Member Article

Is Your DM Ready For Take Off?

IS YOUR DM READY FOR TAKE OFF?

First impressions count – so direct mail communications done well can be the difference between a failed campaign and a landslide response.

Direct mail and communications expert Tony Kemp, the brains behind Hello Market, the online personalised mail solution, offered some tips and advice to SMEs embarking on a campaign.

Said Tony: “There are lots of things which can be done to improve the quality of every direct mail campaign and therefore increase response rates, whether it’s a car dealership sending out service reminders, estate agents targeting specific postcodes or a charity launching its annual appeal.

“With research proving that 80 per cent of recipients are more likely to open mailings if they are personalised (1), there is so much which marketers can and should be doing to make their direct mail more effective.”

Understand Your Data

Data is more than just names and addresses. Marketers may already know far more than they think about their customers. Take a minute and consider the data already held, facts such as age, gender, purchase history and geographical location.

These are simple yet valuable insights that can be analyzed and channelled into a more effective personalised campaign where the end result improves engagement.

Relevant Imagery

Using tailored images are an effective way of showing empathy with the audience, which will help achieve a better response from each individual. So, it’s important to make sure that the images they receive are relevant to them, for example if you’re a charity contacting an older couple about their support of a special care baby unit, use an image of grandparents with a new baby.

These tailored images can also be changed in flight to suit each customer or category ensuring every individual receives their most appealing message.

Communicate Regularly

Send out communications regularly; keep in touch with customers and prospects.

Got some interesting news? Updates on a special offer? Case study for a new product? Tell people! By keeping in touch regularly businesses will be at the forefront of their customer’s mind when they are ready to buy again.

Said Tony: “Communication and marketing shouldn’t be thought of as feast or famine, it should be continuous like grazing.”

Let’s Talk About V.A.T.

VAT rules alter according to the make-up of a mail pack so it pays to think about what content could be combined, or usage of one item changed. Subtle changes could save significant amounts of money in upfront costs.

Capture, capture, capture

Never miss an opportunity to record new information about customers and turn it into meaningful insight.

Online surveys, purchase history, social media interaction, feedback forms, reward schemes, web/pod-cast sign ups etc are all great ways to learn more about customers.

Tony commented: “The better businesses understand their customers the better they’ll be able to engage them with personalised, relevant messages, helping to increase response and build a relationship.

Integrate Your Campaigns

It is crucial to integrate and distribute marketing efforts across multiple channels such as direct mail, email, SEO, social, online ads and PR content to achieve the best possible uptake and visibility.

“When a campaign, its themes and its messaging are experienced at multiple touch points by a potential customer they are far more likely to interact or consider your brand when choosing their next supplier, especially if what they are seeing is personalised and relevant to them,” Tony said.

Digital Print for the Digital Age

Technology in the print industry has changed dramatically over the past decade with digital print allowing the print industry to catch up with the digital age. Any element of personalisation can now be printed to help create a bespoke communication with much more impact.

With this in mind, consider using digital print - it’s quicker and perfect for smaller, more targeted campaigns. If fundraisers want to go one step further and produce a more sophisticated campaign which addresses people on a more one-to-one basis using the intelligence held in their database (sex, age, location etc) new leading edge software systems such as Hello Market (www.hellomarket.co.uk) allow campaigns to be designed online, personalising them to suit each and every person on your database. The card/leaflet/brochure, or whatever format chosen, is then printed and mailed out by Hello Market.

Hello Market, owned and developed by DMP, the Yorkshire-based printer, allows businesses of all sizes to create tailored, personalised, dynamic communications. A sort of ‘Moonpig’ (and much more) for marketing materials, the design software is free to use – and you only pay for what is printed and mailed out.

-ends-

Notes:

(1) DMA 2015 Response Rate Report

www.hellomarket.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Michael Wright Kitchens and Interiors .