Customers, clients, prospects – they’re all people. And all people are looking for pretty much the same thing: someone to trust.
As a result, businesses and salespeople need to stand out from their competition as trustworthy. And many have discovered that one way to stand out in an electronically-driven marketing world is to use good old-fashioned direct mail.
1. Personalizing Direct Mail
Direct mail is a way for you to communicate with your prospects or clients in a one-on-one manner. This means that it is an opportunity to deliver a specific message to one specific person – otherwise known as addressable advertising.
Addressable advertising is the “holy grail” of marketing communications. Obviously, no direct mail agencies have the data, analytics, creative chops, and strategic depth to offer complete personalization for a direct mail campaign. But you don’t need all of this to make your campaign compellingly personal. By dividing your customers and prospects into just a few segments, we can begin to personalize your direct mail easily and effectively.
2. Segmenting by Audience Persona
A persona is one of the most important documents you can have in your marketing plan. Your persona gives an identity to your customer target audience and clearly discusses their attitudes and pain points as though you are targeting a single person – for instance, a parent of a teenage driver or someone who has been trying to lose weight and keep it off. A suitably-detailed persona allows you to focus your sales message and sell them on your products or services.
We typically segment entire campaigns by persona, making this one of the larger categories of personalization. But this is just a start. Each message receives further personalization, as well.
3. Segmenting by Point in Sales Funnel
How deeply into your funnel has the prospect gotten? We typically classify customers into three segments based on time-in-funnel: learning, shopping, and buying. Are they new entrants, eager to learn more about the solutions that your company offers? Have they been nurturing in your funnel for three months, shopping around to see which solution best fits their needs? Are they qualified leads, ready to buy? Depending on how deep into your nurture funnel the prospect is, you can reach out with a specific message that helps move them along in the funnel.
4. Segmenting by Past Relationship
What’s the relationship you have with your prospect? Have you sold products or services to them? Are they a lead? Is this a cold mailing? When was the last time you spoke on the phone? With a great CRM system, like InfusionSoft or SalesForce, you can pull these data points directly from your CRM and begin to segment your lists according to the past relationship(s) you’ve had with the customer.
The difference between average direct mail and great direct mail is personalization — creating addressable advertising messages that are specifically geared to reach one specific segment of your total audience. By following these three easy segmentation tips, you can ensure that people find your direct mail to be engaging, effective, and trustworthy.
Thanks for reading! Interested in talking to us about your direct mail needs? Connect with us today.
I'm the Director of Digital Services and Partner at Ballantine, a family-owned and operated direct mail & digital marketing company based in New Jersey. and started in 1966 by my great uncle!
