists, one can mention the price and provide comparative charts in direct mails.

Convenience

No matter how first-rate your selling items are, if you are not making it convenient for consumers to buy them then you are not doing any favor to your business and yourself. More importantly, you have to convey to the prospected consumers about the convenience of purchase you are providing.

Make sure that the CTA of your direct mail must talk about how convenient it will be for consumers to buy your product or avail your service.

Communication

Many strategies fail to cover this important aspect of marketing. Your direct mail should not be all about the promotion of your product. In contrast, it should promote a two-way conversation because an engaged consumer is a satisfied one. A satisfied consumer base is central to the survival of any business operations.

As you can see, direct mail is at the core of implementing the 4 C’s of a marketing strategy.

2) Constant Exploration of Target Market

Gone are the days when you can successfully get away by promoting your business without any sense of target. With time, we have gone too much into the details of everything. Likewise, it has become important for a business to figure out their marketing activity by keeping a target in sight.

Let’s have a look at how direct mail can help you in defining and exploiting your target market.

Study the Profile of Your Existing Consumer Base

In order to understand what your ideal target consumer base looks like, you have to analyze your existing consumer base. In order to know more about their predilections, you can conduct a direct mail survey. By having a profile in your mind, you can extend your marketing hand to the like-minded consumers.

Use Target Mailing Lists to Find Your Prospect

If you are rolling out a new business and don’t have a sizeable consumer base in the beginning, then targeted mailing list can help you to find the niche you want to target. Get in touch with any good mailing list broker, he can provide you with dozens of targeted mailing lists. You can use the information provided in them to find out your own target market. Here, we will provide you a few examples to understand how different mailing lists can be used to find out your target market.

• If your business deals with insurance plans then it is possible to find out your prospective market through insurance mailing lists. These lists are compiled by keeping in mind the recipients that are in more need of buying an insurance premium than the others. From new homeowners to newlyweds, you can find different groups of recipients that would be your ideal target for advertising insurance plans.
• If you want to find your target consumers through the fades and lifestyles they have, then behavioral interest mailing lists are the most valuable piece of information you can get your hands on. You will find dozens of different groups of recipients segmented according to different lifestyle interests.
• If you want to choose your target according to their socioeconomic strata then you can accomplish this with the help of Prizm Code mailing lists. These lists have divided the entire population of the country into 66 different categories. You will surely find out the group of consumers you want to target through Prizm Code mailing lists.

Have a Peep on Your Competitors Marketing Practices

To understand and come to a decision about your target market, have a look at the marketing of your competitors and peers in the sector. You must evaluate which groups of consumers they are targeting and how you can make your inroads in that target market. However, make sure that you don’t emulate the exact marketing practices.

If your direct mail reads like your competitor’s, then consumers can take you as an imposter and you certainly don’t want that.

3) Show Your Value to Consumers

It’s human nature to commit to something after assessing its value. Same goes for consumer-producer interactions. A consumer will only settle on to do business with you when he will be convinced regarding your business values. This marketing principle is often overlooked by companies in their promotional campaigns. While you go full throttle with the promotion of your product and services, it is equally important to divulge your value to the prospective consumer. There are many different measures that you can take to reveal your value to consumers through direct mail.

Have Direct Mail Workshops

Educate your consumer about the product and services that you are offering them. In your direct mail, you should talk about all the facets of your business items and how their use can be optimized.  Expanding the knowledge of consumers without consciously pushing your products is a good measure to convey your values to them.

Add Testimonials

It is also in human nature to validate anything by the actions and behaviors of others. It basically creates the value of the thing that is in question. For that matter, sending testimonials to your prospective consumers is a great way to build that value by presenting them with the ‘proof’ of action and behavior of others.

If your business provides healthcare services and you are using ailment mailing lists to reach out to your prospective consumers, then adding testimonials in your direct mails is a great way to ‘market’ your values.

Have a separate note in your mail that will detail the experience of your existing consumer base with the use of your services and products. Seeing that your business is valued by others, it will definitely create a good impression of your business in the minds of targeted recipients and it would eventually turn into tangible benefits.

4) Marketing is an Ongoing Process

Sometimes you may wonder why global brands that are already household names (e.g. Coca-Cola) still proactively conduct promotions. The answer lies in the marketing principle, which says that promotions and advertising should never cease even if a business doesn’t want to acquire new consumers.

Why It’s Important?

You Don’t Lose Perspective

With continuous advertising routine, you remain in touch with the market reality. You can easily keep tabs on the changing dynamics of demographics in general and your consumer base in particular when you are using marketing is a continuous practice. This exercise will help businesses in developing and improving their products and services as per the demands of the contemporary times.

It Works as a Good Backing

Even if your business is performing to its full capacity and you are not in any need to acquire new consumers, having continuous marketing campaigns helps you in preparing a potential consumer base that could be worked on more dedicatedly in case of an unprecedented event of consumer attrition.

How Direct Mail Helps?

You can use direct mail to remain connected to your prospective consumers even if you are not eager to convert them. You can connect to a wider audience by providing them the information they want.

For instance, a business dealing in cars can reach out to their prospective consumers through monthly reviews on new vehicle makes coming in the market. By having this regular one-way communication with recipients, you can establish your business identity in their minds. In a similar fashion, you can remain in touch with different groups of prospective customers by implementing direct mail marketing as a continuous process.

5) Building a Relationship

Last but not the least, building a relationship with your consumers is the cornerstone of successful business operations. Therefore, every marketing guidebook emphasizes on using the tool of promotion for building a constructive relationship with your consumers.

Trust is an important human emotion that comes into play when you rely on someone for something. By building a productive relationship with your consumers, you can actually instill trust in them about your business.

Never Put a Full Stop

To build a customer relationship, you must develop a two-way communication with your consumers. For that make sure that the copy of your direct mail is interactive and exciting. Without sparking consumer’s interest, you can’t build a two-way communication. To facilitate this communication, enclosing a self-addressed stamped envelope is a good strategy.

Reward Your Valuable Consumers

If you want to add intrinsic value to your connection with consumers, then having a reward policy is an important feature of marketing and business activities. You can have them in the loop for a long run if you regularly reward them with gifts and discounts. Customers will always be pleased to pick a stuffed mail from their mailbox. With such measures in place, consumers will stick to your business even if they have to make some trade-offs.

It is pretty clear from the above discussion that you can put into practice fundamental marketing principles with the help of direct mail and targeted mailing lists.