Combine a targeted approach to the people who are important to your company or your message with the economic advantages of digital printing! In dialogue marketing, you communicate with the personalities of your target group with a personalized mailing. Create a customized mailing with a personalized address, individual salutation, customer-oriented text or image variables and inserts tailored to the recipient!
The increased use of online media is increasing the attention paid to letters and other personalized mailings, such as vouchers, invitations and catalogs. These are also becoming increasingly high-quality and lovingly designed and, as physical media, trigger emotions and measurable reactions.
Address your customers by name – the more personal, the better!
Direct mailing straight to the heart of your customers
Do you still remember the little love messages at school?
What can we learn from this for today’s addressed and personalized mailings?
What does a children’s love letter have in common with a mailing? In this example, for the sake of simplicity, let’s take a girl who adores a boy. The boys among us know that it’s exactly the same the other way round.
In the beginning comes the target group
Before a ten-year-old girl writes such a message, she deals extensively with her beloved (target group). She finds out from his classmates, club colleagues and through meticulous observation what the chances are that “HE” will send back a positive reply to her letter.
If you are planning a direct mail, take a close look at your target group. What general situation do the people find themselves in, what values and motives motivate them? What is the benefit you offer with your product?
How would you like to address the customer? Surprise him when you hand over the mailing! With a "Personal" you increase the curiosity and the perceived importance of the letter. Hardly anyone with serious intentions for an honest dialog sends their most important customers a mass-printed standard letter with a sticky address label.
The letter is personally addressed
Different tactics are used here:
- Version: The letter is delivered personally by a courier. Mostly the best friend, right?
- Version: The letter is secretly put into the satchel and the loved one is surprised.
- Version: The brave ones hand over the letter personally; of course with the remark: “You can’t open it until you get home.”
In the youth version, the “Please don’t show anyone!” is still often used here, as the fear of a public “no” is very great.
Content of the mailing
In our example, the content is short and to the point. Straight to the essential question and therefore clear. The drawn heart also formulates the benefit that the recipient will receive if they answer “yes”: “ewigi Liebi”.
If he answers “no”, the sender can still console herself with the following:
- NO = Next Opportunity
- FAIL = First Attempt In Learning
- END = Effort Never Dies
Get to the heart of your message! Communicate facts, advantages and benefits in a language adapted to the target audience.
Make it easy for the recipient to take the next step. How much does your addressee have to think about? How hard does he have to try to find an answer at all? Make it easy for him to simply say "yes" and get in touch with you. Think about the steps for answering customer questions beforehand.
Call to action and response element
In our small example, “Yes, No” implies that an answer is expected. The recipient should do something, and the call to action is actually self-explanatory. What if this little love letter didn’t contain the answer element “Yes, no”? What would be the answer? Exactly:
Time of dispatch
Never, absolutely never, would our little princess give the message to her prince charming when he is playing football with his friends on the playground. Wrong time! No, clever as she is, she waits for the right time. She will miss the time a few times because she is so nervous, but she definitely has a good feeling for when it is the wrong time for a delivery.
Find out when your customers are open and have time to engage with your mailing. And deliver the mailing at this time. Example in B2B: Monday morning in the office = meeting time
Convey your values and become a reliable brand! Be authentic! Reveal yourself - those who reveal their motives and values will be rewarded with trust from their contacts.
(Love) letter for grown-ups
Substance
Superficial things have little place in such an advertising letter. We write about values, motivations and emotions that are important to us. We transport our “brand”. We reveal our strengths and weaknesses and thus become predictable for the other person – without losing that little touch of “magic” that makes us so attractive.Design the letter carefully and elaborately
An exceptional, high-quality paper feels wonderful in the hand when reading. The relationship should last a lifetime, be unique, and a sheet of paper from the photocopier is simply not the right thing – you don’t want to give the boy of your heart the feeling that he is one of many.
Kitschy decorations: Envelope with a heart? With a little surprise in the letter: a photo for your wallet? Perfumed?
Some ideas for your next business mailing:
- Embossing with gold foil - a tactile and visual experience
- Scented varnish - so you can smell good
- Special paper - your customer feels what he is worth to you
- Fluorescent paint - show the way!
- Thermo-relief printing - a sublime feeling when you run your fingertips over your message
- Punching - leads the eye to the core of your information
- Painting - complete or partial
The right insert or amplifier to trigger a positive reaction from the customer and get an inquiry.
Have we turned on your head cinema? Memories awakened? Of course, a mailing decorated with hearts is not appropriate in business life. But to grab the attention of your favorite customers in direct marketing, you have countless opportunities to use effects that are adapted to your company, the product and the message and emotionally reinforce your message.
A mailing is not a mailing! You can't expect your customers and prospects to snatch your services and products out of your hands with just one initial advertising letter. Or do you do this when you receive a letter? But you can lay the foundation for a long, mutually profitable relationship. With regular maintenance via various channels, you can build a stable, long-term relationship with your customers.
Mailings only by letter?
Even newly in love don’t just send each other long letters. A post-it on the bathroom mirror with “Here you see the most beautiful smile in the world” or a little note on the breakfast table are important messages that help to maintain a long relationship.
And that is what we want in both our personal and professional lives.
The direct mail is often only the first impulse. Nowadays, customers obtain comprehensive information before using a service. What about the information on your website and your social media presence? Can you offer a consistent user experience here?
We also use different channels for our messages. We inform our customers via our website, communicate by e-mail and use social media:
We disseminate important information about internal matters or the market environment in our customer magazine. We advertise new services in the online area (business stationery – Web2Print) by means of direct mails. Because we are emphasizing how important this news is. They get the attention they need and are less likely to get lost in the daily flood of information.
Summary
- Target group – Try to describe your target group as precisely as possible. Create a persona and address it directly in the mailing.
- Personally addressed – The more personally you write to the personalities of your target group, the better.
- Content of the mailing – Is the content easy to grasp? What is it about? What’s in it for me / what use is it to me?
- Substance – no jargon or marketing bullshit bingo. Communicate facts, advantages and benefits in a simple and understandable way.
- Call to action – What should the customer do? Prepare for possible questions from your customers. Are there any other documents that can help the customer?
- Response element – How should the customer contact you? Telephone, e-mail, website, business reply card?
- Time of dispatch – Generally, we recommend the middle of the week, as meetings are scheduled at the beginning of the week and the last few pending items are being hecticly processed towards the end of the week. As always, exceptions prove the rule!
- Design – Design your letter in such a way that your message receives maximum attention. This ranges from paper, typography and imagery to elaborate post-processing such as folding, punching, embossing and special processes such as thermo-relief, varnish application and scented varnishes.
- Inserts – Depending on the mailing, inserts such as a catalog or brochure can be the main reason for a physical direct mail.
Amplifiers such as samples and promotional items increase attention, especially if the item stands out from the rest of the letter mail due to its unusual shape.
Print sophisticated mailings
And now it gets complicated! If you want to send your mailing to the personalities of several recipient groups with customized texts, graphic elements and images in different languages and target group-specific inserts, we at Staffel Medien AG will accompany you with your next mailing – so that your message touches the hearts of your customers and you have the success you deserve.* Mandatory fields
Information on data protection, revocation, logging and the performance measurement covered by the consent can be found in our data protection declaration
Ralf Weissbaum
044 289 89 10