What to Ask When Starting Your Integrated Direct Mail Campaign

A successful integrated direct mail campaign results from planning the various elements. To review, these types of campaigns combine direct mail with online marketing channels such as apps, landing pages, social media etc...When planning your campaign, consider the following important questions.

Now that we’ve established the benefits of implementing an integrated direct mail campaign, there are certain elements to take into consideration when outlining your new project. Give careful thought to each step in order to maximize your efforts and marketing dollars, and ask yourself these 10 questions.

1. What’s my strategy?
Before you begin anything, you need to have a well-thought-out plan. It often goes back to answering the simple “who, what, where, when, why” questions. Nevertheless, determining these answers will create a streamlined and focused campaign. You don’t want to end up wasting your marketing budget due to poor planning and preventable errors.

2. What are my goals and objectives?
Of course every company wants to increase sales, but you have to be more specific. Your goal should align with the type of call-to-action you’ll be including in your campaign (we’ll discuss that in another bullet). Here are a few examples of clear and achievable goals:

• 1,000 additional email registrations
• 15% increase in Facebook fans, Twitter followers, Instagram followers, Pinterest followers, YouTube subscribers
• 10% special offer redemption conversion
• 500 free trial sign-ups
• Reach a new, specific audience
• Remind current customers
• Brand awareness
• Increase blog subscriptions
• Test marketability of current database
• Educate and inform about new product/service
• Collect data
• Cross-promote another marketing channel
  

3. Who's my target market?
You should already have an idea of who your target market includes, but this doesn’t mean it can’t change. Different campaigns can be targeted to different audiences such as your current customers, prospect list, existing database, social media audience, and even those who fit certain criteria (geography, gender, age, interests, occupation). Target your campaign to a focused audience. Just because your product or service could be used by anyone and everyone doesn’t mean you should try targeting anyone and everyone.

4. What’s the message I want to send?
Marketing is about communicating a clear message to the end-user. There’s a reason jingles should be catchy, Twitter hashtags should be short and simple, and your tagline should be memorable. Take the time to craft creative copy that directly portrays what you’re trying to communicate, and be sure your message stays true to your brand.

5. What’s my call-to-action?
In addition to a clearly communicated message, you must include a no brainer call-to-action. The whole purpose of an integrated direct mail campaign is to provoke action. This could include:

• Scanning a QR code
• Visiting a landing page
• Becoming a Facebook fan, Twitter follower, YouTube subscriber, Pinterest follower, Instagram follower
• Watching a video
• Sharing a photo
• Redeeming a special offer with an online code or flyer
• Entering an email address
• Downloading a free white paper
• Submitting a contact form
• Taking a quiz

6. What components am I going to include?
The beauty of an integrated direct mail campaign is that you have a variety of mediums you can include in your campaign instead of just one mailer. It may make sense to also include an e-newsletter, social media promotion, unique landing page utilizing PURLs (personalized URLs), videos, and photos. You’ll also want to consider offering a contest, sweepstakes, special offer, or freebie.

7. What will the design look like?
We are constantly bombarded by hundreds of ads each day. Your integrated direct mail campaign must be unique and well-designed since you only have a few seconds to catch your recipient’s attention. Include eye-catching fonts, visually stimulating colors, and crisp images. Too often, companies try to jam every detail into a small space. Less is more. Think clean and simple.

8. Who’s responsible for implementing what?
There are many aspects to an integrated direct mail campaign. Each component should be well-managed which means tasks need to be delegated and deadlines need to be established. A fully-integrated campaign may include a team of graphic designers, social media strategists, copywriters, salespeople, PR representatives, web developers, SEO managers, and printers. Clear communication will be vital to your success, and keeping everyone informed will create a cohesive campaign.

9. How am I going to measure ROI and what variables are important to me?
Determining your ROI will depend on your goals and calls-to-action. Examples could include:

• Website traffic
• Social media traffic
• Increase in social media fans and followers
• Click-thru-rates
• Impressions
• Reach
• Redemptions
• Sales

There are many tools to measure ROI ranging from native software analytics to Google analytics to Facebook insights. Compare and contrast different options to find the best fit for you.

10. How much will everything cost?
If we had all the money in the world, we wouldn’t need an integrated direct mail campaign. You have to determine what your budget permits for your marketing efforts and allocate your resources appropriately. There will be obvious costs like your workforce and other, less obvious, variable costs you’ll need to consider such as quantity of colors used in printing your mailer.

There are many components that make up a well-executed integrated direct mail campaign. If you do your research, plan ahead, and executive effectively, you’re sure to reach your marketing goals. In our next post, we’ll guide you through the necessary steps to develop an effective direct mailer. We also invite you to learn more about conducting a direct mail campaign and contact us if you're interested in starting your own campaign.