direct mail

The term "direct mail" refers to printed communications delivered through a postal service to end recipients, such as an individual or business. Common forms of direct mail include letters, postcards, catalogs, self-mailers and packages.

Direct mail marketing is part of the larger discipline of direct marketing, the practice of reaching out to prospective customers and current customers with promotional messages designed to elicit a desired response, such as a purchase or inquiry.

Technology advancements in database marketing and variable data printing have led to a transition in direct mail marketing from mass (or "junk") mailings to more "targeted" marketing. In targeted direct mail campaigns, an organization refines their mailing list using demographic, geographic and behavioral information about their contacts to mail to only those contacts most likely to respond to their promotion.

Direct mail is also heavily used by organizations to deliver account and transactional information, such as bills and financial statements.

You'll find bloggers talking about direct mail at sites like DMNews and Mail Print Insights.

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Original Technorati articles tagged “direct mail”

• in Advertising
  Google Earth Meets Snail Mail Marketing
  Local pool company uses Google Earth to see homes with pools and send direct snail mail.
  by alanblume / on Mar 1, 2011
• in Lifestyle
  Has Target Marketing Hit Your Real-World Life Yet?
  What happens if target marketing hits home in our real and offline life?
  by tomthebuzz / on Dec 28, 2010
• in Social Media
  Facebook Like Decals Proof that Online Needs Offline
  Facebook is getting into the local marketing business and is distributing "like" decals for companies to promote their presence on the popular social networking service
  by sageone73 / on Apr 27, 2010

Latest blogosphere posts tagged “direct mail”

 

• Personalized Direct Mail for Healthcare Recruitment Success

  
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  Direct mail ID is often referred to as clutter.  Personalized Direct Mail is targeted  and is sure to catch someone’s attention. When done properly, a good direct mail piece that is personalized will stand out even in a crowded mailbox, grab customers’ attention and incite them to act. There’s something to be ...
  1 week ago

• Valpak of Austin Delivers Savings for Summer Vacation

  
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  DealPro Shellie from Austin shared her “Fave 5 Deals of the Week” on KTBC’s FOX 7 and had nothing but love for Valpak’s Real Time Savings. The real life savings guru, who offers tips at Saving with Shellie , discussed a few vacation-related deals and encouraged viewers to tweet at Valpak using #HelpMeSave ...
  1 week ago

• #FUNDRAISING: Outreach Tactics & Technologies Need To Adjust To Demographics

  
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  With the texts and tweets and the touchscreens and with those crazy(-cool) Google goggles and whatnot, a nonprofit would be daft to send those old-fashioned appeals by mail. The cost of printing and stamps, the hassle of upkeep of a database of address, the imposition of making potential donors find their checkbooks ...
  1 week ago

• Watch Your Pictures!

  
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  I subscribe to “Which Test Won” — a feed that proselytizes for A/B testing — both for the fun of testing my own instincts (and often disagreeing with their analysis) and just to remind myself that tweaks of copy, design and imagery, based upon testing, indeed matter. Here’s a recent test (actually a ...
  1 week ago

• Golden Rules For Your Reply Form

  
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  Yesterday we passed along some pointers regarding converting online leads . One of the key bits of advice was not to direct someone responding to your online appeal to your website homepage. The appeal should link directly to a ‘purpose-built’ landing page … no distractions, direct reinforcement of your ...
  1 week ago

• Study: Small Businesses Still Dont Embrace Digital

  
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  Big corporations may be rushing into digital marketing, but small businesses are dragging their feet and sticking with the tried-and-true, including direct mail, according to recent research by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). As reported in  Adweek, the consultancy surveyed 550 U.S. businesses with less than 100 ...
  1 week ago

• What Most Businesses Don’t Know About Direct Mail Lists

  
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  Your mailing list is the single most important success factor for your direct mail budget.  And it should always be chosen FIRST – before you start the copy or design.   Mailing List should GUIDE direct mail copy, design, and offer. … Continue reading →
  1 week ago

• The Advantages of Using an Automotive Direct Mail Advertising Campaign

  
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  Advertising is creatively diverse meaning that there are multitudes of ways to advertise a product or a company. But creative and diverse does not always bring about effective results. Results are the way you can tell if your advertisement is effective. Is your product selling the way you want it to? Are customers ...
  1 week ago

• The Advantages of Using an Automotive Direct Mail Advertising Campaign

  
  Submissions Valley — Authority: 147
  Advertising is creatively diverse meaning that there are multitudes of ways to advertise a product or a company. But creative and diverse does not always bring about effective results. Results are the way you can tell if your advertisement is effective. Is your product selling the way you want it to? Are customers ...
  1 week ago

• How To Show Up Like No One Else

  
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  What do Euro-academics know about marketing that you dont? According to The Wall Street Journal , researchers in Belgium wanted to see if distinctive recruiting tactics could attract IT talent. So they ran an experiment. With a pool of 1,997 prospects, half were solicited by email. The other half got postcards ...
  2 weeks ago

• Direct mail brochure garners design awards

  
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  NetScout sales incentive program mailer Scott Design received a Best of Category Horizon Interactive Award and a Communicator Silver Award of Distinction for a mailer created to promote a sales incentive program for Opus Solutions’ client, NetScout. Scott Design’s retro Hawaiian theme for the announcement ...
  2 weeks ago

• Is Print Marketing a Thing of The Past?

  
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  Guest post by Sue Fenton (British spelling has been changed to U.S. spelling) You have probably read article and books, or listened to speakers, explain why we should change from print to embrace digital marketing. After all, it is the modern way as more people leave print behind in favor of the new, ...
  2 weeks ago

• SEO in Internet Marketing

  
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  Internet marketing is generally defined as promoting and selling products and services via the Internet. Internet marketing can also be used for information sites that receive their income from advertisements. It can be done with Internet businesses or with brick and mortar businesses that have a website. With this in ...
  2 weeks ago

• How Nonprofit Direct Mail Can Win in Election Years

  
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  How does nonprofit direct mail successfully compete for attention in an election year against high-roller political fundraisers? Not by gambling on new lists, new creative or new media, advises expert Randy Brewer, president and CEO of Brewer Direct Inc., a direct marketing agency for nonprofits. Election years ...
  2 weeks ago

• How to Say Thank You in a Personal, Memorable, Trackable Way

  
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  Nine times out of ten, a donor receives a letter that starts with, “Thank you for your generous donation.” Because giving is an emotional response, it deserves an emotional thank you with more pep and personality than a typical, status quo thank you. Read Shannon Doolittle’s  22 Delightful Ways to Say Thank You ...
  2 weeks ago

• Personalize Direct Mail with Variable Image Printing – Boston

  
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  Are you trying appeal to your market? You can with variable image printing . What is it? Variable image printing allows you to change the image on your marketing material or direct mail piece at will. This way you can print as many or as few as you like then change the image to subtly change the message. By ...
  2 weeks ago

• Will Direct Mail Embrace NFC Technology?

  
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  NFC, or near field communication, has the potential to re-energize direct mail, predicts Jacob Beckley in a recent MediaPost blog. NFC technology is similar to a printed QR code. Both use a mobile device to bridge the gap between a physical marketing piece and online messaging. QR use has already proliferated, but the ...
  2 weeks ago

• It’s Not Too Early to Know the Marketing Trends of 2013

  
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  Do you feel like you’re constantly playing catch up? If so it’s particularly hard to stay ahead of trends. We can relate; thus the reason we’re posting a 2013 marketing trends piece in late April. Take a breather and read the eight trends projected by Forbes and CIO Network magazines. 8 Marketing Trends ...
  2 weeks ago

• Fairy Tale Fundraising

  
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  I’m looking forward to joining a small, bright band of nonprofit execs, consultants, editors and other assorted members of our fundraising tribe on May 9 th in Philadelphia for Fundraising Success magazine’s first Engage Conference . The format of the conference is quite different from the usual DMA, AFP, ...
  3 weeks ago

• Webinar Announcement: “The Power of Targeted and Integrated Direct Mail”

  
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    The Power of Targeted and Integrated Direct Mail Wednesday, May 8, 2013 1:00PM – 2:00PM EDT Robert Ellis, Business Alliances Team Leader and 27-year USPS veteran, will be presenting valuable insights and tips for maximizing the impact of direct mail. Learn how to cut through ...
  3 weeks ago

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