Direct Mail (DM) advertising graphic design in Ottawa

Today, many businesses have turned away from direct mail. The main reason is the need for marketing channels that can be tracked and measured.

Nonetheless, direct mail remains an easy solution for those striving to grow their businesses and retain customers. For instance, recent research shows that the response rate for email is a mere 0.6%. The rate for direct mail is far better, at 5.3%.

We are now going to demonstrate:

1.     Why direct mail is essential to your business 

2.     Three examples of creative and successful DM Graphic Advertising Design

YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS DIRECT MAIL

The fact is, direct mail remains immensely powerful, despite recent advances in technology. Indeed, investment in direct-mail marketing is an excellent choice, and we’ll give you four reasons why.

1. You notice it more than email

Every day, more than 200 billion emails are delivered, of which nearly 66% go unopened. You may try personalising your emails or making them more relevant. Nevertheless, most of your potential clients receive so much junk in their inbox that even a well-designed email will likely be ignored.

Compared with email campaigns, direct mail achieves far better rates of delivery and opening. When people receive physical mail, 77% open it immediately.

Direct mail allows you to get around the barrier of overwhelming email fatigue and place your message in front of high-intent potential customers who will actually read it. Direct mail is innately more visible simply because you can touch and hold it.

2. It’s an effective gateway to key target customers

Direct mail lets you focus on specific target customers and tailor your message accordingly. To use the strategy to best effect, take time to consider which potential customers are most likely to be attracted to your services or products. When you’ve done so, you can focus your effort on segments where your chance of success is greatest – thus saving money and time.

Direct marketing allows you to exploit market data more effectively. You can segment audiences by factors such as income, purchasing behaviour and location. In this way, you direct your efforts to high-intent, relevant customers. To repeat, this saves you valuable money and time that would otherwise be wasted on unproductive ads.

3. It builds trust between customers and your business

Less than a quarter (actually, 22%) of customers trust emails they receive from unknown brands or businesses.

Customers often perceive unsolicited emails as scam or phishing, and let’s face it, they’re often right. Hardly surprising, then, that such a vast proportion of advertising emails aren’t even opened. Conversely, research indicates that direct mail is perceived as ‘reliable’ by a huge 90% of the 25-35 age group. Put simply, direct mail is trusted far more than email or online advertising.

Direct mail also allows you to make use of eye-catching or exciting packaging. (How much more interesting than yet another bland email in the inbox.) You can personalize and tailor direct-mail messages so that they feel more like a gift than a marketing ploy. The more attractive the envelope, the more likely the customer is to open it. The only limit is your imagination. You may even choose to include a freebie or two – guaranteed to pique the reader’s interest and keep your brand at the front of his/her mind.

The personalization that direct mail allows makes customers believe that you care about them and that you’re attentive to them as individuals. This impression feeds directly into a greater likelihood of their trusting your products and services. Companies that embrace direct mail give themselves the opportunity to pursue a tailored strategy that potential clients will perceive as unique.

4. It gives you better returns on your money

Trying to market to everyone is hugely wasteful. Direct mail, as we’ve already said, lets you target your campaigns far more effectively, generating a much better return on investment.

Just as importantly, before you fully implement your campaign, you can organise mailing tests to find the best possible combination of design, audience and offering.

What’s more, potential customers may come back to a piece of direct marketing again and again. If their interest is aroused, they may place it on their desk or even attach it to a cupboard or fridge. This compares extremely well to the attention window of the average marketing email, which is seconds, if it is ever opened at all.

3 INSTANCES OF CREATIVE DM GRAPHIC ADVERTISING DESIGN

Create a mascot or character

A friendly character helps potential customers identify with a company’s message. It humanises the brand. To promote good design principles, for instance, the Society of Design Etiquette campaign (see illustrations) uses four eye-catching mascots.

Creative use of die-cut windows

You can promote your company’s brand and message in unusual ways by exploiting die-cut windows. See, for example, ‘Get Rid of Your Roots’, a high-concept promotion by the hairdresser Caroline Henson. The customer is encouraged to ‘drain away’ the dark elements in a yellow design. Very effectively, the promotion highlights the results of removing black or brown roots from dyed blonde hair.

Why not make the opening process fun?

As well as experimenting with content, you can even attract the prospect’s attention by the way he or she opens the envelope. For instance, Warren Hardy for BMW imitated the path of a car through a field of snow by adding a perforated pull-tab to a direct-mail shot. Immediately, the customer’s interest is raised by this eye-catching technique.

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