Most businesses would agree that it’s important to stand out from the competition. Differentiation is key to business success, and a lot of businesses use their marketing—including their direct mail marketing to help make that differentiation.
There is, however, more to differentiation than simply looking different. Sure you want your direct mailings to reflect your company’s personality. But there’s more to direct mail success than just doing direct mail differently—you really need to do it better.
Here are four areas in which it’s important to stand out from the crowd by doing your direct mail better than the competition.
1. Strategy
It’s important to out-think the competition before you begin direct mail projects. That includes doing research on your clients and understanding them better than your competition. You’ll want to create a persona for your ideal customers that includes much more than demographic details. You’ll want to know what topics interest them; what struggles they face, and what questions they have. Then you’ll need to focus the content of your mailings to address those things. And you’ll want to do that in an innovative way: Keep looking for new ways to present the information they want.
2. Design
You’ll want to pay attention to your brand. You want to make sure that anything that comes from you is recognizable and is immediately associated with your company. But once again, you’ll want to be innovative and creative. You’ll want to grab attention—but you’ll want to keep your audience in mind. Bold and edgy design may be great for a younger audience, but could actually prevent your message from reaching an older, more conservative audience.
3. Copy
There is no doubt about the visual impact a well-designed mailing can have. You want to grab attention. But visuals alone won’t get the job done. Your copy has to inform readers and guide them to specific action. It’s essential that your copy clearly communicates important information (answers to questions your audience has) and that it solicits a specific response. You don’t just want people to read your mailing—you want them to respond to it. Your copy has to make that happen.
4. List
It’s impossible to overstate how critical having the right list is. It doesn’t matter how great your strategy is, how outstanding your design or how perfectly crafted your copy is if you are mailing to the wrong people. It’s so important to maintain a good in-house list or to rent the right outside mailing list. Just because you have a valid name and address doesn’t guarantee you have someone who wants to hear what you have to say.
If you focus on those four areas, your direct mail efforts will stand out. You’ll be reaching the right people with the right message—a message they want to hear