The marketing landscape may be changing daily, but mail is still a huge part of our daily lives. In fact, four out of ten Americans look forward to checking their mail every day!2 As your customers look through their mail, mailers with thoughtful designs, colors, and even unusual sizes will grab their attention.
Direct mail is one of the most effective ways to see actionable results from your targeted audience. The professionals at Aspen Automotive are here to tell you how automotive direct mail fits in the modern marketing world with this convenient guide. Let’s get started!
1.) IT’S EASY TO UNDERSTAND
Direct mail requires 21 percent less of your audience’s cognitive effort to fully understand.2 Print advertisements receive your customer’s full attention without the distraction of text messages, emails, and more on a computer, cellphone, or tablet. Essentially, reading a direct mail piece is easier than reading an email or viewing an advertisement online.
By using a unique design and easy-to-retain message, direct mailers are more likely to stay with your audience. You can even make your direct mailers stand out from the other white envelopes that Americans receive in their mailboxes daily with different-sized envelopes, postcards with color, and information viewable immediately.
The result? Your targeted demographic has a higher chance of remembering your automotive direct mailer when it’s time for them to find a new car, get a repair, or ask for automotive advice.
2.) IT’S Easy to hold on to
Direct mail is physical. When you receive a piece of direct mail, you can choose what to do with it. Advertising mail stays in a household for about 17 days on average.2 This provides plenty of time for customers to return to it over the days and keep your automotive business in mind.
One way to help ensure your direct mailer stays in your customers’ minds is by including promotions. A customer can stick it on the fridge for their next oil change or tire rotation. It stays in their eye line and their memory.
3.) IT’S PERSONAL
Thanks to the ease with which you can get information these days, direct mail marketing can be further personalized to speak directly to your prospective clients and current customers.
By adding customized touches to your direct mailers, such as your customer’s name, your audience is more likely to feel valued. You can even take the level of personalization in your direct mailers further with QR Codes or personalized URLs that take your customer to a page on your website that specifically meets their needs.
For example, if they’re shopping for a new SUV, the page can take them to an SUV page with information on trading in their current vehicle.
Why is that the case? In an increasingly automated world, adding a bit of personal information tailored to your audience’s needs makes them feel you’re doing more than attempting to generate business for your dealership.
4.) IT’S HIGHLY TARGETED
To ensure that you run an effective advertising campaign, you need to have a specific audience in mind. That’s why identifying your core audience prior to creating your direct mail marketing strategy is critical to the success of the program or promotion you’re offering.
Aspen Automotive has several databases, including Aspen SureDrive Data and Lease/Loan Enders Databases, that can help you get the information you need for your campaign. Here are a few characteristics you can determine before you design your campaign:
- Family size
- Income level
- Occupation
- Gender
- Age
After establishing a few solid buyer personas of your ideal customers, you can adjust your automotive direct mail’s messages, images, and calls to action to better suit certain audiences.
5.) IT HAS A SOLID ROI AND RESPONSE RATE
Looking for more proof that automotive direct mail still fits in the modern marketing world? According to Marketing Charts, this marketing medium earned the third highest ROI (29 percent) behind email and social media.1
Despite automotive direct mail’s impressive ROI, its ability to generate staggering response rates is where it truly shines: In 2018, the direct mail response rate was 4.9 percent for prospect lists and 9 percent for house lists.2
In addition to these statistics, it can even come down to how many people read the advertisement sent to them. Up to 90 percent of direct mail gets opened versus only 20-30 percent of emails! 2
6.) IT’S MEASURABLE
When you create a marketing campaign, you’ll want to know if it was successful. Direct mail is measurable and even trackable.
By including a QR code, personalized URL, or coupon code in your mailers, your team will have a way to measure the success of your strategy based on the number of coupon codes redeemed and calls made.
Then, all you have to do is compare the total responses to the number of automotive direct mailers you sent to your targeted audience to understand how your campaign performed.
Not only does this measurability help you determine the success of your automotive marketing approach, but it also gives you a sense of which direct mail techniques work and which don’t.
7.) IT’S Customizable
Direct mail is customizable. You can create a mailer that embodies your dealership, clearly explains what’s going on at your business, and stands out.
No matter if your company is looking to promote a holiday sale or another type of incentive, the team at Aspen Auto Marketing is ready to tailor our direct mail options to fit your needs.
Start Marketing with Direct Mail Today
Direct mail is a marketing tactic that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. With its flexibility, personalization, and high ROI, direct mail can work for your automotive marketing needs. Aspen Automotive has the technology, in-house design staff, and marketing team to help you create a fantastic direct mail marketing campaign.
To get started on a successful direct mail marketing program, all you have to do is give us a call or send us an email today!
1 https://www.postgrid.com/direct-mail-statistics/
2 https://www.smallbizgenius.net/by-the-numbers/direct-mail-statistics/#gref
