Five Holiday Season Direct Mail Ideas to Boost a Ho Ho Ho Lot of Sales

In a detracted, overcrowded digital world, integrated direct mail campaigns can help your business stand out this holiday season.

The holiday season is an exciting time of festivities, food, and friends for many. For marketers and small business owners, the approaching holiday season means its crunch time. Before you take off for a well-deserved vacation, think about using direct mail marketing as part of a successful, comprehensive marketing campaign.

Remember, digital marketing isn’t always the way to go. Particularly around the holidays, when customers pay more attention to their mail than they do all year, a direct mail marketing campaign can give your business the edge it needs to motivate customers to take action.

The fact is direct mail can be powerful. According to the United States Postal Service, approximately 3 out of 4 direct mail customers receive and open their mail the same day it’s delivered. Add to this statistic the anticipation associated with holiday greeting cards or gifts and your direct mail campaign reaches customers at a sweet spot of high open rates.

How do you simultaneously craft an eye-catching direct mail marketing campaign and rise above your customers’ junk mail? The truth is there is no secret, but there are a few things you can do to increase engagement with your direct mail marketing campaign and avoid the waste bin this holiday season.  Here are 5.

1.) Holiday Direct Mail Works

Customers are bombarded with catalogs during the holiday season. Cut the fluff and focus on a single marketing message using direct mail postcards instead. Enlist the help of your creative team to make postcards personal and festive. Also, don’t opt for pre-printed text if possible. A personalized note of gratitude goes a long way.  Ask about variable data printing to personalize your postcards.

2.) Specialty Mail Lists Will Improve Direct Mail Marketing Results

If your business specializes in services specific to a particular location or type of homeowner/renter, the use of house lists can greatly improve your response rate while keeping costs down. Using lists to build your direct mail campaign means you can drill down your options to include only the most likely to respond to your marketing materials.

3.) Use the New Year to Build Jumpstart Sales

Are the holidays not the best time for your businesses messaging? Don’t forget the New Year when crafting your direct mail campaign. Most people take a vacation through the New Year and count on post-holiday sales to purchase home goods, late holiday gifts and New Year essentials.

4.) Use Direct Mail Marketing with a Social Media Campaign

Running a social media campaign for the holidays? Giving out some great prizes and want to reach your audience further? Make sure current and prospective customers know about it by using direct mail to increase reach. Statistics show that direct mail achieves higher open rates than any other digital channel.

5.) Combine Direct Mail and Email to Increase Response Rates

Direct mail campaigns targeting 5,000 people achieve 175 responses compared to email’s 65 responses. When you use both direct mail and email to reach a target market during the holidays, a time when people are already paying more attention to their mail, you can expect to experience better response rates.