mailbox-2-536x358Ah direct mail. While some of you may think that direct mail is a thing of the past, like VHS tapes, Day-Timers and floppy discs, I say you may be missing a vital tool in your advertising arsenal.

“But isn’t everybody online? Shouldn’t I be boosting my Facebook posts and buying those creepy ads that follow you all around the web?” Maybe. But going old school snail mail has some real advantages that may make sense for your business.

People are overwhelmed with email. Are you like me and you’ve signed up for one-too-many email lists? Your email has a great chance of getting lost in the clutter of offers, news digests and funny videos that people receive. Or stuck in a spam folder with offers for erectile dysfunction medications and lost millions waiting to be claimed.

People react differently to physical mail. A study by Milward Brown in the UK compared people’s brain response to virtual and physical marketing materials. The results showed that physical material involves more “emotional processing” and produced more brain responses connected with internal feelings. These results suggest that people have greater memory and internalization of physical ads than from virtual.

Think about yourself and how you respond to receiving a birthday card in the mail versus a Facebook Messenger shout out. Each is nice, but I tend to remember who sent me a card a lot longer.

You can give them something to hang on to. We received a pen in the mail last week with the name of our business on it. It was cool to see our name on a pen, and if we were another type of business we may have bought some. But we saved it. How many of us have a magnet on our refrigerator that looks like a bandage with the name of a doctor on it? Unless you have a 3D printer, you can’t do that with an email.

You can easily target your neighbors. Many businesses rely on customers who live close by. It isn’t easy to get a list of email addresses of people a few blocks or a few miles away. But it’s no problem getting a mailing list of those folks and sending them a grand opening notice.

Direct mail has many tracking and ROI options. One benefit of direct mail is the ease of tracking the results. Here are a few ideas that help you go beyond the question, “how did you hear about us?”

  • Create a custom email or phone number to take inquiries. It’s simple to create a new email or Google Voice number and track responses.
  • Create a custom coupon code for each recipient to use during a sale.
  • Build a unique web landing page and track the number of visitors to it.

So while direct mail may not be the latest trend, don’t forget about its many virtues the next time you’re planning an advertising campaign for your business. Are you a fan of direct mail? Send me some of your most creative and/or effective examples at [email protected].