When it comes to direct mail, nothing annoys me more than receiving letters or postcards about a product or service that is completely irrelevant to my interests and/or demographic. Call me a direct marketing snob, call me what you will - I’ve got a valid point to make here.
Mail offers from local dental clinics, restaurants, dry cleaners, etc. are fine by me, because those services are pretty much relevant to everyone in my neighborhood. But how about receiving a personalized mail piece that clearly belongs to someone twice my age? For instance, to the company who keeps mailing me letters about buying cheap burial insurance: I don’t need it! At least I hope I don’t – unless you know something I’m not aware of, I believe I have several good decades left on the planet.
Or how about the company that keeps sending me arts & crafts catalogs? First of all, I’m a dude. Not to sound sexist; but typically males aren’t the ones you find knitting together scarves or sewing buttons on dolls. Unless your craft catalog has BBQ grills and tools for sale, it’s going in the trash. You get my point.
It baffles me to think about how much money companies are throwing away each month on direct mail campaigns simply because they refuse to update their current lists or acquire a list of new, targeted prospects.
According to an article posted on www.dmnews.com, “The goal of marketing is to provide consumers with a product or service offer that will be of interest to them wherever they are.” Believe it or not, many consumers are pleasantly surprised when they receive personalized ads from companies who have gone through the trouble of finding out a little something about them first.
If you want to get more personal with your audience, try segmenting your direct mail lists according to specific demographics. Let’s use the burial insurance company as an example. Obviously, I’m too young to be receiving burial insurance advertisements, so this company should take Age Range into consideration when acquiring a list of qualified prospects. Perhaps this company sells other insurance products that I may qualify for. In this instance, they simply need to segment out their mail campaigns according to age range and the specific product they wish to advertise.
At LISTGIANT, we offer access to an online list portal that allows you to access the targeted direct mail lists you need 24/7. Call us today to find out more info. 800-383-1381.