Direct mail marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach your ideal customer, no matter what business you are in. It often has a better response rate than digital advertising and you will find that customers will often trust direct mail marketing more than they trust digital advertisements.
When your organization is setting up a direct mail marketing campaign, choosing your target demographic is likely the most critical detail. Let’s take a look at how you can choose the best possible group of potential customers to target your direct mail campaigns.
How Do You Pick a Target Area for a Direct Mail Campaign
When you are selecting a target area for your direct mail campaign, there are two ways that you can target. You can select a target area based upon a set radius or you can select an area based upon drive time. There are some situations where you might want to use a mix or match of the two between different campaigns.
Target Radius
When people use Google Maps to do a search, 72% of individuals will look for a business within five miles of their physical location. The same principle carries over well to direct mail marketing. If you are a service-based business, such as a dental clinic, this is the distance that most people are willing to travel to purchase goods and services. Also, targeting a geographic area within the proximity of your business will help strengthen the trust of your business in the eyes of the customer. If someone receives a piece of direct mail and they aren’t within a distance radius of your business, they are not as likely to purchase your goods or services.
Driving Distance
Driving distance can be a great way to direct the mail market for things like events. Ticketmaster once found that the average concert goer is willing to travel up to forty-three miles for a music event. By targeting the driving distance from your event, you are likely to find individuals that are likely to show up.
Driving distance targeting can also help you find good customers that might reside out of your business’s physical area. For example, with Every Door Direct Mail, you might want to target suburbs of a major city if your business is located centrally in a downtown area. Many automotive dealerships use this strategy. For example, a car dealership in downtown Chicago might want to target suburban customers in order to find new potential clientele.
How Do You Find the Right Income Bracket for a Direct Mail Campaign?
Income brackets will likely be a central part of your direct mail campaign. Maybe your business sells a luxury good or service that is targeted towards a higher income group. Your business might also provide credit relief services, and you might want to target a broader range of people with varying incomes. The right income bracket targeting will help your direct mail marketing campaign succeed.
When it comes to launching a successful marketing campaign, choosing the right income bracket is an essential component that requires careful consideration. The income bracket is an important factor in determining the target audience and ultimately driving conversions. Here are some thoughtful tips to help you select the ideal income bracket for your marketing campaign.
- Analyze your existing customer base: Your current customer base provides invaluable insight into your target audience. Look at the income range of your existing customers to help identify the right income bracket to target. If you isolate a particular income bracket, you will get a better return on your investment in your direct mail campaign.
- Conduct market research: Market research helps you gain a better understanding of the income distribution among your target demographic. Study data from similar businesses in your industry to identify which income brackets are most responsive to marketing campaigns.
- Analyze demographics: Look at demographic data to see which age groups, geographic locations, or educational backgrounds correlate with specific income brackets. You can also find information on average income by gender or marital status. This information can help you create highly targeted marketing messages for each segment of your target audience.
- Determine the income bracket with a better cost-per-result: Selecting a target income bracket that aligns with your marketing budget is critical. Lower-income brackets tend to have a higher cost of conversion while targeting high-income brackets can be more expensive but potentially yield greater returns.
Targeting Homeowners Versus Renters
Homeowners and renters may seem like a very simple choice for your direct marketing campaign, but this choice comes with many possible incomes. Homeowners tend to be a little bit more stable financially and may not need certain goods or services that renters do. For example, let’s say that your business offers lawn care services. Selecting a renter makes more sense because a renter might not own lawn care equipment if they are renting a home.
According to a study by the Data & Marketing Association, homeowners are more likely to respond to direct mail campaigns than renters. The study found that the response rate for direct mail sent to homeowners was 5.1%, while the response rate for direct mail sent to renters was 4.7%. This may seem like a small difference, but it can add up quickly when you’re sending out thousands or even millions of pieces of mail.
There are several reasons why homeowners may be more responsive to direct mail than renters. For one thing, homeowners tend to be more settled in their homes, which means they’re more invested in their community and more likely to take an interest in local businesses. Additionally, homeowners often have more disposable income than renters, which means they may be more likely to make purchases based on direct mail offers.
What Other Targeting Options Can Work Well With a Direct Mail Campaign?
There are several other targeting options available for a direct mail campaign. Targeting a mailing campaign by family status can have several benefits. If your company sells baby products, it makes sense to target new or expecting parents. Orthodontic clinics can benefit from targeting parents with teenagers, for products like Invisalign or braces.
Interests and hobbies can also prove fruitful for a direct mail marketing campaign. Restaurants that offer particular cuisines, such as Italian, can target frequent shoppers and those who like to eat out to improve the ROI on that particular direct mail marketing campaign. Travel services might want to find those individuals with higher income levels
Age is also a particularly strong targeting criteria for a direct mail marketing campaign. While direct mail campaigns work particularly well across all age groups, certain products and services might benefit from detailed age targeting.
One example of age group targeting for a direct mail marketing campaign is the younger generation, ages 18 to 34. This age group is generally tech-savvy, with a preference for trendy and innovative products. They also prefer services that cater to their fast-paced lifestyle.
Another age group that marketers can target through direct mail campaigns is the Baby Boomers, ages 55 to 75. This group is generally focused on their comfort and convenience, making products that improve their daily lives highly appealing. Direct mail marketing campaigns targeting this age group can offer promotions for luxury home appliances such as state-of-the-art vacuum cleaners, laundry machines, and dishwashers. Services that can make their life more convenient, such as grocery delivery services or healthcare providers that offer in-home medical services, are also an excellent target for marketing campaigns.
Utilizing Direct Mail With Digital Marketing
While direct mail outperforms digital advertising in both terms of response rates and return on investment, the two work particularly well in tandem with one another. If you are targeting a particular area with a direct mail campaign, you can also use the same targeting data to set up a Google Ads campaign or a Facebook campaign. The standard response rate for direct mail marketing is about five percent. Incorporating direct mail marketing into your digital advertising campaign can result in a 39% increase in customer response rates? Studies show that combining direct mail with digital marketing can lead to a 28% increase in overall revenue.
Utilize Every Door Direct Mail For Your Next Marketing Campaign
Now that you know the targeting potentialities of direct mail marketing, Every Door Direct Mail just makes sense for reaching new customers. The cost is comparable to digital marketing media, but with a better return on investment. With Every Door Direct Mail, you can send postcards and fliers to people within a certain radius of your business or base your mailings based upon drive time, helping you reach the right type of customer who will respond to your marketing efforts.
