Direct mail isn’t just a marketing tactic from the days of old—in today’s world, it’s a proven, strategic marketing move to boost your bottom line.
Proven ROI: Build Trust & Get Conversions
The B2B purchasing journey is usually anything but short. To get to the final goal of a sale, you have to guide potential buyers through the sales funnel, all while keeping them engaged.
One of the best ways to shorten the timeline is to build trust. That’s where direct mail comes in.
- Research shows that 76% of people trust ads they receive in the mail
- Direct mail’s response rate is 4.4% — compared to only 0.12% for email
- The standalone response rate of direct mail is 37 times that of digital-only campaigns
Direct mail and the B2B purchasing cycle
The business purchasing cycle begins when companies recognize a need for a new product or service provider.
Our unique B2B direct mail campaigns target decision-makers at all phases of the buying cycle (and in each part of the sales funnel).
Not sure where to start? Don’t worry—Gunderson Direct is experienced in helping businesses and service providers conceive, create, scale, and manage B2B direct mail campaigns that bring in more potential customers by connecting with decision-makers when it matters most.
Full Cycle Targeting
A direct mail marketing campaign isn’t just when you’re looking to seal the deal. We help develop a strategy designed to bring in leads from every part of the funnel.
Top-of-funnel marketing
Drive brand awareness in the initial stages by using direct mail to develop a relationship and establish trust. At this point, you may be targeting a large initial audience.
Gunderson Direct will work with you to determine the right messaging and identify audience segments most likely to respond to a call to action. If you already have an established sales funnel with corresponding marketing collateral, we can help you refine your materials to get the results you need.
If this is all brand new, we also have a plan for that. We offer full program support, from campaign strategy to program management.
Middle-of-funnel marketing
Middle-funnel marketing uses direct mail to differentiate you from your competitors, highlighting why you’re the right choice.
At this stage, you’ve had some communication with potential customers, and your messaging can become more targeted.
If your first contact with a customer was in person or remotely, you might send a more personalized direct follow-up through the mail. Think a glossy booklet highlighting some of the offers you discussed over the phone or a fun-to-open package that includes a handwritten thank-you note and an explanation of services specifically tailored to how your product would serve the customer’s company.
If your first contact was through direct mail, mid-funnel marketing might involve scheduling a follow-up call, or even initiating an integrated digital-and-direct drip campaign to continue to stay top of mind for your customers as they weigh competing purchasing options.
Bottom-of-funnel marketing
This is where it gets really personal.
Incorporating direct mail into your bottom-of-funnel strategy can help you get customers across the finish line with individualized outreach designed to specifically address their pain points.
We can help you use direct mail to differentiate yourself from the competition—making you the clear choice.
Retention
Direct mail can also help you reduce churn rates and keep your customers longer with direct mail initiatives designed to keep customers engaged and loyal to your brand and service or product.
This can include personalized thank you cards including offers or bonuses that reward retention, or an ongoing informational mailing campaign that provides value to your target audience.
Have questions? Ready to get started? Reach out today!
Direct Mail That Gets Results: A Lesson From ZipRecruiter
To learn more about how direct mail supports B2B sales objectives, take a look at this recent case study provided by ZipRecruiter.
The challenge
ZipRecruiter needed to attract more business owners and convince them to list open positions on their website. They were seeking a partner to support them in a direct mail program.
We provided in-house creative development, working alongside Ziprecuriter’s team to set up cost-efficient formats and direct mail best practices by finding the best deals and partners for production, data, and other services.
The results
With our test-and-scale approach (also known as leap and repeat), ZipRecruiter was able to target different segments and use data from different sources to put together a campaign that generated new listings. We helped Ziprecruiter grow and expand its marketing program by managing the different elements of a direct mail campaign and all the stakeholders involved, earning a 97% satisfaction rating from the client.
“They helped grow our marketing spend from about $50,000 a month to millions a month, which shows how they’ve been able to drive growth. The ROI matches our expectations compared to other channels we market with.”
Read more about our work with Ziprecruiter.
Direct Mail and Account-Based Marketing
If you’re using an Account-Based Marketing (ABM) approach in which you’re focused on bringing in specific accounts or companies, direct mail can play a key role in your strategy.
Direct mail is an excellent choice for Account-Based Marketing because of its ability to identify, target, and micro-target the customers who need the service you provide.
Connect your sales and marketing efforts
Marketing and sales work closely together with account-based marketing, tracking the current status of a lead while tailoring marketing tactics to get them further down the funnel. Data gathered by your sales team can be provided to our creative and strategy consultants, and we’ll help you create and test messaging that is in sync with what your customers need.
Target all the decision-makers
Depending on the size of the company you’re targeting, there are likely multiple people involved in the decision making process. Direct mail targets each of them with personalized, individualized outreach.
Take a tiered approach
Depending on your internal strategy, you may wish to segment out your ABM to target high-worth accounts with more personalized content or to modify messaging to fit more closely with a specific industry.
Not sure where to start? We’re here to help.
Contact us to learn how direct mail can support ABM.
Unite the Marketing and Sales Team
Your B2B company probably already has both a marketing team and a sales team. While ideally, these teams work in tandem, this is often not borne out in practice—the marketing team does its best to spread the word about your products, and the sales team attempts to create conversations.
The problem? You’re seeing high marketing costs and not bringing in any new leads.
Gunderson Direct can help. Direct mail marketing allows your marketing team to identify and target the right leads and provide accurate and comprehensive data to the sales team about who has been contacted, what messaging they have received, and how they have responded.
Your sales team can then use that data to close the deal—because when one hand talks to the other, businesses operate more smoothly and become more profitable.
How to target the right audiences
Identifying your ideal market positioning takes time and experience, and Gunderson Direct can offer both.
Here’s how it works.
Strategy: We help you set and define your goals, pinpoint your objectives, and establish the metrics that will define success
Targeting: We combine your company data with our internal information to identify your target audiences, create multiple audience segments, and identify those most likely to respond to what you offer
Campaign Testing: We combine your company data with our internal information to identify your target audiences, create multiple audience segments, and identify those most likely to respond to what you offer
Beat the Control
But what if you’ve already tried direct mail? We’ve got a plan for that.
Our “beat the control” program uses previous mailing performance as the baseline and refines the package to deliver an increased response rate and a bigger ROI—and our record is strong.
92% of our packages have outperformed our clients’ pre-existing direct mail campaigns when tested directly against them.
Our Beat the Control system starts by analyzing your past campaign strategy and performance and consulting with you on your marketing objectives.
Our strategy consultants and in-house creative team then work to refine your targeting and messaging, and our custom “leap and repeat” system allows us to conduct A/B testing as we simultaneously scale your marketing program.
Contact us to see by how much we can outperform your current direct mail partner.
Getting Started
Direct mail marketing can be an effective business development tool for B2B service and product providers.
Want to see how much you could make? Check out our ROI calculator!
Your clients are out there—let us help bring them to you.
Ready to start bringing in leads? Contact us today for a consultation.