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It happens every day — your audience narrows, you lose followers on social, and people unsubscribe from your email list. Most marketers accept this audience bleed as a natural part of the sales funnel. However, many don't realize you can do many things to prevent people from leaving. You need to expand your marketing repertoire to reduce that loss. That's step one.
There are a few simple ways to keep your audience engaged with your brand as you create marketing materials and test new tactics; here's how.
Researching your audience is the first way to gain a competitive edge in keeping their attention as they move through the funnel. Only about 47% of content marketers research their audience. This indicates that most marketers build strategies based on assumptions about their audience's wants and needs rather than the truth. How can any marketer expect to keep their audience engaged if they know nothing about them?
The easiest way to conduct audience research is to engage directly. Start by conducting surveys to your existing subscribers. This will inform you about their key pain points, the reasons they engaged with your brand in the first place, and the types of communication they prefer to receive.
Add social listening to your research mix as well. 82% of marketers find social listening to be a useful element in strategic planning. A good picture of what people say about your brand online allows you to address those points directly. If you're not using those insights, it's almost a guarantee that your competition is.
Once you've done the research, it's time to put it to use. One of the best ways to keep an audience engaged is to understand the messages they're interested in and the channels through which they prefer to receive communication.
Effective direct mail strategies give your recipients exactly what they want rather than relying on generic blanket mailers. Direct mail personalization is an excellent way to engage with an otherwise disengaged audience, and you can achieve it with Lob's API.
Learn how ThirdLove engaged with its customers on their terms by adding direct mail as a touchpoint after customers unsubscribed from marketing emails:
When keeping an audience engaged, it's important to consider what messaging you're putting out on your marketing channels. For example, if your direct mail marketing focuses on the ease of using your product, your website shouldn't have walls of text describing how to get started. If you mention on social media that your brand is sustainable, your website and other marketing should back up that claim.
Consistency is important for your messaging and also for your brand's visuals. Especially with a retention-focused campaign, brand recognition is essential. If your social media channels are full of bright illustrations, your website shouldn't be full of black-and-white photography. Direct mail pieces should fit within this system rather than trying too hard to "stand out." If you stray too far, you risk losing sight of a larger multichannel message and holistic brand.
This doesn't mean that your content should be identical on every channel. Differentiating certain elements, such as offers, specific images within the same style, and slight adjustments to messaging, can help prevent fatigue among your audience that might drive them to one of your competitors rather than further down your sales funnel.
As the marketing landscape evolves, your tactics should as well. After all, you don't still have barkers standing outside to tout the quality of your wares like it's the 1920s. Why would you keep using other outdated tactics?
You should be aware that at the end of 2023, third-party cookies will be phased out entirely by Google. These cookies are one of the primary data collection tools that digital marketers rely upon for tactics like retargeting, display, and paid search. Is your marketing strategy prepared to evolve accordingly?
Losing third-party cookies doesn't mean you need to eliminate personalization. You should continue to make personalization a priority. 80% of consumers are more likely to buy from a company that provides a tailored, personalized marketing experience. Direct mail marketing lets you personalize your campaigns and re-engage an audience you might otherwise lose.
Adding direct mail to the mix won't compromise the convenience offered by automated digital marketing. Your personalized direct mail campaigns can be fully automated based on specific triggers in your sales funnel. For instance, if someone unsubscribed from your email list, you can trigger a postcard being delivered 30 days later. This gives them a chance to re-engage and gives you a chance to bring them back.
Direct mail strategies that work effectively are those that work seamlessly with the rest of your multichannel strategy. The only way to keep an audience engaged is to ensure that you're truly serving them content on their terms in ways they are most likely to engage. In a world where messages and advertisements are arriving from every angle, offering your audience highly relevant omnichannel messaging is critical.
Direct mail marketing is one of the best ways to achieve highly personalized marketing, delivered directly to your audience. If you want to learn more about how Lob's direct mail solutions can help keep your audience engaged, request a demo today.
Learn how to harness the power of direct mail to combat email fatigue and digital messaging overload on Episode 7 of the Lobcast Podcast. Watch here.
