Change is one thing you can be certain of in life. With each year that passes, marketing goes through changes to the way it’s done, changes in the way it’s received and changes in the way it’s valued. As a critical element of push marketing, experts predict that some of the primary changes in store for direct mail in 2015 are:
Blurred Lines
Few customers want to be sold to. Most want to be informed, educated and entertained, until they decide for themselves whether to buy or not. Traditionally direct mail has been a “hard-sell” medium, focused on pushing the product at the prospect until he or she caves in and places an order. In 2015 and beyond, experts predict we’ll see a blurring of the line between inbound marketing and formerly outbound methods like direct mail. What this means is that your campaigns will have to take on more of a communications focus and less of a selling one to be successful.
Increased Simplicity
The competition for the customer’s attention has never been so high, and you have a second or three before your prospect decides whether to read your direct mail or trash it. The more complex it is the more likely he is to move on, so go back to basics with a design that’s simple, clean and geared towards catching his eye.
Niche Focus
Just because your marketing message appeals to one of your mailing lists doesn’t mean it will work for the others. Break up your target audience into the narrowest market segments possible, then tailor each direct mail campaign at a specific segment.
Test Diligently
Direct mail is one of the easiest forms of marketing to test. Before you spend megabucks on a huge campaign, run some A/B testing options to find out what works and what doesn’t. You can do this by compiling two different mailers for the same product and sending each to one half of a segmented sample. Then record where the responses come in from and which offer is delivering the best response, and analyze the results before you finalize your actual campaign.
Increase Personalization
As one expert puts it, “personalization is dripping with ROI!” And it’s true. Personalized offers are big in email marketing, but until now direct mail hasn’t really been able to optimize its use effectively. It’s different now that we have the technology to create personalization based on the data we collect about our prospects, using customized production methods that are hard to beat. As direct marketing evolves in 2015 and beyond, we’re going to see increased pressure to personalize every form of communication we send out.
Don’t get caught napping. Start working on your future marketing strategy today, so you can reap the benefits of direct mail in the future.
