Direct Mail and Email: A One-Two Marketing Punch!

By Keith Klamer

Time was, when marketing experts argued incessantly over the relative pros and cons of email and direct mail.These days, all industry experts agree: both media are powerful when paired with each other in a coordinated campaign. The power to wield these tools in a multi-channel effort are easily accessible, if not utilized as often as they should be. There are five concepts to build into your campaign: Branding, timing, mailing lists, Call-To-Action and evaluation.

1. Branding

This is the heart of the campaign: the branding message. Your e-mail should contain the same slogans, logos and other identifying marks used in the print piece,and both channels must reference the other. For example, the email subject line should repeat the envelope headline or a prominent head in the postal piece. Keep the subject line REAL short-30 to 40 characters-and make it extremely benefit-driven. The "from" line should exactly match the name used on the printed piece. The channels have different strengths but the message should be the same in both. Create custom landing pages that are identical to your print offer. Feature the url in every piece and link to it from your e-mails.

2. Timing and Frequency

Whole volumes have been written on when to send email (what day of week, time of day, etc.). While the research remains murky, the numbers are clear in connection with the timing of a coordinated email/DM campaign: direct mail should precede the email campaign by a week or so. The postal piece goes first because it has a longer life expectancy than email; it usually ends up lingering around the home longer than email, which either gets read, buried or deleted in a couple days at most.

3. The List

The task of compiling a mailing list is obviously more complex in a multi-channel campaign where you need a list with both types of addresses. Here are some additional tips for those new to e-mail: Always personalize the salutation. This infers that you have an existing relationship with the recipient. Avoid using too many images and "busy" graphics. And keep the size of your entire html under 60 kb.

4. CTA

Your calls-to-action should be very visible; in email, use text in addition to image-based links to guarantee they can be viewed even if images can't be displayed. Your CTA should be in the top half of your email so it can be viewed in most preview panes.

5. Post-mailing analysis

Some marketers measure success by examining results from each channel by themselves but that's a common error. The entire results are what's important. For instance, a recipient may click on a link in an email because it's easier but he was really sold by the DM piece. Or she may phone in the order after consuming both channels.

Both media must work in coordination for an effective campaign and results should be assessed that way too.

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