11 Ways to Double Your Customer Base

#2 How do I Identify my Target Market for Direct Mail?

  Let’s talk about the sexiest form of marketing available today… direct mail. How do we target a direct mail campaign that actually reaches the intended target?

But before we get into that, let’s look at some numbers. If you are in the camp that believes that direct mail is dead, you will be blown away by the numbers in the two articles that I have attached at the bottom of this post.

“42.2% of direct mail recipients either read or scan the mail they get.”

“Direct mail had an average response rate of 9% for house lists and 4.9% for prospect lists in 2018.”

“The average American household receives 454 pieces of marketing mail per year.”

These are just a few to give you an idea of what we’re talking about here. Now, some of these numbers may be subjective, but the fact that the average American household gets 454 pieces of marketing mail per year jumped off of the page for me. That’s 1.25 advertisements per day. How many email ads to get in a given day? 20…50… 100? If you think in those terms then you are crazy not to consider making this at least a piece of your overall marketing strategy… if you can target them properly.

Direct mail campaigns work as a great supplement when you can zero in on ideal demographic and focus specifically on that group. Unlike generalized methods of advertising direct mail arrives at the doorstep of consumers that are highly qualified and great candidates for your products and services. You can choose your target demographics by age, gender, income level, buying habits, or any other number of criteria to focus your efforts.

Now you can purchase one of these lists from direct mail companies, survey companies, or one of many brokers out there, but the least expensive (and often most effective) ways to generate a mailing list is to hold a giveaway contest.

In fact, this is a great way to build your database in general. Give away something for free that your target market would want, and require they give their name and address to submit the entry form. Just make sure that you are giving away something that has a high enough perceived value (specifically to your target market!) to get people to sign up for it. That way the people who submit their mailing address on an entry form are obviously interested in winning that product or service, which helps to pre-qualify them as potential customers. There are many creative ways to build targeted lists, and the results can be higher conversion rates and lower acquisition costs than traditional forms of marketing.

 References

https://www.smallbizgenius.net/by-the-numbers/direct-mail-statistics/#gref

https://www.compu-mail.com/statistics/25-direct-marketing-statistics-for-2020