Why Penetration Reports Are Important To Success

What is a penetration report?

A penetration report gives you the ability to target direct mailing efforts further than zip code mailing. Targeting areas where your products and services are more likely used, ensuring your marketing budget is used effectively. Penetration reports allow us to target the neighbors of your customers, those that are more likely to be interested after hearing about you.

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USPS Informed Delivery from Spectrum

Informed Delivery from Spectrum Mail Plus

Direct Mail With Informed Delivery® By USPS®

Informed Delivery from Spectrum Mail Plus

What Is Informed Delivery® Email Service?

SEE WHAT’S COMING IN THE MAIL

Informed Delivery® is a free subscriber based email notification service offered by the United States Postal Service. Residential consumers receive a digital preview of their household’s incoming mail scheduled to arrive soon directly in their email inbox! Informed Delivery® allows subscribers to view greyscale images of the exterior, address side of letter-sized mailpieces and track packages in one convenient location.*

Users can also view their incoming mail by using the free USPS Informed Delivery App anytime, anywhere on your phone or tablet.

ADD DIGITAL TO DIRECT MAIL

Informed Delivery® offers businesses the opportunity to engage users through a digital advertisement along with their scanned mail piece that generates additional consumer impressions, interactions, and insights.
*Images are only provided for letter-sized mail pieces that are processed through USPS’ automated equipment.
Spectrum USPS Informed Delivery

How Does Informed Delivery® Work For Consumers?

Users have the ability to view grayscale images of the exterior, address side of letter-size mailpieces arriving soon. And in some cases with oversized mail, a full-color representative image. Mailpiece images are available via email notification, online dashboard, or mobile app.
  1. Consumer signs up for Informed Delivery® on USPS.com.
  2. Mail is scanned at the USPS sectional facility producing an image during processing.
  3. Images are matched to delivery points and mailer interactive campaigns are applied.
  4. User receives mail piece images via Informed Delivery® daily email.
  5. User receives physical mail pieces in their mailbox.
ID Phone Mailbox Spectrum Mail Plus
USPS Informed Delivery color ride-along image

What Value Do Informed Delivery® Campaigns Add?

INFORMED DELIVERY® CAN HELP BUSINESSES INCREASE THE REACH OF THEIR MARKETING CAMPAIGN THROUGH A SYNCHRONIZED PHYSICAL AND DIGITAL TOUCHPOINT.

  • Great Open Rates – 61% of subscribers open their daily Informed Delivery® email
  • Know exactly how many people are checking their mail digitally
  • Increase Interaction – And impressions by adding a digital ride along advertising image to your grey scale mail piece scan
  • Increase Website Traffic – The ride along advertisement provides a link to your campaign page before the mailer hits homes.
  • More Bang for Your Buck! – Potentially increase ROI with additional impressions and clicks lead to sales!
  • Increase Brand Recognition – Each view adds to your overall brand recollection.
  • Encourage Faster Consumer Responses – Ads with offers, interactive content, and a clear call-to-action related to mail piece.
  • Additional Campaign Performance & Data Insights – Further optimize your marketing spend.
Informed Delivery Icon

Informed Delivery® Subscriber Statistics

Over 52 Million Subscribers And Counting

Signups Increasing By 18% Year Over Year Growth

66% Of People Open Their Alerts/Emails Daily

Informed Delivery Has An Average Click Through Rate Of 1.01%

United States Postal Service

Updated  January, 2023

New Movers Direct Mail Campaigns

Got A New Mover Direct Mail Campaign?

Adding Informed Delivery® for new movers is a no-brainer!
One of the main USPS marketing techniques for promoting ID to consumers is through change of address processing. When a consumer files a change of address they just need to check a box to add Informed Delivery®. This is a main reason for how the subscriber numbers are growing so quickly.
And this means that new movers have exceptionally high subscription rates. We have been seeing new mover match rates over 25%. New movers are already exceptional prospects for direct mail – add the power of Informed Delivery® to get an additional impression.

Add Informed Delivery® To Any Direct Mail Campaign For Only $149!

SPECTRUM IS HERE TO HELP

Need marketing help during the coronavirus pandemic? Spectrum Marketing Companies can help! Our expert marketing strategists are standing by to help you through this health and economic crisis. We have the marketing solutions, tools and guidance that you need in order to make it through these challenging times.

People are in their homes and have more time to read and look forward to receiving their mail more than ever. Now is a great time to market to them! Reach your target audience with one of Spectrum’s direct mail marketing solutions. Spectrum Mail Plus, our digital enhancement to direct mail, is a cost-effective omni-channel direct mail centric marketing program that integrates your mailing list with online ads for increased response. Informed Delivery is one of the integrated services as well. Contact us and we’ll help you determine the ideal marketing solution for your business

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Spectrum Mail Plus | How it Works

Non-Profit Spectrum MailPlus campaign and ads

OMNI-CHANNEL MARKETING SOLUTIONS

Spectrum MailPlus Direct Mail to Digital Logo

Direct Mail Evolved.

Identify prospects with the highest levels of interest - and mail to them!
7 integrated digital technologies designed to engage and convert your best targeted prospects
Finally complete direct mail campaign attribution!
Increase your average marketing campaign RESULTS by 23-46%!
Track and analyze across multiple online channels including Google Ads & social media
Spectrum Mail Plus Omni-channel marketing

Increase Campaign Response by 23-46%

Seamlessly combine your direct mail marketing promotions with digital advertising to maximize your campaigns impact! Monitor results in real time from our cloud-based digital marketing platform.

The Results Are In.

  • 80% of sales are made between the 8th-12th touch
  • Get up to 8-16 impressions to the direct mail audience for a fraction of the cost of a stamp!
  • Real time trackable results through our marketing dashboard making it easy to see attribution and ROI
  • Omni-channel marketing that integrates with the power of direct mail for an average 23-46% lift in response!
  • No lead left behind and no marketing spend left on the table!

Spectrum Mail Plus

Integrate Direct Mail with Online Follow-Up with Google Ads & Social Media for Even Greater Marketing RESULTS!

Seamlessly integrate direct mail marketing promotions with digital advertising to maximize your campaigns impact! Monitor results in real time from our cloud-based digital marketing platform.
Spectrum Mail Plus Social Match Icon

SOCIAL MATCH

Spectrum Mail Plus Mail Tracking Icon

MAIL TRACKING

Spectrum Mail Plus USPS Informed Delivery Icon

USPS INFORMED DELIVERY

Spectrum Mail Plus Call & Text Message Tracking Icon

PHONE CALL TRACKING

Spectrum Mail Plus Online Follow-up Icon

ONLINE FOLLOW-UP ADS

Spectrum MailPlus Advantage Social Geotargeting Ads Icon

SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOW-UP ADS

In addition, our LeadMatch service will capture leads who visited your website from your mailing, as well as visitors NOT from your mailing. Then utilize direct mail retargeting to increase conversion on those highly interested prospects!

Spectrum Mail Plus
How it Works

It all starts with direct mail.

mail delivery icon

Direct mail pieces are mailed to your target market. This tried and true marketing medium yields marketing RESULTS by delivering your well-designed message right to your prospect’s mailbox.

Then, your Spectrum Mail Plus omni-channel marketing campaign touches your audience simultaneously across the web while tracking engagement – including visits to your website.

We provide you with an online marketing dashboard so you can easily track all of your campaign performance in real time!

MATCH YOUR DIRECT MAIL LIST WITH FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM USERS

1

Social Match

We take your direct mailing list and MATCH leads with their Facebook and Instagram user accounts. Resulting in increased conversion rates.

With SocialMatch your target market will see your ad on their Facebook & Instagram feeds BEFORE the mail piece even reaches mailboxes and without them having to visit your website. The 14-day program begins on the mail date.

80% of sales are made between the 8th & 12th contact. With SocialMatch you can reach your targeted prospects at yet another activation point!

Social Match
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KNOW EXACTLY WHEN YOUR MAIL IS DELIVERED - AND PLAN FOR IT!

2

Mail Tracking

Track & Measure Direct Mail Campaigns with Spectrum Mail Plus!

Using a cutting-edge barcode technology system, we track the mailing delivery process of your order. Know exactly when your mail pieces are due to arrive, so you can plan for the influx of new customers. We provide you with tracking on your mail delivery all the way down to the per piece level.

mail delivery tracking with Spectrum Mail Pllus

ALERT & ENGAGE PROSPECTS OF YOUR MAIL DELIVERY

3

Informed Delivery®

Increase ROI by putting your mail piece in both the digital world and physical world simultaneously.

With Informed Delivery® integration, a preview of your mailer will be sent by the USPS every morning to subscribers alerting them of when it will arrive in their mailbox. Additionally, right under the grayscale email preview of your mailer, the email will be enhanced with a full-color display advertisement with a link to your website or landing page.

When someone clicks through to your website, our Google ads and social media follow-up will be triggered!

OVER 42 Million Subscribers! And GROWING each week!

USPS Informed Delivery with Spectrum Mail Pllus

68% email open rate!

TRACK AND RECORD PHONE CALLS FROM YOUR CAMPAIGN

4

Phone Call & Message Tracking

Seamlessly track the effectiveness of your direct mail campaign by tracking and recording every call that comes in as a result of the mailing. In addition, send auto-responding text messages and view engagement.

With call and text tracking you can give people the option to respond the way they prefer. All responses are tracked and recorded with detailed data reporting. People can text and receive an auto response directing them to take the desired action from downloading an app to purchasing online.

Full demographic and geographic data available on each caller.

Phone call tracking with Spectrum Mail Plus

RETARGET LOST PROSPECTS WITH GOOGLE ADS ON THE WEB

5

Online Follow-Up Ads

Google Ads logo

Increase conversions by pairing your direct mail campaign with the Google Display Ads Network.

Your direct mail campaign is sent out and tracked with our mailing tracking system. If a customer or prospect leaves your website without taking action, they will be retargeted with your display ad on the Google Display Ads Network directing them back to your website.

Text and image ads matching your campaign’s design and special offers follow your website visitors around the internet after they leave your site.

26% increase in complete conversions when users who have been retargeted return to the website.

In one study, retargeted ads led to a 726% lift in site visitation after four weeks of retargeted ad exposure!

Online follow up with Google Ads

INCREASE CAMPAIGN VISIBILITY AND CONVERSIONS!

6

Social Media Follow-Up Ads

Increase conversions by pairing your direct mail campaign with your audience’s Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Social Media Follow-Up is integrated into Spectrum Mail Plus to offer you the opportunity to increase conversions by pairing your direct mail campaign with Facebook and Instagram ads.

When the user logs into Facebook or lnstagram, they will be shown an ad from your website right in their Newsfeed, where they’re more likely to interact and view the ad.

4 HRS The average person spends almost 4 hours per day on Facebook and Instagram – and they have over 3 billion active users!

social media follow up with Spectrum Mail Plus

NOW YOU’LL KNOW WHO VISITED YOUR WEBSITE FROM YOUR MAILING!

7

Lead Match

Track and record all website visitors as a result of your mailing and match them to their physical address including those that didn’t visit as a result of your mail campaign.

You never knew who came to your website from your mailing…UNTIL NOW!

Spectrum Mail Plus uses an advanced measurement solution able to track and measure the effectiveness of all media including direct mail.

Download your hottest leads daily and utilize their physical mailing address to deploy direct mail retargeting programs!

96% of website visitors leave without taking action, many of which leave to view a direct competitor.

Now you can identify them by name and mailing address and add them to your next campaign or remarketing campaign as highly qualified prospects.

  • Purchase a list (Optional) of who came to your website from the mailing list and what actions they took.
  • And mail to unique visitors who came to your website who weren’t on your mailing list!
Lead match with Spectrum Mail Pllus
health and fitness Spectrum Mail Plus client marketing dashboard

Reporting Dashboard

Finally, complete attribution of your direct mail marketing campaigns!

Easily monitor each element of your Spectrum Mail Plus campaign online LIVE through our convenient client-side reporting dashboard.  Download your hottest leads, sorted by geography, to set up and deploy direct mail retargeting programs that further increase conversions!

NO LEAD LEFT BEHIND

Increase Your Direct Mail Campaign Results by 23-46%

Don’t run your next direct mail campaign without learning more about what Spectrum Mail Plus can do for your RESULTS.

GET STARTED

8 Of The Best Direct Mail Examples To Inspire Your Next Advertising Campaign

Mailbox Mailer Inspiration

8 Of The Best Direct Mail Examples To Inspire Your Next Advertising Campaign

Mailbox Mailer Inspiration

Fed up with the changing algorithm of search engines like Google making it more difficult to advertise online? Not reaching your target audience on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram? Finding it hard to keep up with the ever changing digital marketing landscape? Wish there was an effective way to reach your target audience and convert prospects into customers like crazy?

Well, there is. And, it’s actually been around for a long time – direct mail marketing. Need some inspiration for your next direct mail advertising campaign? Check out the different benefits of these great direct mail examples for creating winning mail campaigns.

Response Rate by Selected Media

Direct Mail Marketing Response

Direct Mail has the highest response rates – higher than email, paid search, online display and social media combined. Direct mail marketing has been around for a long time and it’s still an effective method of reaching your customers and prospects – now more than ever!
Now you can even track the success of your direct mail campaign with omni-channel marketing solutions.

What Makes Direct Mail So Effective?

The effectiveness of direct mail is directly related to three key aspects of any campaign: the offer, a targeted list and the creative design. We typically apply a 40/40/20 strategy to these key aspects whereby 40% of the effectiveness of a campaign is dependent on the offer, 40% for the list and 20% for the creative. Using this 40/40/20 strategy, we are able to achieve superior results by sending relevant, well designed offers to the right prospects on your list.
When an attractive offer and an eye-catching design are combined, an effective direct marketing piece is created.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the best types of direct mail examples to inspire your next direct mail campaign:

Oversized Postcards And Mail Pieces

It’s been said that bigger is better – and in this instance, it’s true! Oversized direct mail pieces, like the Monster Mailer, often get more attention merely because of their size. The bigger pieces stand out in the mailbox amongst the sea of post cards and letter mail that is delivered. Additionally, with more real estate on the direct mail piece, there’s more room for creative design, bigger offers and multiple places for coupons.
Sonic Mailer
At 8.5″ x 14″, the Monster Mailer really stands out in your mailbox. And, as you can see, it affords lots of room to feature products, offers and other information. For your next direct mail campaign, consider going with an over-sized Monster Mailer for better results!

KEY BENEFITS

  • Makes a great impression!
  • Oversized – 8.5″ x 14″
  • Lots of room for offers, products and other information
  • Affordable and effective
Atomic Wings Postcard

KEY BENEFITS

  • Bright attention getting colors
  • Bold impossible-to-ignore text
  • Short but clear message

Bright Colors, Bold Text

Atomic Wings Postcard
It’s been proven that consumers respond better to bright colors on direct marketing of all kinds and certainly direct mail is no exception. Correct use of color can make the difference between connecting your text and design or having a disjointed message that feels unrelated to the piece. Not sure what colors to use for your piece? Check out this post on the importance of color to your brand. Using specific colors that work with your branding guidelines can reinforce your overall brand aesthetic.
Your text should be as bold as your color. Use an active voice instead of a passive one. Use attention grabbing words and language. Lastly, make sure your message is short but clear.
When combined with the correct color scheme, bold text can really help accentuate your offer, making it stand out amongst similar mailers and post cards.

KEY BENEFITS

  • Bright attention getting colors
  • Bold impossible-to-ignore text
  • Short but clear message

Personalization

SMC Letter medicus
We all know the feeling of getting something in the mail that is customized with our name – we feel as though the advertiser is speaking directly to us, with an offer customized specifically for us. Personalization with direct mail is another great way to effectively reach the recipients on your targeted list and get them to take action based on the connection that is created by your personalized mailer.
If your business tracks buying behavior, such as an online retailer or quick serve food restaurant, you can include coupons for items that they’ve purchased in the past knowing that they’ll likely buy them in the future.

PERSONALIZE BY:

  • Name
  • Past purchasing habits
  • Demographics (age, family size, salary, etc.)
SMC Letter medicus

Unique Piece/Design

Home Sweet Home

Unique Piece/Design

Regardless of what the creative looks like on your direct mail piece or how good your offer may be, the more unique the piece, the more likely it’s going to stand out. Die-cut pieces with unique folds can really make your mail piece stand out amongst the multitude of post cards and mailers in your mailbox.

KEY BENEFITS

  • Stands out in the mailbox
  • Is more memorable
  • Less likely to be ignored

Multiple Coupons With Variety Of Offers

Lots of Coupons Dunkin' Mailer
The most successful and effective direct mail advertising pieces often don’t have just one single offer on them. Many mailers have several offers or coupons that feature a variety of offers, from percentages off a particular product to a specific dollar amount off an entire purchase. By providing multiple coupons, you increase the likelihood of one of your customers or prospects making a purchase.
Additionally, having multiple coupons or offers on a direct mail piece helps ensure its “shelf life” – the more coupons you have, the longer the piece can potentially stick around and get used.

KEY BENEFITS

  • Multiple opportunities for consumer purchases
  • Increases the “shelf life” of the piece
  • Less likely to be ignored

Not convinced?  Look at these 6 Reasons your direct marketing campaign should include coupons. Read article >

Lots of Coupons Dunkin' Mailer

Gift Card Mailers

SMC Triple Play Mailer

Gift Card Mailers

Regardless of what the creative looks like on your direct mail piece or how good your offer may be, the more unique the piece, the more likely it’s going to stand out. Die-cut pieces with unique folds can really make your mail piece stand out amongst the multitude of post cards and mailers in your mailbox.

KEY BENEFITS

  • Recipient gets “free money” to spend at your store
  • Consumers usually spend more than value of a gift card
  • High likelihood of consumer redemption

Large Menu Mailers

SMC Restaurant Mailer
Take-out menus and promotional restaurant menu mailers are some of the most effective direct mail marketing pieces available. Our award-winning design department can create a unique menu mailer with promotional offers, contact information, and everything your restaurant needs to be successful in their local area.

KEY BENEFITS

  • Additional room to push specials
  • Add enticing imagery
  • Ability to add coupons
SMC Restaurant Mailer

Extended Gate Fold Mailer

Killer Mailer

Extended Gate Fold Mailer

When your message demands a unique delivery, our gate fold formats will capture the interest of any prospect with sizes beyond 2 feet! Perfect for real estate, art galleries, photographers, auto dealers – anyone that needs space and impact!

KEY BENEFITS

  • High likelihood of consumer redemption
  • Included gift cards can be kept in a wallet/purse as a constant reminder
  • Extra “showcase” space for furniture pieces
Spectrum MailPlus Direct Mail to Digital Logo
Seamlessly Track And Enhance Your Direct Mail Results With Integrated Digital Technologies

Increase The Response Of Your Next Direct Mail Campaign By 23-46%

Instead of just sending out a traditional solo direct mailing, Spectrum Mail Plus seamlessly combines your direct mailer with seven digital technologies to maximize your campaign’s impact. Increase your ROI by reaching your target audience on multiple channels simultaneously.

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energy services spectrum mail plus omni-channel marketing campaign

Ready to start your campaign?

We hope you found these direct mail examples to be inspiring to your next campaign.

Adding any of these features to your direct mail piece will help ensure its success.

Contact us today to develop a winning direct mail campaign today!

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What is Direct Mail?

What is Direct Mail

What is Direct Mail?

What is Direct Mail

Direct Mail is a piece of tangible advertising that is sent to a customer or prospects physical mailing address.

Direct mail is a specific type of direct response marketing that is designed to elicit an instant response by encouraging prospects to take a specific action. Direct Mail is also the typical starting point to an omni-channel direct marketing campaign.

There are a lot of components to a direct mail marketing campaign including mailing list selection, choosing an enticing offer, researching your specific audience, creative graphic design, mailing services, data collection and analytics. Let’s go through what a typical direct mail program looks like and we’ll touch on the most important aspects of them.

What Makes Direct Mail Effective?

Now that we’ve defined what direct mail is, another important question we need to ask is, what makes direct mail effective? Direct mail by itself has a higher yield than other marketing strategies for a number of reasons.
Two of those reasons include the psychological reaction we have to holding a physical mail piece as opposed to seeing a digital advertisement and over saturation when it comes to email marketing.
The first two things we need to do is figure out who the audience is we’re mailing to and start designing a captivating mail piece.
Hand Fan Mailers

Who is Your Target Audience?

Finding your audience can be a challenge just by itself. Spend some time thinking about your overall strategy and the demographics of your campaign because it is directly related to building your physical mailing list and creating your direct mail piece.
audience list build
  • Who is your audience?
  • Where are they geographically?
  • How do you reach them?
  • How far is your customer willing to travel for your products or services?
  • Metaphorically, what does your customer look like?
Spectrum can help you with your mailing list and give you several options on how to mail. The best way we found to increase your ROI is by using a targeted list.
Your audience is a group of people whose interests are aligned with what you’re selling. If you sell dog toys and other pet accessories your audience’s interests will include pets. If you sell furniture it’s likely that your audience will be among those who just moved into a new house. The finer you can target your customer the better off you’ll be in the long run when it comes to shipping and direct mail piece costs.
There are a number of ways to reach your customers. From highly targeted and personalized direct mail pieces sent directly to your customers’ doors to standing in the middle of a busy city square and screaming your offer at people who pass by. While both are great options, there’s a chance the former will yield much better results for your marketing spend and overall reputation as a company. Direct mail is currently the leading marketing vehicle with a 9% response rate compared to a 1% response rate to email and other digital forms of advertising. That being said, digital marketing has a large part to play in a fully-fledged marketing campaign.
Deciding on where you’re going to mail to geographically can be tricky. You might pick up and extra 5,000 mailing addresses by expanding your reach, but, if you expand into an area that’s an hour and a half away from your location, it’s likely those people will travel to a competitor closer to them if you’re purely brick-and-mortar. The more precise you are when building your ideal customer profile the better you can tailor your marketing message to them as well. The easiest demographic to target for is zip code or geographic location. Decide on how far away you’d like to target based on the amount of time it takes to travel to your location from each direction. If you know that a potential customer will travel 30 minutes to visit your location then start there and continue to add values to your demographics to narrow it down. You can add things like age, income, interests, homeowner or renter, etc. You should quickly find out how many of your new customers are available to mail to and adjust your campaign accordingly.
Spectrum has years of experience in list building and demographics and utilizes the latest data available. Let us work alongside you to build your perfect mailing list.
According to the 40/40/20 rule, 40% of a successful direct mail campaign is determined by the quality of your mailing list. By planning your mailing using a targeted list with carefully selected demographics you can effectively increase your ROI. When you only send your marketing message to the people that will benefit the most, you cut out unnecessary spending on direct mail pieces that are going to the wrong homes or businesses. Consider this. You own a small business selling pool supplies and novelty items for homeowners with pools. The last thing you want to do is send extra direct mail pieces to people in apartments with no pools.
The more specific you are when identifying your ideal customer the more successful your message will be. Spectrum also does something that sets us apart from other marketing agencies.

Designing a Winning Direct Mail Piece

We design your direct mail piece at the same time we are determining your ideal customer and building your physical mailing list. Keep reading to find out why we do this.
It may seem like a small number compared to the other 80% of your direct mail campaign, but, your design (20%) is just as important. There’s no one answer to how your piece should look, but, there are very clear fundamentals to design that if ignored can hurt your campaign. Working with a company that has an award-winning team of designers experienced in your industry helps to make this process easy. There are certain elements any type of advertisement should have, especially direct mail.
Buy One Get One design and offer icon
  • A clear and obvious call to action
  • An enticing special offer, deal, and/or coupons
  • A message that clearly defines the reason for the mailing
  • Captivating and clear imagery
  • Your branding, logo and contact information

What makes you stand out?

Your call-to-action should be clear and obvious. Whether it’s to visit your location, call your business, or bring in a coupon, your call-to-action should be the most visible element on your piece. This should be a part of the main message for the reason for the mailing. Your imagery should be hi-res at 300 dpi at the correct size to avoid pixelation and it should coincide with your business or your marketing message.
Your offers and coupons are 40% of how successful your direct mail campaign is. Make sure that the detail and attention you spend on the design of your coupons is just as much as the rest of the mail piece. Make sure that the offer is clear and concise so that the customer knows exactly what they’re getting (value) at a glance. never make your customers search for the value.
Your logo and contact information while part of your brand is slightly less important. Typically customers, when they’re not already familiar with your business, won’t care about it until you give them a reason to (offers and marketing message). Once they care about what you’re selling, let them know who you are and where they can obtain your product.

Efficiency is critical

Your direct mail piece is designed while the list building is taking place. The reason we do this is to make the process more efficient and get your piece out faster. Part of your marketing campaign’s strategy is deciding on when your customers should receive the direct mail piece. If the reason for your mailing is event-based and is time-sensitive then this is especially important. Sending it too soon or too late is decremental. Too soon and they will forget about your event. Too late and they may not have time to attend.

Where's the Value?

The value is in your offer, which, is the other 40% of the 40/40/20 rule.
  • What can you give to your customers?
After researching your audience you should have an idea, based on the demographics, of what would be the most beneficial to your customers in terms of an offer. Because your offer is so important to building a strong direct mail campaign it’s important to spend as much time on this as you did your list. Your offer should also help you build your in-house list. Every customer you have that purchases from you is now a loyal customer and making sure they keep coming back is easier and cheaper than attracting new customers. Sending them a personal offer once in a while will help keep them coming back and it’s something that you can’t afford not to do in this marketing climate.

Tailor your offer

Your offer will depend on what type of business you operate and who your clientele is. If you’re a service-based business then you’ll want to run some sort of limited-time promotion that requires your customers to visit your location. Adding an end-date to your promotion less than 2 weeks creates urgency which is a good thing. There’s a fine line between too much time and no urgency to too little time for your customers to plan to use the service offer. If you run a product-based business you can include coupons on your direct mail like buy-one-get-one or 50% off or whatever makes the most sense for you. Just make sure it aligns with who your customer is.
Whether a coupon is digital or physical it gives your customer a constant reminder of your business. Even if your customer never uses your coupon it doesn’t mean they won’t purchase from you. We’ve all been in a situation where the entire point to going to a business was to use a coupon and then we forget the coupon. We still make the purchase we intended to make when we set out with the goal. The coupon served as a future goal of purchasing a service at a later date, but, it doesn’t matter if they use the coupon or not. As long as they make the purchase the intent behind serving the coupon to the customer has been met.
The last thing to consider is how you present this information to your customer. Are you selling small products to individuals with a low-income? You might want to try a paper mail piece with perforated coupons. Are you a furniture store or do you sell large ticket items to individuals or families with disposable income? Try using a direct mail piece that comes with perforated coupons and uses thicker card stock. Also, make sure the design speaks to your customer on an emotional level. We rarely tend to think with our heads, even though we like to think we do.

Pre-Sorting and Mailing

USPS Presort Mail
The process of sending the mail out through USPS is relatively simple. First, your mail piece is printed in our production facility where any last step personalization occurs including, inserting names and personal information into the copy of the piece, adding scratch-offs and other unique items, and adding the folds, creases, perforated lines, and die cuts. We pre-sort your mail ahead of time before it gets to USPS. We do this for a couple of reasons. The first is to greatly reduce human error from the postal office’s side and the second is to save you money. The less time USPS spends on sorting and preparation for delivery the less is costs in postage and handling. Those savings are directly passed on to you. Essentially we work in conjunction with USPS to maximize delivery opportunities and minimize postal costs.
By this time in the process your mail has been sent and now you just need to wait for customers to walk through your door. There is one more thing though before you’re finally finished with your campaign.

Pre-Sorting and Mailing

data collection
The very last thing which is arguably the most important thing is collecting data from the campaign. This can come in all shapes and sizes. This could be in the form of a barcode specific to your mail piece that’s attached to the coupons so that when they’re scanned by your stores POS the information is tracked. This could also be employees asking customers if they’re checking out today because of a mailing. If you are running a Spectrum Mail Plus Omni-Channel Campaign, you’ll have access to all your results in an online dashboard. Whichever way you can manage collecting the data, it’s essential to determine the overall effectiveness and ROI of your campaign. Without this data it’s difficult to make changes to your future mailings or run any kind of A/B testing.

Designing a Winning Direct Mail Piece

While direct mail is still the best form of marketing when it comes toresponse rates, it’s only part of a complete marketing campaign. Did you know that there’s a 26% increase in complete conversions when users who have been retargeted with online advertising return to the website? Or that the average social media user spends up to 4 hours per day on Facebook and Instagram? Target your mailing list online to boost your campaigns and increase your ROI. We can show you how.

Direct mail in essence is easy to understand, however, executing a campaign isn’t. Spectrum Marketing Companies has been delivering direct mail campaigns that get RESULTS for decades. Working with us makes everything easier when it comes to your marketing.

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3 Ways To Grow Your Business

3 Ways to grow your business

3 Ways To Grow Your Business!

3 Ways to grow your business

1. New Customers

Overcome the customer life cycle by developing a constant stream of new clients and customers. Direct mail is an excellent way to get noticed, especially if you use an oversized mail piece. Prospects are 15% more likely to respond to large format direct mail piece than a postcard or letter sized piece. A strong offer on a direct mail piece is absolutely critical to having new prospects consider your business – or even pay attention to your solicitation!

2. Increase Return Visits

Increase frequency of purchases by existing customers. Return visits are heavily impacted by promotional events. Be sure you’re reaching out to your customers at least once per quarter to ensure that your business is top-of-mind when your customers are back in the market for your product or service.
Retention direct mail is a great way to increase return visits through the use of coupons and offers that your customers are interested in. By giving them a reason to come back, you can both increase the chances that they will make a purchase and get them to make a return visit.

3. Up-Sell

Increase the average purchase by existing customers. Coupons can have a huge influence on this, especially when you have graduated offers that reward customers for spending more or purchasing multiple items as a package.
You can also suggest “companion” items at key stages of the purchasing process that complement or enhance an item that is currently being purchased. By suggesting items that either customers have purchased with another item or by suggesting items that enhance a given product, you can effectively “up-sell” to your customers by integrated strategically placed offers at specific stages of the buying cycle.
In addition to growth, it is important to have a reasonable method of determining the success of your campaign. Often, business owners only look at one of the following ways of measuring ROI, but please take a moment to consider all three:
Immediate ROI – What they spent on a promotion relative to what the promotion directly generated in sales during the promotion. This gets the most focus.
Lifetime Value of a Customer – For acquisition campaigns in which existing customers are excluded, it is more critical to view the ROI in the context of the extended lifetime value of a customer rather than just the immediate return.
Enterprise Value Enhancement – Acquiring new customers, and the related revenues, increases the business’s actual value.
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Still the One Stronger than Ever

Still The One Direct Mail better than ever

Still the one and Stronger Than Ever

Still The One Direct Mail better than ever

When you think of the future of marketing, what comes to mind?

A savvy business person knows that it is wise to diversify their marketing efforts, rather than to focus exclusively on one channel. In this day and age, it’s easy to consider more traditional methods of marketing your business to be old news, but what you might not have considered is that nearly two-thirds of people have made a purchase as a result of a direct mail piece!*

Each day, the battle to be heard and seen online becomes more competitive and more expensive. Each day, your clients are inundated with more and more junk email that they will never read, and they may never even know that they are missing out on what you have to offer! Fortunately, at Spectrum Marketing Companies we have numerous ways in which Direct Mail can be employed to lift your business above the fray so that when your piece arrives in the mail, it is only the beginning.
Direct Mail Formats

Drive Consumers to Your Website Using an Enticing Offer or Promotion

Simply asking people to go to your website is ineffective unless there is a compelling reason for doing so. Offer them a free trial or sample. Advertise a complimentary seminar. Herald a grand opening with savings coupons. There should be a clear call to action. Consider promoting a sense of urgency with a limited window of opportunity. It’s marketing 101: people respond more readily when they have a limited window to act before an opportunity will pass them by. Think of your direct mail as an appetizer, and give your clients a taste of what you can do for them!
Killer 2 Direct Mail

Add Texture

A plastic gift card is an excellent way to add curiosity-inspiring “bulk” to your mail piece. Oh, and it happens to be a phenomenal vehicle for your offer. Non-retailers, such as hospitals or educational institutions can easily replicate the effect with a magnet or other interesting feature that recipients will want to retain.

Use Variable, Personalized Copy

This creates the feeling that your marketing efforts are pointedly focused on specific consumers. Address them by name! We can customize each piece to specifically address each customer on your mailing list, swap out fundraising donation values depending on your customer’s financial status, and even change coupon offers from one customer to the next to target each consumer.
Tan promotion - direct mail

Add Excitement

Build excitement with a match-and-win prize number or a scratch off. Adding the anticipation of unveiling additional prizes or deeper discounts for your promotion is an irresistible way to have your potential customers spend more time reviewing your offers. A match-and-win giveaway that offers an attainable prize (think $2,500 shopping spree – not a yacht), adds stopping power, elicits interest and makes the trip to your location well worth the drive. Not to mention, when someone wins, you’ll build good will, get credit for the sale of the prize, and have a story to tell that your Facebook followers will actually read. Spectrum can coordinate prize insurance for only 7% of the retail value of the prize!

Add Interest

Die cuts add originality and functionality. Clever design, unique shapes and perforations help you capture attention, stand out from your competition and increase the ease of response.
Physical advertisements, like direct mail, are proven to have more influence than other forms of advertising, cause recipients to spend more time with your message (and remember it) and elicit a stronger emotional response. Direct Mail, coupled with your other marketing efforts can create a cohesive, yet diverse array of tools to drive your business.
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