Construction: Snail Mail Bounces Back To Prominence – Or Did It Ever Really Die?

“The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated” Mark Twain

In the almost insane stampede toward everything online – email, social media, search engine optimisation, websites etc. – a medium we used to rely on has fallen out of fashion.

Sending stuff through the post understandably is old hat, especially in business to business marketing as an increasing amount of budget is plunged into everything online.

And a lot of that makes perfect sense. It costs less to send an email for example. It’s also instantly sent and received.

But when it comes to communication, has physical mail lost its effectiveness?

The answer is a resounding no. And the reasons make just as much sense as why mail has fallen out of fashion. As an agency that has continued to use direct mail as one of a number of channels, it’s arguably more effective because fewer people use it.

How Can You Use Direct Mail To Fly ‘Under The Radar’?

Many rely on word of mouth to build their reputation, but they don’t get the standing they deserve because it doesn’t spread as they hope. That’s why you need to give it a helping hand.

Understandably, some prefer to keep their successes away from the pages of the trade press to ensure their operation is kept private from rivals.

That’s one way mail can come in handy. You can fly ‘under the radar’ as your message is communicated only to those you really want to receive it.

How Can You Apply It Successfully?

Imagine for a moment, the most fantastic article about a recently completed project, with your client declaring it as a resounding success was featured in a leading construction publication.

Yes, some of the people who make tender award decisions will be reading it. But so will your rivals. You are flying well above the radar in full sight of anyone who happens to look up.

You can achieve the exact same thing by creating a mini-article of the exact same success, but restricting the circulation just to those people who award tenders by simply posting it out.

Compare that to email. Yes, it costs little if anything to send, but what percentage of email is delivered? And out of those delivered, what percentage is opened?

Virtually 100% of mail is delivered. And virtually all mail is at least opened.

Are You Asking The Right Questions?

The premature forecast of the death of direct mail has been called many times, as new media has arrived to seemingly replace it, with the birth of radio, then TV advertising, then email and more recently social media. In fact many people have even declared email marketing dead.

The issue is less to do with whether the medium is new, or thriving, or dying, but how it is used. The medium is not the message. It’s not even the point. Why do the naysayers persist in confusing the two? The medium is merely a means to an end – delivering your message. It’s the message that we should be focusing on.

Luckily, very few people will act and re-introduce something as unfashionable as snail-mail. Which creates an opportunity for the rest.

This has certainly been our experience, having recently been shortlisted for a national award. You can argue the medium of mail is now more effective, because the noise is greatly reduced, as everyone continues to shout the same messages through online platforms.

Airplanes May Fall Out Of The Sky – Let’s Not Fly, They Just Aint Safe

For those of you who don’t know me, I can assure you, I am no engineer. If I attempted to build an airplane, I am pretty sure it wouldn’t perform so well in the air.

So if I started warning people about the dangers of flying, you may spot a critical flaw in my reasoning. Namely that I know very little about the art of keeping very heavy objects airborn.

The same is true of direct mail. It’s a pretty good idea to use an expert.

If you’d like to find out how you can improve your tender win rate or attract more clients using direct mail, why not give us a call?