Tracking Direct Mail: Let Us Count the Ways

Tracking Direct Mail: Let Us Count the Ways

We recently discussed how to measure your social media return on investment. However, it is important to measure the success of all of your marketing campaigns, regardless of the medium, so that you can compare the results and determine which and what type of campaign you should be devoting the most resources on (hint: it’s the one that generates the most interaction). You also learned about the ease and effectiveness of direct mail marketing, but is your current campaign providing the results you want? Is it completely worth it or are you throwing away your time and money on it? How do you know? Are you tracking it? And if you aren’t tracking, how do you know what offers work better, best, or not at all? The only way you can continue to improve your strategy and add value to your business is by analyzing every single aspect of your direct mail campaign to ensure better results.

By utilizing these tracking tools, you can measure what garners the greatest response from your direct mail customers, what receives the most engagement, what leads to the most sales, and what accomplishes the most goals.

 Here are the ways you can track your direct mail:

  1. Call Tracking: Your business receives a pseudo phone number to be printed on your ad that, when called, reroutes to your place of business. The calls are recorded so that you can keep tabs on what campaign motivated your customer to contact you, how the call was handled, and whether or not it ended in a sale.
  2. QR Codes: This allows your on the go, mobile friendly customer to whip out their smartphones and scan your Quick Response code that will essentially act as a hyperlink to wherever you want to take them virtually. Once they arrive on your landing page, you are able to track what actions they take from there. (Tip: Always test your QR Codes before finalizing and avoid these other common QR Code Marketing Mistakes)
  3. Coupons: Create a unique discount code for your coupons so that you can track them once your customers redeem them. However, keep in mind that consumers often submit their promo codes on public websites (i.e., RetailMeNot) to share them with others. While that may not bother you because business is business, it does alter your ability to track because you are unable to decipher which customers purchased from you as a sole result of your awesome campaign and which purchase because your coupon code was posted online for them.
  4. Mail Piece: Simply put, this requires the recipient to bring the mailer physically with them to your business in order to receive the discount or offer.
  5. Text Messages: As the growth of mobile users rise, it is becoming absolutely necessary to accommodate their swift response by incorporating text messages as part of your campaign. You can even link a microsite to your QR code that sends a text message to the visitor after they have left your site that would proceed to follow up with them on whatever they expressed interest in while on your site.
  6. URL: If you use a URL, you have to make sure that they are custom made for each campaign so that you are able to differentiate which customers were directed to your site because of the specific campaign you are currently trying to measure and not your regular website traffic.

Direct mailing campaigns undoubtedly elicit a massive response. Tracking your return on investment may seem like a daunting task, but with the right tools and strategies, you can have everything you need to measure your successes so that you can plan and budget accordingly. Once you have properly tracked your campaign, your business can prosper and you can be confident that you aren’t throwing away money on a useless marketing campaign.

Do you have a question about tracking your direct mailing campaign? Share your thoughts and comments with us below, we’d love to hear from you!

Direct Mail Is Not Dead

Direct Mail Is Not Dead

GM Direct Mail Is Not Dead

Direct mailing is alive and well. 

You’ve seen it, because it is really hard to miss. We’re talking about that big wraparound of advertisements cuddling your daily mail. The companies that invest in direct mailing advertisements do so because even though it may not seem like it with all the technological advances of today’s world, receiving tangible mail is still the highlight of most everyone’s day. Of equal importance is that it remains an easy and inexpensive way for businesses to reach potential targeted customers located in specific areas, such as close to their business. Direct mailing is not just some forgotten form of advertising; it is being utilized along with technology to create a unique and targeted marketing campaign that is preferred by 73% of consumers over other advertising methods.

How does it work?

It’s simple. You ultimately choose the route you want your advertisements to be delivered to and your potential consumers get to unwrap your marketing present day of delivery. We know what you’re thinking. Why should you invest money in direct mail marketing campaigns when you can just use the instant power of social media to target your potential customers? Well, think about it this way. Not everyone is on social media, but everybody has a mailbox.

What does Giant Marketing do that adds value to your direct mailing campaign?

With Giant Marketing, your business experience is completely customized and tailored to your needs. We start by mapping three to five miles out from your business address in order to research, analyze, and email you the recipient demographics, along with a saturation map, so that your target audience can be identified. Then, once you have determined the route you want to advertise to, we help you design the ad you want (not to mention we offer GIANT sizes if you want extra assurance that your ad won’t go unnoticed). We also keep the statistics on which businesses complement one another so that we can aim to send those advertisements out together for increased effectiveness. We even offer call tracking, where you are provided with a custom phone number to be featured on the ad, which is re-routed to your business, so that you can measure consumer response and determine whether or not your marketing campaign was successful. Moreover, if you own a small business, you might be interested in our extremely cost-effective direct mailing shared program. That’s where we get one business to take one full side of the postcard (i.e., to visualize this just take a piece of paper—that business is on one side—flip it over and you actually share the back side with anywhere from two business up to eight businesses. If you just want an eighth of a page, we can actually hit ten thousand homes in your area for only $299. A lot of business can afford $299. (ask about out Shared Card)

Will it work for your business?

There are a lot of businesses that direct mail works fantastic for, and then there are other businesses that, it just doesn’t get the word out. For example, if you are selling a product that you have to show, TV or in-store advertising may be a better option for you. Even if you already have a social media campaign, we believe that marketing works the best when integrated with other methods and mediums. Likewise, there just isn’t a guaranteed one-fits all approach to marketing that is going to work for every business.  However, the worst thing you can do for your company is to give up on marketing. Let us evaluate your unique needs and work with you in finding your most successful marketing venture.

Call us for a free consultation about how our Giant Postcards can increase your bottom line through the power of direct mail. GIANT SIZED advertising equals GIANT SIZED results!

If you have comments or questions regarding direct mailing, please share them in the section below. We love to hear from you!