What is Smartmail Marketing?

With today’s seemingly endless bombardment of advertising, businesses must work more intelligently to capture the attention of consumers. There was a time when using just one medium, either direct or digital, was enough to persuade an audience. But many marketing professionals now understand these two spheres must work together for more successful results.

Smartmail Marketing is a strategy that bridges the gap between direct and digital. It takes the memorableness of traditional direct mail and merges it with the innovation of online advertising. What you get is an integrated marketing campaign that connects with your audience from multiple angles. When done correctly, this approach can lead to new clientele, drive customer loyalty and encourage brand recall.

To better understand how Smartmail Marketing works, let’s explore its three pillars for success.

Physicality

Physical interactions are becoming even more valuable against the fleeting backdrop of digital ads. It’s the reason why e-commerce merchants like Amazon are opening brick-and-mortar outlets or retail giants like Home Depot let you shop online but pick up in-store. Now that consumers are living more of their lives on the Internet, businesses are realizing that personal, real-life interactions have a stronger impact.

This is where direct mail comes into play. There’s something special about receiving an item in the mailbox. Whether it’s a free product sample or a personally-addressed postcard, no one can deny the power of tangibility.

Physicality is the foundation of Smartmail Marketing. Your business must design a mail product that’s engaging, visually appealing and generates intrigue. Smartmail is essentially a new way of thinking about how marketers use direct mail. Technology is changing the ways in which recipients interact with physical mail products. Modern-day marketers may be well-versed on how to create online experiences. But many of them have forgotten that the physicality of direct mail can be the catalyst for purchasing action.

Data

A well-designed direct mailer will go to waste if you’re sending it to the wrong people. Smartmail Marketing uses accurate databases and strategic targeting to identify your most relevant audiences. In the past, a direct mailing list consisted only of names and addresses for pre-specified regions. But these days, marketers can get access to a consumer’s online wishlist or learn what they’ve recently purchased.

Imagine all the possibilities that open up for your direct mail advertising campaign once you’re armed with this kind of data. For example, a home decor boutique can now send its best customers a beautiful, customized catalogue that features products with their online wishlist in mind. Or a plumbing firm can now target homeowners who have been searching for bathroom renovation tips online.

Ultimately, Smartmail Marketing uses intelligent data to ensure your direct mail item is getting into the right hands.

Connectivity

Once the pillars of Physicality and Data are in place, it’s now time to focus on how direct mail recipients will connect with your business. This component is crucial for a robust marketing strategy as it dictates how customers can take purchasing action.

The coordination of direct and digital solutions is necessary to ensure your campaign has longevity. Too many direct mail initiatives lose traction once the promotional material is received because marketers have not laid out a strategy to effectively guide the consumer through the purchasing journey.

Using the Smartmail strategy, marketing professionals can turn a print catalogue, for example, into an online purchasing experience using QR codes for one-tap shopping. Whether your mailbox item drives customers to your company website or social media platform, direct mail initiatives are much more successful when they’re connected to a larger message. Never end the conversation at the mailbox. Look for ways to keep the dialogue going through the innovation and convenience of technology.

Troi is one of Canada Post’s few Smartmail Marketing Expert Partners, with in-house capabilities and decades of experience in customized direct mail printing, planning campaigns and direct mail fulfillment. To learn more about Smartmail Marketing and direct mail services in Canada or the United States, call Troi Mailing Services in Scarborough at 1-866-486-0423 or contact us here.

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