Is Your Direct Mail Social?

Why integrating your marketing efforts should be one of your top priorities. 

Did you know that research still shows that 60% of consumers prefer receiving physical marketing materials, such as direct mail postcards, versus emails. In fact, some of the most recognizable brands, such as Google, spend millions of dollars from their marketing budgets on the printing and mailing of direct mail pieces. Why? Just as I mentioned before, some audiences are more responsive to physical mail and therefore it is important to integrate your marketing efforts.

Integrating your marketing efforts means that if your company has gone social, it will be important for you to incorporate your social media into your traditional media campaigns. See DIAGRAM 1 for a comparison between types of traditional vs. new media. I’ve said it a million times and I will keep saying it, just because you build it, doesn’t mean that people are going to visit your social profiles. 

DIAGRAM 1

Ways You Can Integrate Social Media into Traditional Media Outlets

Add your social profile names and logos to your traditional media items

• Be SPECIFIC - put the direct URL to the page. (i.e. facebook.com/bigredprinting)
• Add a social component to your traditional media (make your offer social!)
• Offer a discount, offer a discount for sharing the discount on social media, offer a free whitepaper for liking your page
• Post your offline campaigns to your social profiles
• Create events to entice recipients to join you online

It is important to remember that as you plan your direct mail campaigns, you should simultaneously be also planning your email messages, Facebook status updates, blog posts and tweets so that they all complement each other. 

Sources: socialmediab2b.com, yellowbook360.com