Every marketer in the country is facing the same problem… what do we do now? Despite exhibitions and events being cancelled and millions working from home, marketing teams are still expected to deliver results and generate new business leads. This has led some of the worlds leading brands to embrace Direct Mail at the forefront of their marketing efforts, and the results have been significant.
As always, it all starts with the data. Data decays at an alarming rate, according to some sources business databases degrade by around 30% per year, so its crucial data is at the forefront of your thinking. If you’re utilising email campaigns as part of your strategy, ensure you check the hard and soft bounce rates and remove any repeat offenders. Likewise with the responses you receive, it’s important you pay close attention to any out of office emails notifying you that the recipient has left the business or is on maternity leave, for example.
Postal data can be much harder to stay on top of, as there are obviously no automated responses to give you guidance. At Herald Chase, we have a data platform that pulls in address data from various online sources to ensure the postal data is as up to date as possible. In addition to this, we’re able to profile your B2B customer data by SIC code or industry, geographical location, financial circumstances and many more key indicators. This allows us to build a bespoke and up to date mailing list for you to mail to.
With Direct Mail response rates at 4.4% in comparison to 0.12% for email response rates, it’s clear that direct mail should be a priority channel for your marketing activities. At Herald Chase, we’ve seen an increase from our clients in the trade show and exhibition sector as the marketing collateral typically used for their footfall events has been mailed directly to their target audience. From promotional items such as pens, notepads and coasters etc to product brochures and sales literature, its all being sent via direct mail as we adjust to the new landscape.
For some time now we’ve heard buzz phrases such as ‘cut through the noise with direct mail’ but there has never been a better example of this than the current circumstances. With Zoom meetings and hugely increased email traffic as teams try to stay in touch and communicate digitally, what are the chances of your promotional email hitting the spot and being seen and engaged with amongst the hundred of others in a users inbox? Perhaps its time for Direct Mail to step forward and re-take centre stage…
Thanks for taking the time to read this blog piece on Direct Marketing, if you need any further info or have an enquiry , feel free to contact us on the office number: 0118 474 888.
