Email Vs Direct Mail Marketing - Which Should Your Business Be Doing?

The world of marketing is a pretty big minefield for anyone, especially if you don't know what you are doing. With so many different options available, you run the risk of 'spamming' your audience by sending them the same message 100's of times.

So with direct mail and email marketing baring similarities, which method should your business be employing?

Why Email?

Email marketing is a great way of sending out personalised messages containing offers and giveaways targeted to your customers. Email is cheap, easy and instant - meaning that you can get a potentially big return for very little investment.

However as your mailing list grows, you may need to consider using a third party email marketing system to manage all your emails. Such a system can send personalised emails to all, or specific sections, of your mailing list. The main benefit of using such a system is that you don't run the risk of getting your work email black-listed.

Why Direct Mail?

Everyone loves to receive a letter in the post, making direct mail marketing as powerful as ever. Sending personalised letters, postcards and offers out to your clients is a great marketing technique, though it does require an initial financial investment.

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. Unlike email however, you can't track what has been opened and ignored.

Is Integrated the Answer?

Both marketing methods have great benefits and can help to increase your sales leads, so it would be wise to include both techniques in your strategy. 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.

Even with the increased popularity of social media marketing, both email and direct mail marketing is still growing in popularity. 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. Before committing to any type of marketing you need to have a clear vision of your marketing strategy and how you are going to measure and gauge the success of it.

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direct mail marketing,email marketing,social media marketing,sales leads,direct mail,personalised