Today, many companies have given up the traditional physical mailing concept in exchange for the quicker, and less expensive mass e-mailings. While e-mailing in the digital age has presented us with a plethora of benefits that have truly innovated the way we market, a good rule of thumb is to always take a step back and consider what is being given up when you trade traditional mail for e-mail. You want to consider what message you are trying to convey with the campaign, this will be a dictator of the marketing route.
Share information with many potential customers
A typical consumers email inbox will receive many emails per day from various companies that they once bought a product from, or liked on social media. Few marketing emails are considered to be of value by the consumer and therefore are just sent to the trash bin without further thought. The same can be true for a physical mailing, though this is much less commonly used today. After a week or so, the postbox will be full of various flyers or letters about new products or services that are just simply not of interest.
If you are truly just trying to get as much information out there to as many people as possible, email marketing campaigns will be your best bet on many points. Firstly, it will be very inexpensive and therefore if the consumer has not even opened the message, you have not wasted money. Secondly, you can easily gain access to a huge amount of email addresses much easier than you could gain access to individual post mailing addresses. Thirdly, mass email campaigns will not waste any resources, and consequently are more environmentally friendly.
To be successful in your attempts to share your new product or service with as many people as possible, the email campaign must stick out to the consumer in some way. Therefore, your subject line is of utmost importance. Research shows that a potential customer will decide in approximately 5 seconds if they will open the message or not. The subject line must grab their attention. They must find value in the few short words you are offering.
Many more points should be considered for your email marketing campaign, here is a helpful guide for your email marketing checklist.
Share information with a special target market
When you have a small group of potential customers that you would like to target, it is highly important that the campaign be specialized to each individual consumer. This will make the customer feel that you find value in them and their business and therefore provide a higher potential that they may choose to purchase your product or service. Though email can be a good option for this, due to lower costs, ease of access to information, etc. it lacks the personalization that will be necessary to engage at a higher quality level with a special target market.
In this case, a physical mailing campaign can be your best option. A physical mailing provides the consumer with a tangible object that they see you spent the time to address specifically to them. It adds a personal touch that is many times absent in our digital marketing age. This also increases the consumer’s engagement with your campaign. Because they physically hold it in their hands, they will be more likely to spend time reading through what you’ve got to offer. While there is more research to be done for a successful post mailing marketing campaign, the results may prove to be more lucrative than a mass email that does not make the consumer feel special. A downside of the physical mailing, however, will always be the costs associated. Therefore, it is extremely important to know where to find high quality, necessary items such as envelopes that won’t make the cost of the campaign outweigh the potential profits.
