May, 2010
Mail and b-to-b Marketing
Business-to-business marketers are seeking hard-to-reach prospects
and know that direct mail provides key benefits as part of an integrated
campaign.
It is critical that business-to-business marketers be multichannel marketers, because b-to-b purchases often carry a big price tag, can be very technical in nature and typically require more than one person's approval. As a result, these purchases can't always be made instantly on the Web, and potential customers often want to talk to a live person or review printed materials over a period of time. Direct mail is a great tool for directing customers and prospects online.
Some might consider using e-mail on its own, but people get a lot of e-mail these days. It's best to use direct mail and e-mail together so that you're reaching people in the ways that they want to be reached.
In addition, given the relative lack of rentable b-to-b e-mail names compared to postal lists, prospecting via direct mail is often a good choice. A company can send out a catalog accompanied by a message directing prospects to a landing page for more information. It is also a co-registration opportunity. Once there, they can fill in their name and address as well as some basic information about their needs, which helps build the database with qualified leads.
Direct mail is also good for reactivating lapsed customers, using basically the same technique as with prospecting. However, you'll find that you can get three to four times the response rate from a reactivation effort compared to a prospecting campaign if you've done your homework. This is because these are people who know you already.
For all the talk about integrated marketing, a lot of business-to-business marketers still view their online and offline channels as separate. There is a lot of potential to drive sales and increase customer loyalty for marketers who can figure out how to integrate their marketing efforts, with direct mail playing an integral role at the beginning of the conversation.
The Takeaway
A direct mail piece can effectively direct recipients to a targeted landing page.
Source -- dmnews.com, Mary Ann Kleinfelter VP marketing, L-Com
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Insert Programs Offer Opportunities
If you look at the statistics, the emergence of online billing hasn't affected the insert media market too much. There has been a steady increase in the number of statement or invoice programs offered on the market, with the number of programs nearly tripling since 2004.
There are a few reasons why this is the case. Marketplace penetration has historically been low, which provides excellent opportunities for expansion. Large volume programs are still very rare and many categories remain underused.
In addition, mailers using statement inserts are looking for volume and assurance of delivery. It's rare to see a consumer throw out a utility bill or bank statement without opening it. All this is good news for potential insert programs and the mailers wishing to use them.
The light at the end of the tunnel is the increase in the number of insert media programs in the package insert category, primarily from online companies. One recent example is Shutterfly, which sends more than 6 million packages of online-purchased photo prints per year. With an increase in the number of insert programs, there will continue to be price sensitivity, which is advantageous to the mailers using the medium.
Recent studies show that only about a quarter of direct mail companies use inserts as one of their media choices. This leads one to believe that there is a bright future for insert programs. They don't have to be exclusively in the statement or invoice category. elsewhere.
Source -- DMNews.com
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