How to Keep Up With Direct Mail Trends

As we march through 2022, many businesses are left wondering if direct mail marketing is still a trend, if it is worth it, and if their business is missing out by not implementing this form of marketing.

Despite the many new marketing avenues available, direct marketing remains a multi-million-dollar industry, with companies spending $38.5 million of total advertising revenue in the United States on direct mail campaigns. 

With an average response rate of 4.9 percent, direct marketing is still alive and is a beneficial marketing tool all businesses should take advantage of.

Continue reading to learn more ways to help you and your business keep up to date with current direct mail trends: 

Watch What Is Coming in the Mail

One way to see what other businesses are doing is to keep an eye on what is coming through your mailbox.

Whether a letter, postcard, magazine, etc., there is much to learn about increasing brand awareness by watching and taking note of which advertisers are trying to get your attention. 

Ask Your Customers

Take time to learn from your customers and what drives them to different businesses.

What types of ads caught their attention? How do they hear about most local companies? What direct mail marketing items, such as ads, coupons, specials, and more, are likely to get them into a store or to hire a local business?

Check With Other Business Owners

Ask other business owners with similar products or services what works for them and which direct mail campaign strategies have proven to drive results.

Most business owners are willing to share their plans, while others might be tougher when sharing information with a competitor. Access to knowledge other business owners possess is vital in developing long-lasting positive relationships with other business owners, so you can share ideas and work together to learn more about direct mail marketing. 

Direct mail marketing campaigns are on the rise as more businesses start implementing various tools to help directly reach consumers. Everything from postcards to catalogs and coupons to letters can target consumers drawing attention to your brand.

Understanding the latest direct mail marketing trends can help keep your business on top of the latest advertising strategies, helping you stay competitive in your target market. For Information on this Product Call:516-561-1468 or go to:https://www.printcafeli.com/services/mailing-services.html 

 

 Print Marketing Vs Digital Marketing:

The Pros and Cons

Since the early to mid-'90s, the town crier has bellowed, "print is dead, print is dead!" Yet we find rigor mortis has not set in. Though not wholly accurate, these prophecies have ushered in a new age as print was pushed to the side and web pages bounded onto the internet. Digital marketing and media had the Midas touch–but did everything turn to gold?

The most successful companies that developed before the digital age relied heavily on print. Those companies are still in business. Print marketing techniques converted prospective customers to buyers through dynamic catalogs and persuasive lifestyle billboards. Print marketing is still everywhere. However, digital marketing is giving print a run, that or proving why print isn't going anywhere. Let's dive into these channels to discover the pros and cons of print marketing vs digital marketing.

What is Print Marketing?

Print marketing is any print media used to reach a business's ideal customer base. Print marketing uses tools such as:

● Every Door Direct Mail

● Catalogs

● Banners

● Brochures

● Take-out menus

● Single-use menus

● Posters

● Flyers

● Banners

● Newspapers

● Magazines

● Books

● Booklets

● Billboards

● Coupons

● and More Print Marketing Pros

User Friendly

A Print marketing vs digital marketing pro is print's user-friendly nature. The business owner and the customer can both handle the material with ease. For instance, the print vs online advertising barrier to entry is much lower and thereby less intimidating–digital marketing tools can be overwhelming. Print materials are uncomplicated and relatively straightforward to produce. Additionally, several print companies exist with highly skilled graphic designers to assist in creating print marketing materials from scratch.

Impressions are Long-Lasting and Direct

The most long-lasting connections are formed through print marketing as it takes physical space in the consumer's life. Print marketing's forte is hitting many senses and engaging the consumer's psyche for an extended period. Consumers can pour over an Ikea catalog for hours redecorating their entire homes in their minds. Imagination is mighty as you flip the pages and can nearly smell the store's aroma. Ikea uses the catalogs because the catalogs lead to sales, are accessible, and wake up multiple senses. Furthermore, print marketing is a direct means of advertising to your customers, especially when you're a local business.

Ties Perfectly Into Digital Marketing

Consider realtors and the debacle of digital vs print marketing in real estate. Direct mail marketing with postcards can introduce your agency to prospective buyers, sellers, or investors. Adding the property up for sale, its open house date and time, and a high-resolution photograph of the real estate agent they'll meet is a powerful statement of credibility and professionalism. Real Estate Magazine also makes it a point to include digital interactive components in your print marketing. The included QR code can lead customers to 3D property tours or your contact information. Remember to entice with a short copy to keep your audience wanting more. Digital vs print marketing in real estate doesn't have to be at odds. These two forces are more powerful together.

Print Marketing Cons

Expense

Print marketing can be expensive when you're on a limited budget. Especially when you only need a limited run of catalogs. Looking for print marketing companies that offer both short-run and bulk-run options helps alleviate the cost burden.

Less Targeted Campaigns

Print advertising vs social media has accomplished targeted campaigns that aren't as "needle in a haystack" as some print marketing campaigns can be. Although print marketing aims at a target demographic, it's not always as fine-tuned. You can't break every demographic down to gender, age, hobbies, family connections, and employment the way you can with social media.

Not Environmentally Friendly

Another print advertising vs social media con is that it may be viewed as less sustainable or environmentally friendly. Businesses commonly opt for digital marketing to avoid these, such as digital business cards or recycled materials.

What is Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is a channel of marketing that relies on the use of the internet to market products and services to customers. The advertisements are usually sent via:

● Email

● Content

● Social Media

● Cell Phones

● Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

● Influencer Marketing (Tik Tok and Instagram influencers)

● Viral Marketing

● Affiliate Marketing

● and More

The Journal of Marketing found that we spend $300 million globally on digital marketing. The first digital banner went live in 1994.

Digital Marketing Pros

Attention-Grabbing

The use of video ads, especially when entertaining, can garner attention and keep it for all of 2 seconds. It's still enough to do enough marketing when you know your audience. It can also be inexpensive when utilizing appropriate social media apps.

Use of Augmented Reality

AR view in your space, 3D tours of homes, museums, and other real objects and spaces are advantageous. When the pandemic shut the world down, these and other tools helped the world pivot into a reality that kept people connected. Digital marketing lends itself to tools that help the world feel much smaller than it is. Community

The ability of digital marketing to build community can't be overstated. In niche and subcultures, massive communities have evolved from Facebook, Discord, Telegram, and Youtube. When you've created this authentic community around a brand or cause, it makes marketing to that same community almost effortless. When your community can communicate regularly, encourage one another, and exchange ideas and experiences, credibility and relationships are invigorated.

Digital Marketing Cons

Inefficient, Ad Waste, Fraud

Marc Pritchard commented on the dark side of print marketing vs digital marketing. Though digital is revolutionary, it's inefficient, leading to media waste, fraud, brand safety issues, and nontransparent fraudulent digital media supply chains. Digital waste happens when ad viewability metrics across platforms differ. This means ads aren't getting viewed, or companies are being billed for ads that were never seen. Viewability metrics lend themselves to other types of ad fraud which is the use of advertisements for bot consumption, not human. Pritchard found that around 20% of digital ads are viewed by bots, causing payouts to be fraudulent.

Aggressive

Digital marketing can feel like harassment. One-click follows you around the internet. Now the sunglasses you added to your shopping cart track you on unrelated blogs, into your email through abandoned cart software, and in youtube ads. Such aggressive tactics can cause consumers to run in the opposite direction. A Global Web Index found that about 50% of the 39,500 participants in an ad-blocking survey blocked ads for being annoying and intrusive.

Less Memorable

With so many companies chasing consumer attention, staying relevant is challenging. To do so, these aggressive ads and email tactics, as mentioned above, often come into play. To beat your competitors, though this can be cheaper than print material in some cases, still takes money, relevance, and creativity.

Print and Digital Join Forces

In an interview with the Forbes Communications Council, this one trend recurred again and again. Print and digital must join forces. For there is one thing print vs online advertising accomplishes that digital marketing just can't– "[the] literal weight [of your brand] presence."

High gloss or foiled stamped magazines and catalogs bring a traditional yet bespoke testimony to your brand's legitimate presence. Tangible materials also connect more fully with the senses. You can't hold a website in your hands like you can a catalog of dynamically detailed product photos. Print and digital marketing lean on one another to support their customer base's physical and digital needs. Print leads to digital interactions, and digital interactions lead back to print. Print marketing vs. digital marketing isn't a competition. It's a partner dance.

Creating this positive feedback loop is essential to maintaining success. This is why counselors and coaches don't just offer one-hour sessions online or in-person, 30-minute podcast episodes, and YouTube shorts, but often write books their whole audience can purchase. To get started with your print marketing materials, give us a call.Call 516-561-1468 or FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ANY OF OUR MARKETING PRODUCTS GO TO:www.printcafeli.com