Automated Direct Mail is the Most Overlooked Marketing Channel

I'm not going to read any of the 11,000 promotional emails that came in today.

If all these marketers can't reach me, how can I reach my customers?

As an agency owner, these questions constantly brew in the back of my mind. How can we reach our ideal personas? Deliver more value to our clients? Create less noise? How? How? How?

If you're an SMB owner, staying relevant can be a challenging objective. Wasting the others' time is also wasting your time in return. It's strange business karma.

So, how can you reach your ideal audience?

Automated direct mail si the answer for tech-savvy SMBs.

Gary V would tell you that direct mail is on its back legs

Gary V is a marketing guru who's all about looking forward and creating for the future. 

He's not a big fan of traditional marketing channels. And fair enough. Direct mail was uncool when your mailbox rained pet shop pamphlets and strange coupons nobody wants.

The world turned to digital mail. Channels like MailChimp and Facebook dominated the marketing world of the 2010s, and they still do. Channels like Facebook, Google, and Twitter would provide much deeper insights into customer's behavior for less of your money. Sounds perfect, right? 

And it is for some.

But. And there's a big BUT here.

The very man who complains about direct marketing is the first to send his target clients something special. Gary V is famous for surprising his clients with unique and unexpected gifts, which are very tangible and unique. 

He'll also advise you to do the same.

The value of digital media has eroded over the decades. It doesn't feel special anymore. You're not rocking your customer's mind by writing yet another email, regurgitating those same talking points they've heard a million times over.

Google, Amazon, and other internet leaders know this. That's why you're receiving their mail more often nowadays. In fact, Google is madly in love with direct mail.

Email is cool, but it's not as cool as a specially wrapped postcard with your design and customer's name on it.

Instead of being like everybody else, stand out. Send your leads something tangible and tailored.

Personalization is marketing

If the content is king, and context is god, then personalization is god's effective work.

Establishing relationships is the nature of good marketing. Everything else is just noise. Marketers connect with others and help them overcome current challenges. They don't shout from rooftops. They're not selling Ju-jitsu gear to fishermen. 

Marketing is about finding people who can realize their true potential with a better service.

So how to reach your ideal customers?

Automated Direct Mail

Creating a marketing campaign was a scary job back in the day. 

Two options were on the table. First, you could carpet-bomb entire countries with mass media and billboards, reaching everybody in sight. Second, you could send direct mail to the doorsteps of your potential clients.

Reaching specific leads was more sensible for small and medium businesses (SMBs). This is because they could invest less money targeting the ideal customers. 

But even with all the extra efficiency, using direct mail was a headache. You'd need a whole heap of experts before taking the campaign on the road.

• Graphic designer(s)
• Commercial printers
• Mailing list companies
• Postal service professionals

The cheaper option was anything but cheap. 

You'd need to pay a graphic designer(s) to build your ideas into reality. If their designs accidentally covered the address box on your letter, the postal service would reject your copy. Designs would vary in quality and sometimes miss to deliver the right message.

The biggest problem?

You can't see the darn thing before it's ready to ship. 

The underutilized marketing channel

Automated direct mail is an interesting choice because of not one but at least eight benefits for tech-savvy SMBs:

1. Drag and drop your designs with a Canva-like editor.
2. Create workflows that maximize visibility, engage with prospects and close more deals.
3. CRM integration and automated responses during the customer's lifecycle.
4. Advanced tracking with sophisticated QR codes and bounce metrics
5. Removing the risk of getting your mail rejected from the equation.
6. Save time. It takes 10min from idea to first scheduled delivery.
7. Target mail is well received. Customers end up reading it several times, totaling 30min on average.
8. Stand out with a tangible token of appreciation.

You can send individually targeted mail to web visitors within 48hr. In this case, automated mail is triggered by permission from a website visitor.

Non-converting web leads -> Personalized card delivery within 48hr -> Happy new customer.

Automated direct mail is just like email, only better. 

You don't need an agency, graphic designers, technical measures, or leeway for design error. With pay-as-you-go models - including the one we tested with Postalytics - you can eliminate the risk of sitting on too much redundant mail. 

Serious marketers can automate scenarios using IF functions, creating state-of-art systems.

Marketing is a pendulum

Trends swing back and forth. 

If something goes hard in one direction, it almost always swings back. Human nature is a pendulum, which applies to marketing, business, fashion, and any other industry.

So, how often do you receive personalized mail from your favorite brands? 

And how often do you receive emails from random shopping splurges?

Once everyone jumps on the same channel, it quickly becomes annoying and clunky. Who wants more email? Seriously.

Assumingly, you can't afford carpet bombing your way to customers' minds like Coca-Cola does every Christmas. And you shouldn't waste that much money. 

No sensible marketing VP would ever allow such nonsense.

But you still have to cut through the noise and reach the people that need your products and services. Otherwise, how can you keep your grow your business? Go where you have the most chance. 

So, where do SMBs stand the most chance?

Automated Direct Mail.