Staying on top of trends demands strategic thought, patience, and continual attentiveness for every business marketer, whether they're sending direct mail or social media ads.
Almost every marketing blog presents a constant advance of new marketing technologies or methods. Some of them are valuable, while others are not.
You don't have to anticipate the future to keep up with direct mail marketing trends. Instead, pay close attention to and understand prospective patterns so that you can profit from them when they occur.
With that in mind, here are six strategies to help you stay on top of direct mail marketing.
Digital marketing channels have become increasingly competitive. This encourages creativity, certainly, but it also generates a lot of "noise." To remain ahead of direct mail marketing trends, you should pay close attention to influential digital marketing trends.
That may appear unusual at first, but given today's many distribution channels and the requirement for an integrated approach, direct mail may be influenced by digital marketing behavior (personalization is a great example). In a PRIMR study on direct mail trends, researchers discovered that the growing number of marketing channels compels marketers to design an approach that combines digital marketing with direct mail.
As the digital world changes, forward-thinking individuals will consider how their direct mail operations best complement emerging trends in digital media.
Marketing trends are classified into two types: long-term and short-term. While capitalizing on a short-term trend is fantastic, incorporating long-term trends into your marketing strategy is much more critical.
With direct mail, you constantly hear about the next big trend that will transform your campaigns. However, pursuing the "next big trend" may cause you to lose out on long-term trends.
Have you ever noticed that every time a study reveals that drinking coffee is good for your health, another comes out six months later, claiming the opposite? Sometimes, marketing trends are subject to the same type of flip-flopping.
To distinguish between hype and reality, examine trends using marketing concepts. Is a fresh method more successful in conveying your message? Does it give more context for your message? Will it encourage an emotional connection with your prospects? Is it cost-effective? Is it suitable for your target audience?
No matter how complex a marketing strategy becomes, it can be broken down by simply asking basic questions. That way, you will know when something is worth leaping on.
Whether you handle it or outsource the work, be sure you're current on the latest direct mail trends. Several online resources provide excellent marketing content, and of course, Xpressdocs' direct mail marketing help area is constantly updated.
You may also track subjects by setting up Google Alerts in Gmail if you use Gmail.
The media continually covers AI, robots, blockchain, and other topics. However, these emerging technologies have limited practical applicability for anybody other than large corporations that can buy them and pay professionals to use them.
Still, recognizing these and other factors puts you in the most excellent position to attack when the opportunity arises. Augmented Reality (AR) and Near Field Communication (NFC), two emerging technologies, offer exciting applications in direct mail. However, they still need to be ready for primetime. That is not to say they should not be on your radar.
Personalization is essential to effective direct mail operations. Designing your communications may significantly increase engagement and response rates depending on recipient information. Consider the techniques below:
As we've seen, the first person to develop an idea can sometimes win, particularly in the technology business. It's the one who best implements the idea. So, when you observe an excellent direct mail marketing trend, don't dismiss it simply because it's already being used.