Customer Engagement
Blog Tag
What Should Your Outer Envelope Say?
You probably know the expression “the eyes are the window to the soul.” It’s much the same with direct mail: the outer envelope (OE)—with or without a window—gives insight into the inner contents. The OE is a blank slate for your direct mail package, and has the potential to telegraph what someone will find inside. […]
Direct Mail Never Died—It Evolved
Remember in 1999 when the internet was “invented” and the advent of “you got mail” changed the world of print and direct mail forever? Advertising experts were convinced that the direct mail channel would quickly become extinct and email marketing would take its place. As you might have guessed from the title of this post, I’m here to remind you: that didn't happen.
3 Things to Keep in Mind When Marketing to Gen Z
My generation has a lot of names, including “post-millennials,” “the homeland generation,” and my personal favorite, “the iGeneration.” Whatever you call us, Generation Z is coming of age—and so are our wallets. Gen Z is the generation born from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s […]
Reading vs. Scanning: Sidebars Can Engage Any Kind of Mail Recipient
Are you a reader or a scanner? The world is full of both. That matters to those of us who include direct mail and direct response advertising as part of our marketing mix. If we don’t create direct mail designs that account for both of those information intake preferences, we risk losing a big chunk of our audience and their potential to respond.
“Stop Worrying About Big Numbers:” Seth Godin on Getting Specific with Marketing Personalization
At this point in my dating career, I feel like I need to rent a billboard on a major highway and throw my phone number up there. Marketers have the same concern when promoting their businesses—why don't they see ROI on their ad investments? The missing link is having a target market to narrow your audience from the big, loud world down [...]
Play by the 3:33 Rule for Direct Mail Success
You just launched a big direct mail acquisition campaign. Close to a million pieces are fanning out to carefully segmented audiences in areas where your research indicates high concentrations of verified prospects. Will it be a hit or a miss? Grab a stopwatch (or your mobile phone with its many timing apps) and let’s consider. […]
APTech’s PRINT Innovation Exchange Shares How Print Can Engage the “Bi-Literate Brain”
When Julie Shaffer from APTech invited me on April 1 via LinkedIn to speak at the PRINT Innovation Exchange, I thought it might be an April Fool’s joke. She said it was my post on CCPA and taxing of professional services that caused her to reach out [...]
How to Leverage Experience-Driven Content Marketing in 2019
Experience-driven content is a hot trend in the marketing world right now, with überflip listing it as one of their 10 B2B Marketing Trends to Watch in 2019. But what is experience-driven content and how can you make it part of your direct marketing strategy? Experience-driven content strategies consider the environment in which the content appears [...]
The Outer Envelope is Key to Getting Your Direct Mail Opened
Fair or not, your audience is always going to judge your direct mail by its outer envelope. Their three-second assessment of your outer envelope (part of the 3:33 rule of direct mail—a topic in itself) will make or break your mailing. If they’re not moved to open the envelope, you don’t get to talk to them [...]
Mintel Showcases Innovative 2018 Direct Mail Campaigns
Mintel recently released their report “Innovative Direct Mail Campaigns 2018,” which highlights what they describe as “brands that stood out in the mailbox with eye-catching creatives, exclusive invitations, and functional formats.” Throughout the report, we saw how direct mail campaigns are using technology to link recipients to a digital experience and extend the life of […]
