Do you take advantage of seamless email marketing, like email templates set up in your CRM so you can send them with a click of a button, or triggered emails that get sent based on a certain event or action?

Even if you don’t, you need to consider digital direct mail so you can do the same thing as email but with postcards while generating better results.

Luckily, we have everything you need to know from what digital direct mail is to how it works and how you can use it effectively.

What is Digital Direct Mail

How can something digital and physical even be possible?

The fact is direct mail went digital in a sense a long time ago. Ever since the online world hosted its first direct mail ordering service and took the process out of running to the post office. And even Online Ordering Portals have a direct mail capability making it digital.

However, the digital direct mail we are referring to is Direct Mail Integration and it connects direct mail with your CRM or marketing automation platform and allows you to seamlessly send direct mail postcards.

Digital direct mail is an automated direct mail service that plugs into your CRM platform, just like any other type of CRM integration.

Within your CRM, you can send direct mail with just a click of a button. No placing an order with your printer or uploading files.

How Digital Direct Mail Works

When going digital with direct mail, and taking advantage of Direct Mail Integration, —also known as Direct Mail Automation—your printer provides you with a plugin to install within your CRM like your HubSpot, salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, etc.

You then provide the artwork for your direct mail postcards and your printer will take care of the rest.

Once they have received your artwork, and your plugin is installed, you’ll have a new workflow option in your CRM.

When you’re viewing a contact within your CRM this workflow showcases your postcard art versions so you can choose a specific design and then press send.

This plugin allows data from your CRM to connect with your direct mail order and processes the information to your printer to begin printing and mailing your direct mail piece.

For example, the address and name you have in your CRM transfers to the mailing panel on your direct mailer.

Instead of downloading and then uploading a mailing list or emailing it to your printer for them to upload, your mailing list generates automatically based on the information within your CRM.

Digital direct mail doesn’t just allow you to send direct mail with a click of a button either.

You can set up triggers so that a postcard is automatically sent to contacts based on certain actions or events, including:

• When a certain email is sent to take advantage of multi-channel marketing
• When someone places their first order and becomes a customer
• When someone signs up for an event your company is hosting
• When someone hasn’t placed an order in a while or reached out
• When your company has a big sale coming up

Benefits of Going Digital with Your Direct Mail

Using digital direct mail has many benefits, including driving traffic to your website or business.

One of the main reasons companies take advantage of going digital with their direct mail and utilize Direct Mail Integration, is the saved time that they gain.

If you aren’t using the power of direct mail you need to consider adding it to your marketing strategy. And if you are using it, you know that planning, designing, gathering data, and placing your order can take some time away from other important matters.

And no matter how effective direct mail is, if you could eliminate the process and just press a button to send it out, it would save you a lot of time!

That’s where Direct Mail Integration comes into play, so you can send a postcard with a click of a single button or have direct mail pieces automatically send without any effort at all.

In a nutshell, the benefits of digital direct mail include:

• Time saved by eliminating the manual process and automating your direct mail instead.
• Better brand visibility because direct mail is guaranteed to be seen unlike online marketing efforts.
• Greater responses: postcards generate better responses than email, social media, and display ads combined.
• The multi-channel advantage by allowing you to connect email and direct mail to build better brand awareness.
• Tracking and reporting abilities so you can track and measure results.
• Suitable for even small budgets as there is no software fee and you can send as few postcards as you want with bulk mailing rates applied.

Effective Digital Direct Mail Strategies

Reaching out to the same lead multiple times through email or online marketing with no response is discouraging. But, with Direct Mail Automation or Direct Mail Integration, you can generate greater responses and results because direct mail is a more effective medium.

Here are some effective digital direct mail strategies to get some ideas for your next marketing campaign.

Product Launch Marketing

Launching a new product means you need to spread awareness about the product and let your audience know why they need it.

One of the quickest and most effective ways to get the word out is to set up a trigger so on the date your product is officially launched a postcard will be sent to each customer in your CRM. You can send an email as well so that you gain the advantage of multi-channel marketing and increase the chances that people will purchase your product.

Holiday Marketing

Holidays are a great time to let customers and prospects know you are thinking of them and to get them into the mood for holiday shopping or planning for the new year!

Just design a postcard with a warm greeting or even include a discount to give your recipients a gift that encourages them to take you up on your offer.

You can send a holiday card to everyone in your CRM or send certain contacts an on-demand holiday greeting as easily as sending them an email.

Brand Awareness Marketing

Building and strengthening the awareness of your brand is crucial! And something tangible like a postcard is the perfect way to build better brand awareness.

Set up a trigger to send a postcard when someone hasn’t been reached or placed an order in a while. Or simply send a warm prospect a message highlighting the capabilities of your company so that they keep your brand top of mind.

Loyalty Marketing

When you have a loyal customer or even someone who just became a customer, it’s important to keep up with them to grow and retain customer relationships.

You can send customers a happy birthday message and offer them a gift on their special day, just set up a trigger so each month a postcard is sent to customers who have birthdays that month.

Building strong customer relationships with Direct Mail Integration is easy, and the possibilities are endless. You could even send customers a postcard to let them know about your company’s rewards program.

You can also send a thank you postcard when a customer places an order to encourage repeat purchases.

Conclusion

Unlike your average digital marketing efforts, direct mail is guaranteed to be seen and generates better results. And with digital direct mail, you can save so much more time by taking out the manual process and effortlessly and seamlessly sending direct mail as easily as an email.

If you are interested in the benefits or going digital with your direct mail, click below to learn more about Direct Mail Integration and schedule a quick meeting to get started today!