Planning a Direct Mail Campaign for the Winter Holidays

Planning for the holidays can often feel stressful; that’s why it’s so important to start early! The best time to begin planning your direct mail campaign is right now. You don’t want to miss out on any of the key features that could not only help achieve your goals, but also deliver great results. 

Follow this guide for all the tips and tricks you need to plan a successful direct mail campaign this holiday season.

1. Make a plan

This seems like an obvious place to start. However, having a fully formed plan is the key to any successful marketing campaign. By choosing the campaign goals and objectives beforehand, you save time later on because the expectations are already laid out. These early decisions determine everything from the direct mail design to who the target audience will be. 

Knowing exactly what you hope to achieve from a direct mail campaign and how you intend to implement it ensures that actual results are obtained.

Some campaign goals to consider when beginning the planning process include: 

• Increase sales
• Grow market share
• Drive website traffic
• Product and brand consideration
• Build brand awareness and reach
• Target new customers
• Enter new markets internationally or locally
• Enhance customer relationships
• Improve international communications
• Launch new products or services
• Reconnect with lapsed customers

During planning, it’s a good idea to have a calendar ready to help determine key dates. These include when the campaign will be delivered, what additional marketing support is needed, which dates you’ll need that support, etc. 

At Troi Mailing Services, we offer custom postcard printing services in Toronto that serve as the perfect vessel for getting your brand into the hands of consumers. They are the most direct form of direct mail because they share your information immediately with the recipient. This makes them an ideal option for achieving the goals of your direct mail campaign.

2. Understand timing

The winter holidays are probably the most optimal time for direct mail campaigns because consumer shopping habits go into overdrive. This means that depending on the length and volume of your direct mail campaign, you will want to leave enough time to print and post your designs.

The strategic options for direct mail postcards are vast. Our team at Troi Mailing Services provides postcard printing that is catered to your needs. Consider taking the time to segment your existing consumer data according to geography and/or demographics in order to draft a customized message for each segment. Leveraging aspects of your data is a powerful strategy for creating personally relevant offerings.

3. Know your audience

Knowing your audience comes back to planning. The campaign objectives will determine your approach toward targeting and segmenting data. If you’re aiming to promote a new product or service, consider where the appeal lies and who would be interested in learning about it. On the other hand, if you’re creating a campaign for existing consumers, products, or services, then a different strategy will be required altogether. 

While it may seem counterintuitive to leave out some members of your mailing list during a campaign, being selective with who receives a direct mailer increases the likelihood of consumer follow-through. You want to ensure the right message gets in front of the right people, thus delivering better results. 

By identifying the base market segmentations of your campaign, you will set the tone for everything else going forward. Consider the demographic, psychographic, behavioural, and geographic features of the audience you intend on reaching. The more information you can provide regarding identified gender, shopping habits, location, etc. when commissioning customized postcard print services, the more you’ll ensure your customers will receive the most effective products possible.

Personalization is key for making your customer or prospect feel special, which is a fundamental competency of direct mail advertising. As part of our postcard print services, we use Canada Post data to run reports and letter-carrier-walk (LCW) maps against an array of household demographics. This makes it easier to identify and choose the postal routes that best match your intended direct mail campaign audience.

4. Have visual appeal

Whether we like it or not, looks are essential, especially in marketing. Around the winter holiday season, consumers receive a lot of mail, both personal and targeted. Keeping in mind the extensive competition, it’s thus crucial to have a campaign that stands out from the rest.

Having an impactful, eye-catching design for your direct mail campaign will help ensure a higher open rate upon delivery. Don’t be afraid to experiment with colour as well as text to effectively communicate the benefits of your product or service in a way that is engaging and memorable. 

Postcards are a tried and true method for connecting with consumers year-round. Troi Mailing Services understands that the best practices for making your direct mail postcards simple yet informative involve brainstorming your offers and competencies within the industry, drafting the content, and then removing all the fluff. With our postcard printing services in Toronto, the creative options are expansive and exciting, while being easy to manage at the same time.

5. Consider formatting

When it comes to direct mail, there are almost an endless number of options available for delivering your message to consumers. The objectives laid out at the beginning will inform which format you choose to follow throughout your campaign.

If you’re looking to inform customers of a new product or service, a more technical design could be more fitting to drive results. Alternatively, if you are hoping to build stronger customer relationships and brand awareness, then a more simplistic format may be better suited.

Troi Mailing Services’ postcard printing in Toronto provides an intimate level of personalization. Recent technological innovations and digital laser printing have made it possible for direct marketing postcards to be highly customized, including personalized pictures through variable imaging. 

Our services allow you to easily target your intended audience with stunning postcards that are both tailored and meaningful.

How to Get Started

Troi Mailing Services can quote your specific project, assist with data services, and prepare your holiday mailings with a quick turnaround time.

To learn more about how our postcard printing services in Toronto and the GTA can help improve your winter holiday campaign, call us at 1-866-486-9350 or contact us online.