We’re getting our holiday giving started a bit early this year. Our first gift to you? This 12-day blog series designed to help you get through your seasonal marketing without a hitch. If you’re just joining us, you can start at the beginning here.
The holiday card is a tried and true classic. And with email inboxes flooded, traditional mail has started to make a comeback. But not without taking a few cues from its digital brother. The Holidays are a great time to stretch your creative muscle with unique pieces that engage the recipient while building brand equity.
Alliant and Zelle Hofmann accomplished this with playful pieces that still established each brand as serious players in their respective industries. They simply looked to the season to inspire a fresh way of presenting their expertise. Aside from infusing cheerful seasonal elements into your pieces, a few best practices borrowed from digital can set your campaign up for success that extends into the new year.
Personalized and targeted messages yield a higher response rate than generic, catch-all content. Three times higher, in fact. Now, in some cases your holiday mailer may be nothing more than a means of sending along warm wishes, but if your end goal is to garner a response, there are a few steps you should take. Try segmenting your lists and use what you know about each segment to target the messaging. If you’re running a special holiday promotion, tailor the offer to the different segments. Go a step further and include content personalized to each individual. The more focused you can make your messaging, the higher your response rates.
Don’t expect a single piece to carry your entire campaign. Tying your holiday mailer to digital efforts ensures you hit your audience across a variety of touchpoints. This adds another dimension that will further engage your audience. You could drive recipients to a landing page to pick up a digital gift or take advantage of a special offer.
A digital tie-in can also help you track the success of the mailer itself. Include a URL unique to the mailer or even the individual, so you can determine who took action. To that end, make sure you include clear, compelling calls to action. Yes, that means multiple CTAs, in multiple places. Recipients tend to scan content, so you should make it clear what action you want them to take throughout the piece. It doesn’t matter how holly, jolly your mailer is if recipients don’t know what to do with it.
