5 Direct Mail Campaign Best Practices for MSP Marketers

We previously wrote a blog article about why direct mail isn’t dead. As a follow-up, we’d like to tell you how your company can effectively use direct mail pieces in your next MSP marketing campaign. 

Direct Mail Marketing Campaign Tips to Follow

1. Have a S.M.A.R.T Goal and Target Audience in Mind

Like any MSP marketing campaign, you need to start with a goal: what do you want to get out of this campaign? You need to be more specific than “more sales” or “new clients”; your goal for your campaign needs to be S.M.A.R.T (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound). Check out our blog where we walk through creating a S.M.A.R.T marketing campaign goal. 

In addition to your campaign goal, you should determine who you are going to be targeting for this campaign. This is something that is already decided when you create a S.M.A.R.T marketing goal, but you still need to get a list together that contains the target audience you wish to hit with marketing materials. The more narrow this audience is and the more you know about them, the better your campaign can potentially be. 

One thing that is nice about direct mail versus email is that you don’t have to obtain permission before sending someone direct mail pieces. If you’re looking to put together a specific list of potential prospects, check our our Lead List Service to find businesses in your area that would be a great fit for your MSP. 

Deciding these things before you begin creating campaign materials will allow you to properly frame your direct mail marketing pieces to your specific audience and their needs. 

2. Pick the Right Piece for the Right Content 

With the previous tip in mind, you now have to pick what direct mail pieces you want to send out that will generate the greatest success. Here are some things to keep in mind when considering your options: 

• Letters - Letters are great if you have a lot to say. For example, if you are introducing your MSP to a potential prospect who isn’t familiar with you, a letter would be an effective way to do so. When using a letter, it’s best to use a branded template and to have it be from a specific member of your MSP, such as your CEO. 
• Postcards - If you want to capture the attention of your recipient, then postcards are the way to go! Since a postcard is not contained in an envelope, its colorful imagery stands out in the mailbox of your recipient. As you can imagine, it’s important to pick a good image if you are going this route. You also have little room for text, so be sure to keep your copy short and sweet. 
• Deliverables - You can send pieces such as brochures and case studies through the mail to help establish authority and support the overall goal of your direct mail campaign. Note that if you’re sending a deliverable through the mail, in most cases it would make sense to have it accompany a letter that gives some context as to why you are sending it. 
• Printed Newsletters - Printed newsletters are a deliverable piece that can stand on their own in a direct mail campaign if you desire. Or, they can be accompanied with a letter like other deliverables. An effective printed newsletter is packed with information about your company in addition to valuable educational content that a recipient would consider hanging onto.  
• 1% Kits - Sending a collection of branded items can be used to build relationships with recipients and keep your company top of mind when the recipient uses them. Items can be something small like a pen, mousepad, or cell phone card holder with your logo on it. Or, you could consider something a bit larger like a calendar, t-shirt, or mug. Keep in mind that this may be more expensive, so you need to make it count when you send these out. You may send one to a prospect on the cusp of converting to a client, or as a ‘welcome’ present to a newly signed client. 

Note that there are plenty of other things that you can send through the mail that wouldn’t necessarily be a part of a larger campaign. For example, you might send a card celebrating a client’s birthday, the holiday season,  the anniversary of your business relationship or, you might send a gift to a client for sending you a referral. These are great direct mail touchpoints to make, they will just more likely be one-off direct mail pieces versus part of an overall campaign.  

3. Include a Clear Call-To-Action

Going back to the goal we discussed for your campaign, you need to design a call-to-action that pairs well with it. Check out our blog about writing more effective calls-to-action for some ideas to use. 

Regardless of what your goal is, your call-to-action should generally be relatively short, convey value, and be easy to find. To make things easier for the recipient, you can include multiple ways for them to do what you’re trying to encourage them to do, which leads us into the next point: 

4. Include a Digital Element

Through your call-to-action, you should be providing a way to direct recipients to your central marketing hub - your website. You’re limited in the amount of content that you can provide through a direct mail piece, and having them head to your website allows you to provide additional information about the topic of your campaign and (possibly) obtain permission to email them via a form. Not every person will want to pick up the phone to call you, so sending your audience to your website provides them with different, simpler ways to contact you. 

You can send recipients to:

• A landing page
• A service page
• A blog article
• Your contact page
• A “mail-to” email

We suggest including both a shortened URL and a QR code to make the transition from physical to digital simple. 

5. Space Out Your Direct Mail Touches and Consider Other Touches, Too

For a direct mail-exclusive campaign, you need to ensure that your touches are spaced out. Overwhelming recipients with a new piece every other day will not work in your favor. You also don’t want too much time in-between pieces, otherwise it’s not much of an actual MSP marketing campaign. 

You should also remember that a direct mail campaign can include other non-direct-mail touches as well. You can include:

• Social media posts
• Website advertisements
• Emails (if you have permission to contact)
• Pay-per-click ads

A note on emails: if you don’t initially have permission to contact a recipient via email but gain it via a form submission during your campaign, you can trigger an email drip campaign! It won’t make sense to do this for every campaign that you run, but these additional touchpoints can be great to get a curious prospect moving through your sales funnel a bit faster. 

Let Us Do the Work For You! 

We can be your direct mail fulfillment agency! We spend the time writing, designing, and branding your pieces, and get them professionally printed and mailed out for you so you can be completely hands-off and worry-free. Visit our service page or give us a call at 888-546-4384 to learn more.