Printing Industry Insider: The Future of Direct Mail

If you had the power to see into the future, what would you try to find out?

At Linemark, our goal is to see into the future of everything our customers value most. That way, we’ll be able to continue providing exceptional value to them through all of our services.

One service that continues to evolve over time is direct mail. And if we take a look into the near future, we can definitely see some big changes down the road in the direct mail industry. Let’s take a peek!

What is Direct Mail?

Direct mail is a form of marketing that is physically delivered through the postal service to peoples’ mail boxes across the country. Whether it’s for an advertising campaign for a national service provider, a regional mailing effort for a political campaign, or a local company trying to get word out of their new products, direct mail has proven incredibly effective.

As we’ve moved into a new decade and lived through a global pandemic, many organizations believe direct mail may not be part of the future marketing landscape. However, data continues to show that direct mail is both safe and effective as a marketing investment, delivering tremendous results for businesses and helping to drive technological advancements across a number of industries. Even though the world is mostly digital these days, controlled by social media, email, and online shopping, direct mail marketing can lead to extreme success and make your business stand out from the crowd.

Innovations in Direct Mail

Over the past few decades of technological development, direct mail service providers have moved to provide value-added services coupled with digital printing. The majority of direct mail providers have invested more in digital printer systems. Plus, advancements in finishing have led to new developments in inserting, coating/priming, as well as special effectives, inspection, integrity control, envelope personalization, dynamic creation, punching and perforating, and more.

Artificial intelligence, a technological force to be reckoned with, has done more for direct mail than just about any other developing field. AI enables marketers to decipher large amounts of collected data in order to personalize individual messages in a fraction of the time it once took. Companies in the direct mail industry would be wise to quickly invest in the powers of AI – that way, as the tech continues to develop, they’ll be better positioned to create impactful and resonant direct mail campaigns for their clientele.

Market Trends in Direct Mail

In recent years, direct mail marketing has experienced a huge upswing in popularity – contrary to popular belief. For a while, many marketing gurus believed that millennials would never read nor respond to direct mail, but as it turns out, they prefer engaging with direct mail over online channels.

The reason is because of the exceptional advancements made recently in personalization as a result of behavioral data gathering. The more data marketers have collected from users, the better they’ve been able to follow up with mailed discounts on those products. Direct mail personalization includes coupons based on online shopping habits, as well as the specific customization of images and messaging on mailers that make your customers feel valued.

Linemark has our fingers on the pulse of the direct mail service industry. As things continue to evolve, we’ll be there providing the highest quality service possible for our customers. For more information on our direct mail marketing services, contact a representative from our team today.