Print Marketing in the Digital World: Part 1

This past Thursday, our Jen Hanson sat down with Melissa Picklesimer to discuss the value of print marketing—specifically direct-mail campaigns—in our digital world. And yes, there is still a lot of value to be had in real, physically mailers—especially when you harness digital tools to maximize their impact.

Paper Power

When you plan out your marketing budget, you want to know what aspects are working and which ones are just wasted money. Here at Deckard & Company, we know from a website perspective that there are all kinds of ways to track visitors, page views, ad clicks, time spent, and many many more indicators that show us how people are finding your site and what they’re doing when they get there.

But can you get the same impact from a real postcard in a physical mailbox? In fact, you can, when you combine that postcard with some incredible digital tools. Direct-mail marketing has been around for as long as mail itself, but people still respond to it. And we can prove it.

Informed Delivery with the USPS

The United States Postal Service now offers an app that tells you what mail will be arriving in your mailbox on the day that it gets there. If you’re expecting important documents or a letter from a loved one, you’ll know before it arrives.

The information comes via gray-scale images: The USPS scans each item of mail and then will send you those pictures via the app on your phone.

Now, says Picklesimer, there are ways to partner with the USPS so that your direct-mail item shows up in their app in full color as a clickable image that will direct users to the webpage of your choosing—whether it’s your website’s home page, your Facebook page, or even a dedicated landing page pertinent to the information on the mailer itself. Then it’s easy to track who’s seen the image in the app and clicked on it.

Repetition, Repetition, Repetition

Plus, it’s one more exposure for your business to potential customers. Branding is all about repetition. The more times consumers get their eyeballs on your business’s name and logo, the more it’s going to stick. People who see your mailer in the app—even if they don’t click through—will still have that all-important glimmer of recognition when they go to their mailbox that day.

We want more consumers out there to know about this app, not only because it adds to the power of direct mail, but because it’s a powerful tool for anyone to be able to preview their day’s mail.

QR Codes

Another simple way to track the efficacy of your direct-mail campaign is through a QR code.

You can generate a free, custom QR code and print it on your mailer, and voila: It’s like an online link, but in physical form. Anyone with a smart phone can just turn on the camera function, point and click on your mailer’s QR code, and information will appear to take them to the web page of your choosing. And once again, we can tell who got there specifically through that code, so you know your print campaign is working.