Introduction
In this digital day and age in which we live, convenience is the most important thing that people value. That convenience extends to the ways in which people want to receive advertising and marketing materials. However, despite this, advertising direct mail is still an extremely effective way to reach people to promote products, organizations and much more. Sometimes referred to as junk mail, advertising direct mail is in itself a huge industry that transcends a variety of businesses and non-profit organizations. There are a great deal of benefits with advertising direct mail, both for businesses, organizations and customers as well.
Step 1
The first benefit to advertising direct mail is the ability to reach people through a medium in which they are guaranteed to see it, their mail. People check their mail on a daily basis, and affect advertising direct mail can engage them at the time that they check their mail. Unless a person was to throw away every single piece of mail that he or she receives, a piece of advertising direct mail is guaranteed to at least get a look from that person. After that, its anyones guess whether or not the person will actually open it, but receiving it and seeing the piece is the first step in the process.
Step 2
Another benefit of advertising direct mail is the ability to reach a wide audience of people. A big thing in advertising direct mail are the rentals of different mailing lists. These mailing lists are exchanged among businesses and organizations and in many cases are based on target audiences. For example, if a business wants to target sports fans for advertising direct mail, that business may rent a mailing list from a magazine like Sports Illustrated or ESPN. That way, they're reaching their target audience and have access to a large number of potential future customers for a relatively low cost to them.
Step 3
Advertising direct mail also has the benefit of creativity. The sky is the limit when it comes to advertising direct mail, as the more creative pieces are usually the ones that best engage the people who receive them. This comes down to everything from the design of the envelope and the color to the fonts used on the inner pieces. Don't forget about the importance of reply slip design so that interested parties can respond to you in a timely manner.
Step 4
The relatively low cost of advertising direct mail is something else that businesses and non-profit organizations appreciate. It only costs pennies (and sometimes even less) to send a piece of mail, particularly at a bulk rate. While many people will throw away their advertising direct mail, if enough people respond, the return on the initial investment will be well worth it.
Step 5
Despite the bad impression that some people have of it, advertising direct mail is still something that many people actually do enjoy receiving. Believe it or not, some people love to respond to as many advertising direct mail pieces as they can handle. For some, they simply like the attention. Other people just love receiving mail. There is a sense of a more personal connection from receiving a physical piece of mail that can't be replaced by TV, email or social media.
