At some point, you’ve probably heard a reason or two not to use direct mail or print marketing. But we’re here to explain why it does work—and why the naysayers might not have all the facts. We’ll discuss 10 reasons not to use direct mail (and why they’re all wrong), using real data and examples to back it up. If you’ve ever considered trying direct mail or print marketing but someone steered you away from it because they didn’t have the full picture, this article is for you.
The biggest myth circling right now: direct mail doesn’t work. The people spreading this rumor are the same ones who are utilizing digital the most—and utilizing direct mail the least. They might have never tried print marketing at all. They might have briefly tried a print campaign, only to get subpar results because they didn’t do it correctly (didn’t allocate the proper budget, didn’t do a great job with the content or design, etc.). As with any method of marketing, there’s a right way and a wrong way to create print ads.
To get successful results from your direct mail or print marketing campaign, the key is first determining who your best audience is or where the best local ZIP codes are for sending. Next, you need to design a compelling layout, content and imagery. After that, your marketing needs to be printed, finished and delivered to the right places at the right time.
Want to learn the right way to create your direct mail and print advertisements? Discover effective Layout Tips for Effective Print Marketing.
Myth: Direct mail is too expensive. Reality: Print marketing does cost a little more since it uses tangible materials and stamps. However, the USPS mailing incentives make it more affordable, and the short- and long-term ROI is well worth your time and money.
Related Blog: How to Use USPS Mailing Incentives to Lower Direct Mail Costs
While paying extra for stamps and delivery seems intimidating, the extra boost you get from local visibility and real, tangible ads offers a great incentive. Digital is fantastic for creating a vast presence in the world, but print marketing and direct mail offer specific local foot traffic and more immediate consumer responses. While digital goes everywhere and a very small percentage of people see it, print mail is the opposite—it goes out to very specific ZIP codes and results in more widespread interest within a given area.
Basically, the “expense” of the stamps is worth every cent—because the ROI is often higher and offers a greater, more immediate nudge than digital can. In combination with coupons and discounts, there’s a huge appeal to print mail and direct mail.
One of the biggest widespread rumors: Print is dead. We don’t know about you, but we still receive the occasional letter and flyer in the mail—and it still works.
Have you ever been excited about the weekly grocery circulars or flyers because they offer an immediate way to save? Or have you ever collected restaurant and fast food coupons and tucked them away in your drawer next to your keys, in your wallet or the console in your car? If you have, this is proof that print isn’t dead. It’s most definitely alive and well.
Sure, more people are using digital, and fewer print ads find their way into your inbox—but that just means that your print marketing efforts stand out even more. Which means that when you do invest in direct mail, there’s an even greater chance that it won’t get lost in a sea of mail and will make an even bigger impact. Curious to see how print works?
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One might think that direct mail isn’t very sustainable when you consider paper usage—especially in comparison to digital marketing. In fact, the argument is often that digital marketing is more sustainable than print marketing by far, since it doesn’t use trees. However, the reality is actually quite different when you consider e-waste and the amount of power used to run technology and its various components.
The reality of this myth is that direct mail and print marketing are on relatively equal playing fields when it comes to a carbon footprint. While print uses trees, digital uses energy. Unfortunately, both are wasting resources. So, if sustainability is your guiding factor, it’s not about print versus digital. It should be about what you can do to minimize your carbon footprint and resource waste.
That’s why it’s so important to select a print marketing company that values sustainability and offers ways to reduce waste and choose eco-friendly materials while also helping you create better ads that offer a higher ROI. That way, fewer resources are wasted during your campaign.
Another great thing about direct mail and print is that the USPS offers a sustainability discount to companies that choose to mail using a responsible source and eco-conscious materials. That means you can save money and reduce your carbon footprint.
Explore Sustainability in Print Mail
While some people are spreading the rumor that digital marketing works better than direct mail, it’s not true. It simply works differently. Sometimes digital marketing is going to work better, and sometimes direct mail and print marketing are going to work better. But more than that, they work the best together.
Digital mail and direct mail offer very different benefits—but most companies can benefit from both. The question should never be whether you should opt for digital OR direct mail. You should only be considering how you can utilize both to get your best results. Neither option “wins” unless you utilize them together for your best results.
Related Blog: Print Ads vs. Digital
Both direct mail and digital marketing only take as long as you need to. No process is necessarily faster than the other when it comes to creation time. In fact, ads for print marketing and ads for digital marketing frequently look very similar.
The only thing that technically takes longer is the mailing process. However, even that is relatively quick if you think about it. With digital marketing, you often create the piece and schedule it to be sent a few days, weeks or even months before it actually publishes. Print marketing and direct mail are on very similar wavelengths. The difference is that you simply send your design off to the printer instead of drafting and scheduling it.
Plus, with the right print marketing companies, they’ll do every step for you. Here at Signature Graphics, we offer turnkey services that include design, print, finishing and delivery. You can choose to get a la carte services or you can utilize our comprehensive offering. We can effectively help you create a campaign that works for you and your brand—in just as much time as your digital marketing team takes to create and schedule your ads (if not faster).
Let’s be real. The only people saying direct mail only works for older generations are probably the younger people who aren’t checking their mail every day—or the people who are so invested in digital marketing that they aren’t aware of the marketing magic that direct mail has to offer. While they are partially right in saying that direct mail works for older generations (AKA the people not on social media), it appeals to a younger crowd, too.
Tell me someone who wouldn’t be excited about a coupon from their favorite restaurant popping up in their mailbox. Even if your consumer typically throws these coupons straight in the garbage, they still affect them whether they like it or not—because they still saw it. That, my friend, is what we call an “open rate” in the print marketing world. If they touched it, saw it for a split second and threw it away, that’s still a success.
Let’s talk actual statistics, though. According to the USPS, 62% of millennial respondents said that they visited a store in the past month based on information they received in the mail. In a world drowning in digital information, print marketing and direct mail are a welcome reprieve to many.
So, we’re not sure who came up with this myth, but you most definitely can target audiences with direct mail and print marketing. The whole point of direct mail is to send mailings to more relevant audiences. There is geographical technology available to simplify your audience, send to the appropriate places and hone in on specific ZIP codes and relevant areas. It’s not like playing a game of Russian roulette with where your ads are sent. There’s deep research included to find the right mark and more interested consumers. You’d be surprised just how specific these mailings can get with the right print marketing company and tools.
Measuring direct mail results is easier than ever with the right tools in place. While traditional print mail was a little harder to track, it wasn’t impossible. Nowadays, tracking and measuring the effectiveness of print marketing campaigns is as easy as adding a QR code or landing page to the mailing. Every consumer who scans the QR code or heads to that landing page is automatically counted. These statistics can later be used to complete A/B testing for ads, be used to determine a better buyer persona, track campaign performance and more.
In some ways, yes, digital marketing is cheaper when you’re talking about the actual material costs. In other ways, no. Direct mail has such a high profit return that the initial investment becomes irrelevant.
While you do have to pay for materials and stamps in print marketing and direct mail, it ultimately has such a high ROI, open rate and long-term effects that it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Unit costs can be higher, but it’s also much cheaper than you might think when you consider the conversion rates, USPS discounts and other factors.
After seeing these common direct mail and print marketing myths, you can probably see the reality of just how well print can work in your next campaign. These 10 reasons not to use direct mail (and why they’re all wrong) just show how powerful print marketing can be.
If you saw something you could get behind, now might just be the time to start your next direct mail or print marketing campaign. Here at Signature Graphics, we can help you design, print, assemble and deliver your marketing materials. Are you ready to enhance your ROI and increase your brand awareness today?