Why No One Talks About Print Mail Anymore

Understanding Where Direct Mail & Print Marketing Fit In Today’s Culture

IP/ID Retargeting and Print Marketingopens IMAGE file Your mailbox is getting a little less love these days with many brands focusing marketing dollars on digital advertising over direct mail and print marketing.  And as you peruse social media feeds, you may not see people talking about print anymore. Why is that? While we are lovers of all things digital, we certainly haven’t written off the benefits of direct mail and print marketing strategies.

Print Mail Is Not Sexy

In our fast-paced culture, we like the new shiny objects.  Well, direct mail has been around since the pony express, so the new shiny-object appeal may have lost some of its luster.  However, just because direct mail has been around longer than display advertising, email marketing, or social media, that doesn’t mean that it has no place in our world today.  According to the recent DMA Fact Book, “56% of postcards are read by recipients, making them the direct mail piece most likely to be read.” Direct mail marketing clearly has a place if recipients are paying attention to them!

It’s Not Digital

As digital marketing experts, we’ll be the first to tell you that digital is amazing!  Digital marketing has a ton of great capabilities that print direct mail marketing simply does not have.  However, many of the digital media today appear the same to the end recipient. An internet user may not be able to distinguish between a pop-up ad, display ad, social media ad, or banner ad.  They don’t understand the intricacies that go into the retargeting strategy and the email campaign design.

This is where direct mail and print marketing shine!  Because printed materials are NOT digital, they are different.  Years ago, the opposite was true: digital stuck out of the crowd because marketers were not using digital ads.  Today, brands can stick out by employing direct mail marketing strategies. Recipients pay attention to (well-done) direct mail because it is not as common as it once was.

Direct Print Mail Marketing Is Not As Sophisticated

We just walked through how digital ads have intricacies to retarget users and follow them around the internet.  Marketers can get valuable intel on how users interact with the ads and how they respond to them.  But let’s consider that sometimes simpler is better. There are many situations where a simple print marketing campaign can make a stronger impact than a thousand digital ads.  Why? Because it’s simple. In our complex world, many times it is the simple messages are the ones that grab attention.

How Can You Make Direct Mail MORE Effective?

Can we let you in on a little secret?  Direct mail can be just as strategic as digital ads thanks to the power of data!  You don’t have to send thousands of mail out and just hope that it reaches the right people.  With IP targeting, Mobile Device ID targeting, and the information that accompanies each of these ID’s, we can hone in on exactly where your ideal customers live and what exactly they are interested in.  You can complement a digital campaign with a direct mail piece that is timed and ready to go for people who are already interested in your offer. We have graphed data on over 240 million US adults, matching verified offline data to confirmed online data. Our sophisticated identity resolution technology, Deterministix™ by Data-Dynamix, provides cross-channel marketing capabilities unlike any before. Direct mail campaigns have never been more powerful!

At Data-Dynamix, we also understand the power of a comprehensive marketing strategy that employs both digital and direct marketing techniques.  We advise our clients to have a planned strategy that can maximize their marketing dollars with the trends and marketing channels that make the most sense for their goals.  Digital can work with direct mail marketing to drive big results.

So what that no one is talking about print direct mail marketing?  We know it has a place in today’s marketing strategy. And, honestly, most savvy marketers know this too.  That’s why we’re talking about it.