In the era of social media – direct mail marketing seems to have taken something of a back seat. The obsession with clicks, likes and follows has blinded small businesses as to the real reason to invest in a solid marketing strategy. However, in these uncertain times, the global financial downturn is forcing marketeers to look more closely at exactly how they are spending their budgets – to make sure they are squeezing value out of every last penny. That’s where return on investment analysis comes in, and time and time again, direct mail is shown to deliver.

What are the benefits of direct mail marketing?

High levels of targeting

Probably the biggest advantage associated with direct mail marketing is that it allows your adverts to be highly targeted. Whether you are communicating with previous clients who have signed up to your mailing list, or whether you have used a commercial service to access potential customers through a targeted database – you more or less know exactly who you are talking to. Although social media claims to allow you to target your ads at certain demographics, the level of personal data people choose to reveal in their profiles may be minimal, or misleading – making social media targeted ads a very hit and miss process.

Highly measurable

If you run an exclusively online business, social media analytics may be sufficient to allow you to track the click-throughs on your ads, and how that translates into sales. But for any company with a physical presence, direct mail offers a much more simple and tangible way to provide coupons or special offers, against which you can track exactly how many were used.

Of course, direct mail also provides a great opportunity to enhance brand awareness, with lots of ways to reinforce your brand messaging – such as personalised envelope printing.

Easier to individualise

Even small runs of print advertising can be personalised to help your customers, or prospective customers, feel more valued. This is something that simply can’t be matched in the online world. In fact, overly personalised adverts appearing on social media can often feel intrusive and may be treated with suspicion.

In addition to all of those reasons, direct mail is widely considered to be a cost-efficient, flexible means of marketing, and is definitely something your company should consider in its next marketing plan. For all direct mail enquiries please contact us hello@printuk.com, PrintUK.com