Every business or organization has an ideal audience. This is the person who wants what you have to offer and is most likely to respond to smart marketing about it. Every message you send out about your group must focus on their desire to get a good value for their time or money. When using direct mail, your subject line or headline makes the first impression. It must convince your audience to click through or read on.
In order for this to work smoothly, you must target the ideal customer effectively through business mail marketing. Each postcard or letter sent out has to have sufficient impact to convince the recipient to take action on your offer.
1 – Grab Attention Fast and Keep It
People are busy these days and inundated with content and marketing messages from all sides. This creates a challenge for direct mail marketers who need to compete with all the other content both online and off.
Gimmicks and secret code words will not get you where you want to be. Instead, develop direct mail that states your purpose clearly in an attention-grabbing way. The two most important things to share are a reason why your targeted market should care about the business mail, and why they should stick around to learn more.
These two marketing messages must be shared in the quickest way possible. The mailer itself does not have to be short, but it should be focused on what the target audience wants.
2 – Share Your Message Instead of Selling
Although it may seem counterintuitive to beginners, smart marketers know that giving value to a target audience is much more effective than selling to them. In the end, no consumers want to read a postcard or business mail about the history of your company or association or the interesting things you did. Your target audience wants to know what is in it for them.
People do not respond well to hard sells. Whether you mail them one on a postcard or use sales language in a long business mail, people are more apt to skim and then ignore if they don’t see any benefits for themselves. Keep things conversational and friendly.
Smart marketing to a target audience is not often like marketing at all. Forget the tricks and trigger words. Make every direct mail piece understandable and relatable. It should speak to your ideal audience and constantly remind them that the offer you make is for them and not your association or company.
3 – Stick To the Targeted Message
When creating a business mail to send to potential association members, customers, or clients, write so that all words serve your targeted message. Organization around the essential points of information means the audience will understand what you are trying to convey. Do not waste space sharing random information or trying to convince anyone about your point of view.
The story of each direct mail piece should not revolve around the products or membership you are trying to push. Instead, invite the highly targeted recipients to get involved with the story of your company and why working with it should make sense.
A clear, unified message helps your audience understand where you are coming from and why they should care. It helps them identify with the message and better make a decision about taking action. Any piece of content, including direct mail should answer the following questions:
Who? Determine the best demographics or groups for the targeted audience for your direct mail efforts. Speak to these people with every word of the postcard or letter.
What? Share whatever offer of value you have for people who are already interested in your company or the products or services.
Where? Is your offer specific to geographic location?
When? Offers with limited time constraints could get a faster response than open-ended ones.
Why? Every person who receives your direct mailer must be given a compelling reason why they should take action on your offer.
How? Different targeted audiences will respond in different ways. Give multiple methods for a response from a website address to a phone number and more.
The point of all direct mail is not to give your company a boost, but to instead convince the people who get the mails that they will get one if they respond to your smart marketing. Identify a problem or issue of concern, and reveal how you are going to solve it.
4 – Use the Best Direct Mail Method for the Audience
Intriguing content may the impetus for your target audience to take action on your business mail piece, but the audience will not get the message if it is not presented in an appropriate way. Different demographics respond to various types of mailers differently. For example, older professionals may appreciate a standard business envelope and proper letterhead while millennials may appreciate colorful postcards more.
When targeting your business mail campaigns, how you design the piece is as important as what words you use to convey your message and the ideal audience you send it out to.
