Direct mail is not dead.
Don’t get me wrong. I love email and online marketing as much as the next digital guru. But those of you who know me well can hear me saying, “They’re just another tool in our toolbox.”
Based on recent campaign results for our clients, I’m convinced more than ever that cardiovascular marketers can generate excellent results with strategic, targeted, well-crafted, “traditional” direct mail.
It’s an excellent medium to reach residents who are new to your area or to engage with new patients through offers of screenings or heart-healthy educational content.
However, it’s not necessarily enough to just mail once and to expect miracles. Direct mail, like any media, can benefit from frequency.
An excerpt from “Strategy & Tactics for Boosting Direct Mail Response,” a new 122-page report from Direct Marketing IQ, features best practices from leading direct mail experts. It highlights four ideas to consider:
- Re-mail the original package to the same target audience.
- As with any message, timing is everything, and a re-mail could catch people just when they need your services. We’ve had great luck with the strategy — often generating more than 50 percent more response than we got with the first round.
- Send anew mailer execution to non-responders.
- Highlight a different benefit. The theory is that if one approach doesn’t work, you go back to the prospect with a different pitch.
- If your offer is good for a limited time only, be sure to play that up.
- People tend to respond more if there’s a sense of urgency. For example, if you have packaged screenings into a package price, think about setting a time limit: “Your eligibility for this final offer expires on December 31, 2011.”
- The last contact with the prospect can be a postcard.
- Postcards are inexpensive, and your message is instantly visible. Our clients have had great success with follow up postcards. It’s certainly an easy strategy to consider.
Posted by Julie Robinson 
