14 Jan There is a great article on WSJ.com about businesses holding on to the traditional method of snail mail marketing.

The article demonstrates how companies are reverting back to the use of traditional direct mail pieces for effective marketing. The key to their success lies in the content of their mailers.

There were a couple of things in this article that stood out to me. For starters, each one had a unique message that reflected there firm’s own personal style. I think this is very important when creating any personal marketing piece. You have to be unique and at the same time stay true to who you are. Humor was one firm’s personality, so they made sure their mailers reflected that. People enjoy personality. Consumers would much rather buy from someone that they feel like they know. No one wants to buy from a stranger.

One business rejected the “mass mailer lists” and constructed their own personal lists. This works well in real estate. I like this method because it’s efficient and cost effective. You don’t pay for the lists and you actually know the recipient is interested in your community. The money you will save can be allotted to a better design of the piece. No one wants junk mail so make sure your mail piece doesn’t look like it. Plus, this gives you a chance to really express your business’s uniqueness without worrying about costs.

I love the idea of integrating snail mail marketing with social media efforts. If you include a call to action on your mail piece involving your social media sites, your mail recipients might begin migrating there. This could eventually lead to the elimination of the mail pieces thus saving you money. It would also be a plus to have them interacting on your social sites.

I am not saying that everyone should be using direct mail pieces, but if you are, take a step back and look at your ROI. Are you getting the results you want? Are you wasting money? If you answered yes to either of those, you need to come up with a new strategy or maybe eliminate the entire campaign. You must first identify why you have a problem before you can fix it.