Tuesday, 20 March 2012

E-mail Marketing, Direct Mail Marketing or Both?

By Ruth Williams


Finding the best marketing method for your business cab be tricky. There is a fine line between keeping prospects informed and bombarding them with emails or direct mail.

So, how do you know which method or marketing will be best - email or direct mail?

The Benefits of Marketing With Email

Email marketing is a great way of sending out personalised messages containing offers and giveaways targeted to your customers. You can use email to drive targeted traffic to your website for very little expense.

However as your mailing list grows, you may need to consider using a third party email marketing system to manage all your emails. You can categorize your mailing list into different criteria so you can tailor make your emails to achieve optimum results. This approach to email marketing will protect your own work email from getting black-listed.

Direct Mail Marketing

Everyone loves to receive a letter in the post, making direct mail marketing as powerful as ever. Direct mail does require a greater financial investment than email marketing but can be effective if postcards and letters are personalised.

You can however, grab your audience's attention in more ways. Bespoke envelopes, quirky shaped postcards and handwritten notes add the personal touch, and increase your open rate. With direct mail, however, it is difficult to track your open rate.

Could a Combination of the Two be the Answer

Using both marketing methods will reinforce your message and increase your chances of success. Integrated marketing strategies have been proven to be more effective that using one technique alone.

Businesses of all sizes can include free and paid for marketing techniques to help raise their brand awareness as well as promote their latest products. Social media marketing is a free and easy way to engage with your customers, while offline marketing can help gain you wider exposure.

Despite advances in technology direct mail continues to be a popular and effective. Whether you're an expert marketer or not; each of these methods can help you increase your sales leads, without the need for extensive knowledge and financial investment.




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