Blog Archives

Direct mail is a tough means of marketing to master, and many fulfillment companies have burned the midnight oil trying to get their direct mail copy, graphic content, and mail packaging structure right so they appeal to audiences.

But more importantly, there are some mistakes to avoid, and doing so can save you time and money while making your business more successful.

Below are six of the most common mistakes that you need to avoid in your direct mail marketing activities, especially if you’re a rookie to the field:

It might be hard to believe that, even in this day and age, direct mail still has a purpose. After all, with the current move to digital, it might be shocking to learn that direct mail marketing has a place.

You might have heard the usual criticisms of direct mail: high front-end costs, low returns, and wasted paper. However, here are nine good reasons why direct mail marketing is beneficial to fulfillment businesses:

1. Higher Response

While e-mail marketing can be engaging, it’s hard to get clients to respond to e-mail marketing pieces. On the other hand, a recent Direct Marketing Association study revealed that there’s a 10% to 30% greater response to direct mail than e-mail.

2. More Trustworthy

If you’ve watched the news lately, you’re likely aware that many people don’t trust electronic information, thanks to the amount of hacking and personal information leaks. This has created a real concern about privacy and individual rights, even when it comes to something as basic as connecting with links on an e-mail marketing page. Direct mail, however, doesn’t have this sort of issue, so there are no issues with trusting and sharing personal information when using it.

3. Higher Delivery Rate

Despite what you may have heard about mail services, most direct mail lists are over 90% deliverable. Compare that with e-mail, where only 50% are deliverable and a lot of it, thanks to Google’s algorithms, is treated as spam. In lieu of these technical restrictions, direct mail can reach people more successfully.

4. No Inbox Overload

There’s a lot of e-communication these days; some might say too much, as many inboxes get flooded. And let’s face it, a lot of those e-mails are deleted without being read. With direct mail, that’s not the case; while people do throw away direct mail as well, recent Epsilon studies show that over 70% of people go through and inspect their mail in hopes of finding new discounts or promotions. This means people aren’t as apt to toss direct mail out as quickly as they do e-mail.

5. Less Competition

With so many companies jumping on the e-mail marketing bandwagon for their fulfillment services, direct mail marketing is seeing a lot less competition. Whether it’s a handwritten letter or a paper greeting card, some people enjoy receiving a direct mail promotion simply because it’s become so uncommon. This creates a new form of appeal for direct mail.

6. The Personal Touch

Electronic material suffers from the age-old stigma of being “cold,” much like a lot of other technology. And as nice looking as electronic marketing material can appear, it is also mediated information; this isn’t helped by the fact that the sheer amount of it can often cause people to feel alienated. On the other hand, people tend to respond better to personalized direct mail that showcases interesting things they may wish to purchase.

7. More Selective

It’s hard for direct e-mails to target specific audiences the way you want. However, direct mail lists allow you to do just that by, as the name implies, directing your mail to those clients that would be interested in your products or services. And if you have segmented mailing lists, those can still help to push marketing pieces to the right people.

8. Safety

There are concerns about using electronic media, and with good reason: viruses and identity theft are becoming common problems. If this is a major concern for you, know that direct mail marketing is a safer alternative. While not flawless, direct mail means you don’t have to worry about some of the safety problems that come with the use of technology, particularly matters concerning personal information.

9. Action Generation

As noted, even if it doesn’t register as spam, a lot of e-mail marketing winds up being deleted from inboxes as fast as it got there; people just don’t like reading it, while they may show a preference for direct mail. The data supports this: according to statistics, 12% to 23% of people followed up on direct mail they received versus nine percent following up on an e-mail marketing piece. This information speaks for itself regarding how direct mail generates action from the public.

While there’s nothing bad about e-mail marketing, there’s still something to be said about direct mail. It has a potency with people that want something “real” in their consumer media.

Need solutions to your product fulfillment problems? APS Fulfillment, Inc. has the knowledge and services to make your direct mail and product fulfillment ventures more successful. Contact APS Fulfillment, Inc. by e-mail at [email protected], visit their web site at www.apsfulfillment.com, or phone at (954) 582-7450.

It is constantly predicted that direct mail is heading towards extinction due to being viewed as an archaic method. But that’s not the whole story. As old-school as direct mail may seem, it still has a future in product fulfillment.

The Good News

Many direct marketing companies based in Miami have reported that while business-to-business (B2B) has been dominated by e-marketing, direct mail marketing has controlled business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing. This implies that people still respond well to direct mail.

There also seems to be a revival of companies using direct mail because they have the people that actually know how to use it. That’s because e- and m-marketing have become the preference, but are still being learned, while those skilled in direct mail marketing have already had the time to master it.

New Directives

While direct mail may have a future, there’s no guarantee it’s going to work for your company. If you’re going to engage in direct mail, keep in mind these things that you’ll require.

1.  The Right Staff

As mentioned before, you have to have staff on-hand that know about direct mail, people with training and experience in how to create and execute a direct mail campaign. Whether it’s how to write proper copy and calls-to-action or knowledge about design formats or how to test to see which pieces get the most response, you need to employ the right people.

2.  Modern Designs

Graphic design has changed a lot over the last decade, such as the introduction of 3D graphics. If you’re going to incorporate direct mail, it’s necessary to use your design tactics effectively if your direct mail is going to have any visual appeal.

3.  Full Integration

No matter how enthusiastically you approach your direct mail work, it’s not likely going to be enough to fully market your fulfillment company; you’re also going to need to be knowledgeable about online and mobile marketing, as they’re too prevalent to ignore. By integrating these marketing forms, both physically and electronically, you can better engage your clients.

4.  Bar Codes and NFC

Combining direct and digital marketing together may sound impossible, but consider how some businesses are placing discount bar codes on direct mail pieces that can be redeemed at physical locations or on the company web site. You can also use near field communication (NFC) technology to transfer promotions and information via smartphones and tablets. These are just two examples of how to combine two disparate marketing services.

5.  Creativity

Creativity is an absolute necessity for any medium or it risks dying off. It’s up to you to research your field and apply the necessary marketing techniques to design creative, relevant direct mail. It can take the form of new graphics, messages regarding current promotions, or even coupons.

Need solutions to your product fulfillment problems? APS Fulfillment, Inc. has the knowledge and services to make your direct mail and product fulfillment ventures more successful. Contact APS Fulfillment, Inc. by e-mail at [email protected], visit their web site at www.apsfulfillment.com, or phone at (954) 582-7450.

Marketing is hard enough, no matter what the medium. But with the advent of the Internet, there are new marketing strategies available. When it comes to product fulfillment, one viable option is e-mail marketing, which is cheap and always effective for both business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) marketing. Here are some tips to help make e-mail marketing a dependable client strategy:

No product fulfillment business can make due with just one piece of marketing material; new content must be created regularly. However, sometimes your business may struggle with a period where you’re struggling for ideas or the existing marketing is being poorly received. In these instances, you need to apply creative thinking to generate new ideas, then test and experiment to see which of those ideas has the potential to bring in new clients.