Videos enhance almost all types of marketing and recipients tend to give direct mail marketing pieces more attention when they include videos.
When received, recipients have to at least touch direct mail. If a company is successful in crafting a clear and meaningful message to someone who thinks it is appealing, the chances of their direct mail pieces getting opened increase greatly. Unfortunately, this is the point where many users fail because they don’t truly understand how to craft a direct mail piece in a way that will make it appealing.
Videos Make Direct Mail Marketing Pieces More Appealing
Grabbing someone’s attention isn’t as simple as mailing a postcard, pamphlet or flyer to them. While those tactics do work sometimes, the more interesting companies make their marketing pieces, the more attention they will get, and that’s where videos come in.
What we’ve found is that marketing pieces become much more interesting when video content is added to them. In addition to drawing a greater response, people remember more of what they see and hear in videos and companies tend to get more value for their marketing dollars when videos are included in their tactics. This is especially true for companies who sell products or services considered to be fairly expensive.
Whether the goal is to have a direct mail piece that makes sales itself or to have it generate enough interest for prospects to call so appointment setters can set appointments for salespeople, adding video content makes marketing pieces more effective.
Videos Make Direct Mail Marketing Extraordinary
For marketing purposes, distributing CDs and DVDs in direct mail still works. We have several clients still having success with it, and it continues to be a strategy we recommend.
Before going any further, here are some short replies to some questions you might be thinking:
- Yes, people still pay attention to direct mail if it is about something they consider interesting.
- Yes, postage rates are quite a bit higher than they used to be when direct mail marketing was used more often.
- Yes, companies still gain new customers with direct mail that they might not have connected with otherwise.
- Yes, direct mail marketing still produces positive ROI despite an increase in production and distribution costs.
In addition to mailing CDs and DVDs, we highly recommend the use of video brochures, video mailers, and video sample/gift boxes.
Direct Mail Statistics From The USPS
According to statistics provided from the United States Postal Service, 42% of recipients read or skim direct mail pieces. What this means is nearly half of people who look through their mail actually stop for a few seconds to read the messages on the direct mail pieces they receive.
If designed well with a strong offer and strategic call-to-action, companies who use direct mail marketing can achieve anywhere from a 1% to 14% response rate depending on the level of interest in recipients. In comparison, digital ads are lucky to get a 14% clickthrough rate followed by a 2.35% conversion rate on those clicks.
Here is an easy way to consider this data by using simple math: If a company mails 10,000 direct mail pieces and achieves a 1% response rate, they would get the opportunity to sell to 100 customers. Digitally, to gain the same chance to sell to 100 customers, they would have to run a banner ad that reaches a lot more than 10,000 viewers.
Direct Mail Marketing Offers Distinct Advantages
One of the biggest advantages direct mail marketing offers is that companies can rent or buy mailing lists relatively inexpensively. Mailing lists provide a great way for companies to send their messages to targeted prospects who meet specific criteria, which can easily help increase response rates.
Also, if the goal is to reach recipients who live in a specific zip code or even a specific neighborhood, a mailing list isn’t even necessary. The USPS offers a service called “Every Door Direct Mail”. By using it, companies can save thousands of dollars on postage and reach targeted prospects for as little as 16 cents per household.
Another great advantage of direct mail marketing is that there are no pop-ups or banner ads to annoy viewers. Yes, SEO tactics and digital advertising do work, and we highly recommend companies have a solid online presence, but as a way for companies to reach their most likely customers, direct mail marketing often works best.
To learn more about direct mail with videos or any of our other marketing products, contact us today.
Having owned an advertising magazine in Utah, I’ve worked in marketing for over twenty years.
I started writing for MediaFast in 2014. The first time I held one of their video brochures, I thought something like, “Wow! This blows away our magazine and any other print advertising I’ve ever seen. This is like a TV commercial, and I’m holding it in my hands. Amazing!”
Since then, video brochures, video mailers and video boxes have become leaders in marketing performance. It’s a privilege to write about them. I also love MediaFast—with its top-notch product quality, industry leading customer service, and all of the wonderful people I get to work with.
