The Ultimate Direct Mail Page
Discover how to plan and execute incredibly effective direct mail campaigns that will build your business.
Enquire todayThis dedicated direct mail page contains every bit of information you need for planning and executing scalable, repeatable and action-oriented mailing campaigns. We share our success secrets on targeting, artwork, eco-friendly print, along with revealing our number one strategy for direct mail success. We uncover the uncertainly around GDPR and demonstrate how GDPR can work in your favour.
About Mr Flyer
Since 2011 it has been our mission to build our customers business and build their brand through printed marketing. We provide multi-award-winning marketing strategy, artwork, sustainable print, nationwide leaflet distribution and direct mail, all undertaken in our 15,000sq. ft facilities based in West Yorkshire.
To give you extra assurance that what we are about to share with you is credible and beneficial for your business, we are members of the JICMAIL (Joint Industry Committee for Mail), DMA (Data & Marketing Agency), IPIA (Independent Print Industries Association), Love Paper, Two Sides and the SME Climate Hub. We also hold ISO9001, ISO14001 and ISO27001 accreditations, and most recently became an accredited World land Trust Carbon-Balanced Printer.
How Direct Mail Works
Direct Mail is mail (such as a postcard, letter enclosed in an envelope or even a product sample) directed at a specific address. It can be addressed to an individual personally or in a more general manner, such as 'To the Home Owner'. Usually, the more personal the communication is, the more effective it will be.
You can either target your existing customer list or purchase a specific data list to reach your ideal audience. We then design, print (with optional eco-friendly carbon-balanced upgrade), personalise, enclose in an envelope (if needed) and post the items for you. And in many cases, we do all this for less than the cost of a stamp!This is an incredibly effective strategy for targeting a specific audience (e.g. Landlords in London).The complementary but often confused service is door to door leaflet distribution. With door to door, your leaflet is hand-delivered through residents (and sometimes businesses) letterboxes.
The delivery person walks from door to door with the same leaflet(s) for every house in a given area. It is more suited to higher quantities, where less specific targeting is needed. Many businesses benefit from running door drops alongside direct mail, as we will discuss on this page.Great company to deal with, especially as everything is under one roof. They are super knowledgeable and patient with great customer service and quick replies. Would 100% recommend them. Kathy - Dial A Flight
What is The Response From Direct Mail?
Direct mail response rates vary according to industry, target audience, budget, artwork, frequency, quantity, and so much more. However, DMA's research indicates a 9% average response rate for direct mail marketing. JICMAIL reports, "in Q2 of 2019...consumers engaged with 91% of all Direct Mail. By Q2 2020, this figure had soared to 96%." Direct mail effectiveness is therefore growing significantly.
As a direct result of receiving mail, the DMA reports:
- 92% have been driven to online or digital activity
- 87% have been influenced to make online purchases
- 86% have connected with a business online
- 54% have engaged in social media
- 43% have downloaded something
Direct mail provides immediate impact and creates the opportunity for further engagement online, leading to a conversion. JICMAIL validates this further, commenting how effective direct mail is with the Gen Z audience: "this audience is 40% more likely to claim that mail can change their mind about a brand than the average GB adult."
Mail is generally remembered by customers with research showing it has 35% better recall than social media advertising and 49% more than email. MarketReach
In a 2020 MarketReach produced an inciteful case study on utilising direct mail to 'drive' online traffic: "Toyota leveraged mail's ability to create a buzz and drive traffic online when promoting its latest Corolla. Using mail, a microchip and a timer, Toyota created a race for recipients to view the car online as it was unveiled for the first time. Traffic to the Corolla website increased by 257%, resulting in a 900% increase in test drives and adding 8,000 people onto the waiting list."
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Is Direct Mail Better Than Leaflet Distribution?
This is a popular and valid question, yet in context, it like asking, 'which is better, a winter holiday in Canada or The Caribbean?' Do you love skiing or sunbathing more? They are both awesome holiday destinations; in the same way, both direct mail and leaflet distribution are awesome marketing options.
It is the context that dictates the appropriateness. For instance, an estate agent seeking more landlord clients can't effectively target them using our door to door service. With direct mail, we can provide data of landlords in their given area and send them a personalised mailer. Yet when that same agent wants to attract more vendors, this less niche audience is much more effectively reached using door drops.
Direct Mail Top Performing Sectors
Direct mail is often thought of as a B2B marketing solution. However, many of our most successful and long-standing clients use direct mail for B2C marketing. Below are the key sectors we have identified that especially benefit from direct mail:
B2B Products or Services
Car Dealerships
Council
Education
Estate & Lettings Agent
Home Improvement
Hospitality
Retail
Travel
Charities
GDPR for Direct Mail
Data (contact information) is the most critical part of a good direct mail campaign. Under GDPR rules, mail has fewer compliance requirements compared to constraints on digital marketing. Ultimately, however, what you intend to use data for is now a legal responsibility.
How and where you obtain data, what you send, how frequently and for what duration should now be scrutinised, recorded and managed.
If the data is mistreated, you may need to justify yourself to the addressees and potentially the Government to avoid costly backlash and even fines. This sounds scary, I know! However, rest assured that as an ISO27001 accredited company, we adhere perfectly in accordance with GDPR - so only choose an ISO27001 accredited company for any direct mail campaign.
Key Considerations
The six key considerations for the most targeted direct mail strategy
1. Who to target. This includes: target demographic, location, purchase of a data list or to your existing client list, etc.
2. What to send. Popular items include flyers, postcards, brochures, letters and product samples. Whatever it is, we can design and print it for you.
3. How many to send. Budget usually dictates quantity. Tip: A volume of 4,000 or more is typically less than the price of a stamp (this includes design, print and postage)!
4. When to do, and how often. We can complete a job from initial enquiry to landing through your prospects' letterboxes in just one week. We recommend repeating to the same audience at least three times over.
5. How it works. Call us today for a free consultation where we discuss your business objectives, budget and timescale. We create a strategy based on the who, what, when and how many for you.
6. Evaluate. By measuring your response rate, you can evaluate how effective the campaign has gone and make improvements for the next campaign. Feedback is, therefore, vital.
Direct Mail's Essential Strategy
The essential strategy for direct mail is the drip effect marketing strategy. This is where you frequently drip feed your target audience with your marketing message.
Very few of us respond to any advertisement on the first view, be it an email, a Facebook ad, or something on TV - our likelihood of responding increases when we keep seeing something. As such, businesses must be consistent with their marketing to:
- Build brand trust (not a fly by night business),
- Remind the receiver of the benefits you will provide them,
- Ensure that the call to action is so compelling that they will act promptly before getting distracted (again!).
Most businesses are unaware of this essential business-building strategy and opt for the very ineffective one-hit-wonder 'strategy'. To surpass your competitors and reap the rewards from drip effect marketing, it must form part of an overarching strategy.
"Advertising mail delivers increased customer value by increasing sales activity through long-term engagement." DMA
"Mail isn't a one-off thing in a box; it's about building connections over time." JICMAIL
"Your advertising mail (including leaflets, flyers and brochures) will deliver the best results if you design it with a big-picture view. Ensure that you map your customer journey out over a full year." DMA
As the statistics demonstrate, you will reap the highest returns when you synergise direct mail with other marketing and perform it frequently and consistently. We use this strategy with almost all of our most successful direct mail clients.
We've had a programme of flyer marketing done for the last two years and have been 100% satisfied with both the service and response! We'll be using them again in 2020. Max - Earnshaw Kay Estate Agents
Seasonal Direct Mail
Using seasons or popular events provides a helpful theme and reason to reach out to your target audience. Many of us utilise the Christmas period to push our product/service to our customers.
When it comes to Christmas cards, you don't have to worry about personalising each card, nor writing out loads of addresses on envelopes, or buying thousands of stamps. We do it as a complete package, and often designing, printing, personalising and posting Christmas cards all cost less than a stamp!*
Beyond marketing for sales transactions, it's also the perfect time to thank our customers for their valued custom. Often it's the unexpected gesture that keeps customers coming back.
A small gift in the post. Or a simple thank you. How will you show appreciation to your customers? Please speak with our sales consultants so you can discuss ideas on marketing to prospects and showing appreciation to existing customers.
The Process
At Mr Flyer, we provide the complete direct mail service. This covers an initial consultation, artwork creation, eco-friendly print, personalisation, enclosure, postage and follow up - and all of this forms an ongoing campaign. Below are the essentials when planning a campaign, all of which we identify in your initial consultation:
1. Target demographic and location(s). This determines the demographic to target and where (such as a Letting Agent seeking landlords within LS1, LS2 and LS3). The target audience also directs the message and artwork, the print format, and ideal frequency.
2. Actionable artwork. Artwork must be actionable - we recommend three keys:
1. Bold headline. Usually in the form of a question relevant to the receiver,
2. Eye-catching image. With the Letting Agent example, not a shopfront, but a happy family moving into their new home, with a 'Now Let' board outside),
3. Call to action (CTA). Without a call to action, no one will act. Some prospects want information overload without giving a reason to respond!
3. Appropriate print. The print choice must be appropriate to your business and marketing message. E.g. if you offer discount furniture, it can be on thin paper (90gsm - 150gsm). Still, if you provide a more premium product such as bespoke suits, your print must portray that (250gsm+). Often budget dictates paper type, size and format. Yet, it would be better to reduce quantity rather than compromise on print. You may opt for an envelope with multiple insertions, all in various print formats; this can create compelling intrigue. Specific print sizes and weights influence postage prices, which we will advise and recommend on. And with all our print, you can choose to upgrade to eco-friendly, carbon-balanced print.
4. The right delivery. This page focuses on direct mail; however, leaflet drops are much more appropriate in some circumstances. Typically most direct mail houses don't offer this, which means you may be receiving the wrong type of delivery. Generally speaking, the more targeted you need to be, a direct mail campaign is more appropriate. The less targeted, door drops are better. We always advise what's most suitable for you.
Why Choose Mr Flyer
Hopefully, you are now in a much more informed position to choose the most appropriate direct mail house. You have identified the most effective strategies and techniques to reap the benefits for your business, so is Mr Flyer right for you?
If you're still considering whether or not to use us, here are some of our strengths that should benefit your business:
1. Experienced. We have traded since 2011, and in that time, have successfully helped thousands of businesses with their direct mail marketing.
2. Results-focused. As discussed, everything we do is to build our clients businesses, which is why we use tried and tested marketing principles for every direct mail campaign.
3. In-house services. With our 25+ team, we can provide every service for you, all under one roof. These include GDPR compliant data, data cleansing, copy and creative, personalised mail, machine enclosure, poly wrapping, tabbed mailer, naked mailer, variable sheet accumulator folder and feeder, camera matching, and pick & pack integration. All of this will save you time and money.
4. Nationwide mailing. We post to over 29 million households in the UK (all of the UK!).
5. Complementary services. We provide artwork, print, leaflet distribution, partially addressed mail, direct mail, pick and pack, contract packing and hand assembling printed point of display items.
6. Part of a larger group. In the first quarter of 2020, we made a strategic merger with one of the UK's leading direct mail groups, The Flow Group. This merger has brought cutting edge technology, and in-house machinery and a joining of two strong teams with
7. Accreditations & Awards. Mr Flyer are members of JICMAIL, DMA, IPIA, Love Paper, Two Sides and the SME Climate Hub. We also hold ISO9001, ISO14001 and ISO27001 accreditations, are an accredited World land Trust Carbon-Balanced Printer, have won multiple awards, and have a whole host of 5* reviews.
8. Discounted Postage. Thanks to the vast volumes we post and our ISO14001 accreditation (which focuses on our eco credentials), we receive significant postage discounts, which we pass onto our clients.
Direct Mail Implementation
Hopefully, the considerable information we have discussed here will be beneficial for you. You now have the ammo to execute a repeatable and scalable business-building direct mail campaign. Plan your direct mail for the long term, stick at it and integrate it with your other marketing elements. By doing so, your business can grow exponentially.
At Mr Flyer, we have a team of experts poised to help you create and implement a business building direct mail campaign. Along with the drip marketing strategy - we will also look at targeting, artwork, type of mailers, print, quantity, frequency, cost-effective options, and much more too.
Ready to get started?
Please do get in touch with us today, ask to speak with one of our sales consultants, and mention you have read this page.
Get StartedAccreditations, Awards & Sustainable Commitments
Mr Flyer is a multi-award-winning company. We are ISO9001, ISO14001 and ISO27001 compliant. In addition, we are an accredited member of the DMA (Data & Marketing Association), JICMAIL (Joint Industry Committee for Mail) and the IPIA (Independent Print Industries Association).
Our Green commitments and credentials include, Carbon Balanced Printer with the World Land Trust, SME Climate Hub commitment and Love Paper & Two Sides members.
Customer Reviews
Mr Flyer is trusted by some of the UK’s smartest businesses. Why not join our continually expanding number of customers seeing a strong ROI with us.
