Sometimes businesses get caught up with one particular form of marketing. For some it may be whatever has worked for them in the past. They’re familiar with it and they’re comfortable doing it. They don’t want to rock the boat—or learn something new. Other companies are enamored with whatever the newest technology is. They jump in with both feet—and often put all their marketing eggs in one basket, whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Unfortunately, that generally doesn’t turn out so well.
Marketing today, however can’t afford to be a one-sided endeavor. A “tag team” approach is often much more effective.
A perfect example of that approach is combining and coordinating two long established marketing tools—email marketing and direct mail marketing—to reach existing clients and generate more business. You can use one method to set up the other—and make it more effective.
Let’s say your business has a new product or service you’d like to make existing customers aware of. You can send a simple “teaser” card mailing out to your existing customers that hints at what your new product or service is. You don’t have to provide anything in the way of details—just tease clients with information about how this will benefit them. Follow this up with a similarly designed short email. Again, you don’t have to give away the details. Both pieces should point customers to your website where “all will be revealed!” Once on your site, you can let your customers delve into as much information and detail as they want.
The fact is that sometimes businesses are so focused on finding new business that they overlook their existing customers and clients. That can be a huge mistake because these people have already established a relationship with you. And if they’ve already given you their email address, they’ve basically given you permission to contact them again.
Of course you need to be careful not to abuse this trust. You don’t want to constantly sell in your conversations with them. Give them information they’re genuinely interested in. Respect their right to unsubscribe (and make it easy to do). And never give out their information to others.
Using email in concert with direct mail can increase the effectiveness of your message. Multiple messages (if they’re good messages) are more likely to be received. And you’re more likely to get a response. Here’s a helpful post that offers you some additional ideas about how to integrate your other marketing efforts with your direct mail efforts.
If your direct mailings aren’t having the impact you want, you might think about teaming them up with other efforts to multiply your impact!
