A decrease in leads? It’s time to restart your direct mail campaign
It is time to dust off your old mailing lists and hope that your designer still has their skills in Photoshop, otherwise you may end up with an influencer on Instagram with a picture of them lounging in their #vanlife.
Luckily, you are in Real Estate Heaven, a decrease in leads is never a problem! Here are the things you need to restart your direct mail campaign! Remember, that while the first step is completing any of these amazing courses, the second and possibly more important step is taking action even if it’s imperfect action.
The inventory of listings on the market is higher than before and sellers can’t always be as aggressive.
The summer months are typically a slower time for the market, as this is when light grocery stores clear out their excess inventory to make room for more seasonal products. Thanks to the lingering pandemic era, the market has a harder time forecasting due to all of the sidelined businesses.
Because homes aren’t selling, we need to get back to marketing them like we used to do and hope that email accounts don’t take the place of a real graphic designer. So, dust off the designs on your old lists and pray that your graphic designer didn’t take their Photoshop skills on the road to become a #vanlife influencer.
First, what is direct mail marketing?
Direct mail marketing is sending personal messages or brochures to customers in order to increase patronage.
With direct mail, you’re going to need a clear call to action and a way for your customers to contact you. Whether you have highly creative designs that hit your target market’s aesthetic or incredible minimal design is up to you.
A recent survey found that direct mail campaigns have a higher ROI than both paid search and online display ads. It was only 1 percentage point behind social media – the second highest ROI medium.
Other recent results also showed that direct mail’s response rate of 5.3% is higher than the 0.6% response rate for email. Direct Mail, which is something that is considered by many to be on the decline, still performs better than email because direct mail has some advantages over email marketing.
If you want to get that card game up to snuff again, here are some tools and tips.
If you are sending direct mail, your list is the key. The more targeted the better.
You can filter your email database according to contacts that you recently engaged with, or those who haven’t spoken in a while and those you’ve worked with in the last year.
The sale of mortgaged homes started to slow down about five years ago, and more recently the market for homeowners who want to refinance has experienced an uncertain atmosphere. Many homeowners—even those who didn’t refinance in the recent past—are now looking for the company’s help.
You can appreciate the address from your CRM’s search function and export it into your Campaign of Mailing Address Form. If they don’t, you can always contact support and have that service done for you. A lot of CRM tools have built-in address features. So, there is no need to leave your system to take care of this task.
You can also be creative with messaging.
If you are currently selling or buying, focus on developing your brand identity instead of being restrictive and hard selling. You want to show people who you are and remind them that you will always be there for them.
Your content should be educational, but brief. Avoid sharing information that Zillow subscribers already know, and don’t share market insights in social media or through email subscriptions. Be different.
Make a post that shows how owning your home or belonging to a community will improve your life! Share information about a local event you’re attending, or some community-related topic. Remember marketing isn’t just selling things, it’s building relationships.
All in all, please consider using the marketing department for even your most complex blog posts. Many CRMs provide templates for use and teams to work with those templates.
For example, it is possible to link your postcard back to a landing page that has a call-to-action or encourages the reader to download. Similarly, when designing your direct mail, make sure you have an easily identifiable way for the recipient to share their success.
Partnering up is also a good idea.
Many of the industries you work in have embraced technology-forward features for their marketing efforts and direct mail in the last few years. These features are partly why many CRMs now offer printing services. Competition has forced them to keep up– and there is no slowing down now.
If you’re still hesitant, Here’s are 7 reasons why direct mail campaign works:
- Direct mail is interactive.
With direct marketing, you can increase the ROI of your efforts, by increasing the visibility of your marketing to a broader group. Direct mail is designed for humans to respond and subsequently purchase.
If you include a promotional offer, coupon, or a CTA, your customers are more likely to retain the mailer.
- It’s memorable
Using personal touches like handwritten notes or signatures can help with being more memorable and evoke an emotional response. Small gestures like this can make your marketing more memorable.
- It reaches wider demographic
Traditional marketing, such as direct mail, can reach a wider demographic than electronic advertising. Marketing via paper can lead to more people becoming customers. Electronic advertising is more likely to miss some people because they don’t use social media or email.
- It offers a lot of ways to get creative
You can use social media and digital content marketing to complement your customer journey using direct mail.
An established marketing firm in Utah ran a campaign where they paid for people to make charitable donations by sending out a card. Once someone took the card, using a code on the back, it would bring up a news update about their company and what they stand for. This helped both customers and potential future customers learn more about the company, while also emphasizing their values right before Christmas.
Companies are using their direct mail content to engage more of their consumers’ senses.
Here’s a summary of some creative techniques employed by different companies.
- A Brazilian gym gave out calendars showcasing the effect of healthy and sustainable lifestyles. As the months progressed, the people in the calendar silhouette got slimmer, as if they were regularly exercising.
- To promote World Water Day, they sent out direct mailers with a message that only became visible when stopped in water.
- A marketing company in Australia sent out radio parts and directions on how to assemble the radios. When assembled, recipients are directed to tune in to a channel of the national defense force where they can hear an advertisement.
- Not as much competition.
Companies are scaling back their physical marketing efforts, and moving towards digital ones. Digital media is more environmentally friendly than physical and it also allows for a more timely effect as well.
As there are fewer companies on the direct mail scene, it’s easier to gain visibility.
Remember that most people will at least skim through their mail before throwing it into the trash, and a creative piece of mail has a much better chance of catching the recipient’s eye than your website does on search engines. People don’t expect direct mail as often in the modern age, and they aren’t distracted by the same distractions when looking through physical mail as they are when they’re online.
There’s a high chance that someone may not use your coupon or special offer right away, but they will later when they are in dire need of a particular product. They might stick it on their fridge or a board and let it hang out, so when they’re looking for a new pair of pants or a deal on power tools, you’ll be more likely to come up in their mind.
- Direct Mail is Trackable
Unlike Facebook Ads, you can’t track a Direct Mail Response Rate, ROI, or Engagement. Tracking direct mail response rates, ROI, or engagement is impossible but it can still be done with the right tools.
A lead generated on your website is different from a lead generated on your direct-mail campaign. They might be a customer who found your website through your direct-mail piece, or they could just be browsing the web. Lead generation is done differently on each campaign; while one leads to win, the other leads to not win.
But wait, we did just mention that Direct mail is trackable, right?
It’s a little more complex, but direct mail tracking is possible.
First, if your goal is to get someone to respond to your direct-mail campaign, choose a unique phone number for that campaign instead.
Similarly, You can create a unique landing page to track your results. If you’re marketing for website visitation, you’ll find out about the click through rates for your site.
When customers are on the landing page from a direct-mail advertisement, you’ll be alerted that it was among the source of traffic to your site.
Use a unique tracking device for your direct mail campaign. For example, you might put the phone number of an agency that can provide customer service on the flyer or an address at which homeowners can email with questions about how your company could save them money on their energy bill.
- It is for All Age Groups
In addition to its low cost, this has become one of the strongest reasons to still use press releases as a content distribution tool.
This is true if your marketing campaign includes email, Facebook Ads, or any other online marketing. The chances of reaching an older demographic isn’t very high.
Around 62% of people over the age of 70 years use a smartphone. That percentage decreases all the way to 17% as the age increases.
Only 46% of American adults over the age of 65 use Facebook. This is not that impressive, because while the number is on the rise, this still means more than half of older adults cannot be targeted on the most popular social media platform in the world.
Also the fact that seniors don’t access the internet.
Direct mail doesn’t just target young people. In fact, everyone is a potential customer because everyone checks the mail. Because of that, direct mail has its benefits.
You may be wondering How much does direct mail advertising cost?
If you’re running a direct mail campaign, it all depends on the materials you send, your budget and how targeted the campaign is. Ultimately, the more targeted people you send the mail to, the more your target will have to spend on your campaign.
Direct mail marketing strategies don’t have to be expensive with this affordable and lightweight email tool.
When sending a direct mail, you need to identify your customers with precision. Sending an advertisement to people who aren’t relevant is a waste of money. The local spa would be better off targeting the closest local residents who are more likely to purchase their services.
So what are the Dos and don’ts of direct mail?
For those interested in starting a direct mail campaign, here are some guidelines on how to do it more efficiently and have better results.
First thing you should do is define your audience.
What you need to do is think about what you are selling and who they would be best suited for. When it comes to direct marketing, there can be a lot of return on investment and engagement rates will increase. However, research your target market so that you don’t waste money targeted in the wrong location.
Second, you should run tests first.
Once you’ve defined your market and selected proper neighborhoods, test different methods to send out marketing. Make sure that in addition to following the etiquette of getting permission from residents, you’re also able to track who responds: Either use a unique coupon code or tracking phone number or just an email address set up specifically for the campaign.
Third, make sure you have a CTA or call to action.
The best marketing email still needs a call-to-action, or in other words, it is necessary to have it in a clear and concise way. For example, if you are trying to sell a product, the customer would likely be enticed to buy from you. If you want someone to donate money, then an option for giving it may be appropriately included.
Now, for don’ts.
First, Don’t forget to proofread your mailers.
You want your email to be your first impression, so make sure it’s free of typos and grammatical errors. You could either ask someone else to check over the copy or invest time in double-checking it yourself.
It is also important to make sure that content has a good flow and strikes the tone you want it for, whether professional or conversational. This means explaining why I am writing this blog post and keeping it on the same topic without diving too much into debates.
Second, Don’t forget to follow up.
This helps you build a database of engaged customers who are more receptive to your marketing. You can use this information to send out a short email complimenting their patronage and letting them know that you appreciate their support.
Third, Don’t forget to drive traffic to your online presence.
However valuable direct mail may be, it’s not the bulk of your marketing efforts, and your business will probably be mainly done online. One way to build an audience is to make people active on your social platforms. That way they can follow you without waiting for new mailers.
You now have more options with your digital marketing campaigns, like coupons and hashtag campaigns, when you link them to your physical route by using a QR code.
You may be asking, Is direct mail marketing better than email marketing?
When combined with traditional email marketing, direct mail can help increase website traffic and boost online engagement. Direct mail is ideal for behavior-based marketing because you don’t need to specify any extra parameters, which can be helpful for targeting quality leads when the market grows too saturated. Consider adding a QR code to your printed pieces for offline campaigns to increase web traffic from customers.
You can effectively target an audience with these strategies, and also learn what your audience is responding to. Mailers and email marketing are a great way to begin engaging customers.
Today’s popular apps make direct mail marketing effortless. The use of dynamic ads can create successful campaigns that target your online customers with unique, authentic messaging in a timely manner.
Contrary to popular belief, direct mail is not obsolete. Although it has been around for a long time, it is still effective in getting customer attention and connecting brands with the right customers. It is also an opportunity for you to stand out from other companies and choose this type of marketing over other forms of marketing.
Ask around the workplace. You would be hard-pressed to find a top producer who didn’t rely on mailing printed materials at some point.
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