Long
gone are the days of mass mailing cheesy, generic postcards—or so we hope. The modern marketer uses direct marketing as an enticement
to spark interest and get a response. It's definitely an effective tool, but
starting a campaign with a bland, general mailing can be costly and annoying to
customers.
Here are five common mistakes and ways you can
avoid them:
1) Going too broad
Not properly segmenting
your audience is like throwing darts while wearing a blindfold. It hurts your
brand when customers receive irrelevant promotional materials.
Instead: Identify and target your ideal customers by
delivering your marketing message using the right channels at the right time.
For example, if you want to capture the Gen Y market, find them on Facebook,
but if you're after the older, more tech-savvy male audience then go to
Google+. If you're doing email marketing, make sure your list is clean with
updated information and stay away from mass mailing. Rely on your in-house list
as those are the people who opted-in and have already shown an interest in your
company. Better yet, allow customers to pick their preferred method of
correspondence whether it's by phone, email, postal mail, or social media.
