Picking up the mail is still a daily ritual for individuals and businesses, making it a great way to engage with prospects, customers, and the community. Putting a message into the mail stream is easier today than ever before, thanks to USPS Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM®). And you don’t need to be a mailing maven to offer the program!
The premise for EDDM began with the USPS realizing that many businesses, spanning all sizes and ranges, considered direct mail marketing complicated. Companies may have their customer’s best current address, but they might not. And for prospecting, buying lists adds costs many companies don’t have in their budget. With EDDM, the burden of address acquisition is taken off the table because you define the delivery routes for your targeting. You can even vary your messaging for each neighborhood.
Every Door Direct Mail campaigns let you spend efficiently on marketing while connecting you with your local community. USPSDelivers.com
One more benefit is that there is no complicated bulk mail permitting! Part of the EDDM process includes the assignment of an indicia to indicate payment for the mailing, and 4over can help you with that process.
Getting started is easy with 4over as your partner.
Consider your client’s communication needs to help them define the criteria for a ZIP code or neighborhood carrier route for the EDDM campaign. Budgets are essential to consider, so look at options to target different routes each month or each quarter. Schools or local retail may have a narrow focus, but larger businesses, associations, sports teams, or online businesses may want to look at broader markets.
Postcards, catalogs, brochures, and small magazines are all excellent ways to convey information to the target market. EDDM shines in introducing brands, products, and services to new markets, but it is also valuable to maintain relationships with the community. Designs should be eye-catching but appropriate for the messaging. Nail salons have a different vibe than restaurants or sporting goods stores.
Postcards are great as an introduction to a new business or to announce events. Brochures are great for political candidates to share their platform or charities to share their mission and giving options. Look at catalogs, even small ones, for online and storefront retailers to help the market understand all they have to offer. For service businesses, small magazines can explain their offerings, share a success story, and build a talk track in the community.
Every marketing communication should have a call to action for the recipient, so help your client make it easy for people to interact with them. Don’t let customers push marketing into the community without that call to action! Links to websites using QR codes are an easy way for people to get instant engagement. Remember that QR codes can link to a website with a reservation form, shopping cart, menu of services, or other engagement tools.
The USPS tells us that Tuesday through Thursday are the best mail drop days.
The tracking results help you keep your client engaged. It helps you point to the designs and formats that get the best results for them, putting you into the role of their trusted advisor. The USPS provides tools to help you track your results but don’t forget that your 4over team can help, too.
For clients, one of the critical benefits of EDDM is its affordability and flexibility. Mailings can focus on 200 addresses in a single apartment complex or 20,000 in a small town. When you eliminate the costs of address acquisition, verification, and management, focus on the design, and develop compelling messaging, EDDM allows you to reach customers in your local area who may not be aware of your business.
If your customer needs the whole Direct Mail marketing experience based on their mailing lists, 4over can help with that, too! Need more ideas? Talk to your team at 4over. They can help you from design to execution and delivery of a successful targeted mailing campaign.