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What if each of your marketing channels fed into the same goals, creating an iterative process that drives results? It's possible for all of your advertising efforts to serve your bottom line. The key is integration.
In today's seamless world, interconnected marketing campaigns just make sense. Customers are used to interacting with brands across channels. Whether using direct mail, email, landing pages, social media, or PPC, campaign consistency is attainable.
Any brand can set up Google ads, make a page on every major social channel, and start posting content. Similarly, any brand can pump out enticing direct mail campaigns and hope for the best. But omnichannel marketing is about more than just spreading yourself out and covering all the bases. It's about telling a memorable story to your customers as they move through each touchpoint. At the center of this story is not your brand, but the customers themselves. Your campaigns must show how they will benefit from your product or service and paint a visual of this experience.
Integrating direct mail campaigns with digital campaigns is omnichannel marketing at its best. The research backs it up. One study shows that consumers are 60% more likely to make a purchase when they view both online and offline ads from a company. According to the DMA Response Rate Report, coupling digital and direct mail advertising led to a 28% higher conversion rate. When retargeting was used, consumers were a whopping 70% more likely to make a purchase.
Consistency is a huge part of what makes a brand memorable. A disjointed strategy erodes consistency and makes it harder for customers to interact with a business across platforms. Therefore, consistency should be the top priority when aiming for a truly omnichannel marketing approach. The other priority is making sure that the customer’s experience is at the center of your messaging.
Regardless of what type of campaign you're working on, you must take messaging and design consistency into consideration. Your messaging is defined by your brand’s personality, tone, value proposition, and more. Going hand-in-hand with this, design should be relatively consistent as well. Colors, logos, and even the style of mailer you send out can be a quick way for consumers to identify the sender. Fortunately, consistency is easy to achieve with tools like direct mail templates.
What makes a campaign truly interconnected – instead of just "cross-platform" – is that each channel works together. Each touchpoint plays a role throughout the customer journey.
When it comes to mapping your campaigns, you need to consider:
Let’s take a closer look at the marketing workflow for interconnected campaigns. Let’s say you do marketing for a retail brand and you’re launching a summer sale. Here are some sample steps you might take to map out your campaign:
These tactics working together to drive customer action instead of working independently of each other.
Or maybe you’re in the D2C space and work for a meal kit delivery service and you’re launching a new seasonal menu. Your interconnected campaign plan may look something like:
In fact, take a look at how Marley Spoon is utilizing direct mail in its campaigns to mitigate customer churn.
They key point of these different tactics is that they’re consistent in design and messaging and all work together to achieve the same goal.
It's a no-brainer that your products should be readily available for customers. Whether shopping in-store or online, most people expect to find the exact product they are looking for, especially if they just received an advertisement or coupon for it. When products aren't in stock or aren't easy to find, it takes the wind out of your customers' sales. They may wander off to another website, and you lose a sale and an opportunity to strengthen your brand. Thus, a big part of your marketing campaign preparation should be making sure that spotlit products are available, easy to find, and maybe even on sale. This builds trust and encourages visitors to take a chance on your brand.
Direct mail is often considered the preferred marketing avenue for older generations, while younger consumers stay glued to their screens. But studies shows direct mail campaigns are effective across generations. According to a 2018 USPS report, millennials spend more time opening and sorting their mail than any other group, and at least half enjoy receiving coupons and ads from retailers and restaurants.
Furthermore, many consumers report receiving a postcard mailer and making a purchase online, or vice versa, receiving an email campaign and going to the store to make a purchase. Brands are destined for success when they target specific audience segments with relevant omnichannel messaging and campaigns.
A quick note on some backend dependencies: Your marketing software and attribution model.
Lob has a wonderful portfolio of integration partners so you can easily add direct mail as a touchpoint in your interconnected campaigns. Though, we also make it easy if you want to send a one-off thank you postcard, too.
The touchpoints in an interconnected campaign are all doing some heavy lifting, so they should all get the credit. Check your attribution model to make sure the value of each touchpoint is being appropriately measured so you know your interconnected campaign is working.
Thinking of adding direct mail to your next interconnected campaign? Lob is an automated direct mail platform with solutions for insurance, healthcare, e-commerce, and more. Our platform helps organizations seamlessly monitor and tweak their direct mail campaigns for maximum results and increased ROI. Whether you're sending out custom envelopes, self-mailers, postcards, or letters, Lob will help you streamline your direct mail advertising and track the results in real-time.
Want to see how easy it is to integrate Lob into your marketing tech stack? Schedule a demo.
