In March, Facebook and Instagram were down for many users throughout the world.  During this outage, advertisers lost a day of traffic and engagement (plus the thousands of pounds they spent.)  Facebook is making right with those advertisers, but there’s a larger elephant in the social giant’s room.  

Users are increasingly sceptical of Facebook – something the outage highlighted.  The platform’s value to advertisers may decrease as users log in less frequently or move to more closed social networks.

But, beyond any issue with Facebook in specific, relying on any one advertising channel is a mistake in this rapidly evolving digital media landscape.  Unless you diversify, you are bound to be left with sloppy results by scrambling with outages and disruptions.

Constant shifts in consumer preferences mean that just because your preferred channel is effective today, doesn’t mean it will yield the same results tomorrow.  An omnichannel strategy that includes both print and digital is the safest and most effective approach.  It allows you to move budget efficiently, ride different channels as they become more (or less) important, and test new ones.

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Direct mail should be a key component of an omnichannel strategy.  According to the USPS, 87% of millennials enjoy receiving direct mail.  Not all consumers can be reached digitally, so you can use direct mail to balance your online efforts.

 

3 Ways direct mail and digital can work together

Many perceive direct mail as dated.  But using it doesn’t preclude your digital marketing efforts.  You can use it to drive online experiences and bring offline consumers into your digital community.  This feeds back into your digital analytics, which can tell you exactly whom you should target in your direct mail campaigns.  Here are three ways to implement direct mail to work  alongside your digital efforts:

 

1. Maintain a central data source

The right use of quality analytics can save 15-30% of your yearly marketing budget.  Using a central data source for all campaigns gives you real-time digital information to trigger direct mail campaigns.  Instead of slavishly following weekly drop schedule, drop mail on demand as your digital campaign data tells you.  Having a central data source also shows you hard numbers about which channels are working and which aren’t.

 

2. Find a fast partner

Ideally you’ll be mailing consumers daily using precise targeting data for optimisation of spend.   If this is the case, you need a fulfilment provider with short production timelines who can move fast to implement campaigns.

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A direct mail fulfilment partner with short lead-times is key for a well-rounded

 

3. Make it personal

Your customer and lead expect a personalised experience (according to 88% of marketers).  Speak in a voice consumers will respond to – including the recipient’s first name is no longer enough.  Use your centralised data to talk to your consumer like an individual.

People and outages are unpredictable.  You can’t rely on the digital landscape to stay the same.  An omnichannel strategy that includes direct mail is the most reliable and most personal way to connect with cosumers.

 

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