How important is the color of the mail you are sending out to prospects? Consider that the envelope is the absolute first thing a person will see. Before they read the return address, before they open it and find out what it is, they will notice the color. On that one split second alone, their mind has now framed how they are going to frame the information. The person may have even decided if he is going to open it at all or toss it.

There is an entire field of study dedicated strictly to the responses people give to color. Color symbolism, for instance, studies the conditioned associations we make with color. This of course, is based greatly on where we are raised. Green, for example, is considered lucky in Ireland but unlucky in England.  Red is associated with danger in many places but not all.

Color Psychology shows the effects colors have on a person’s mood and behavior. Certainly a key piece of information when it comes to print and direct mail marketing!

So as opposed to the conditioned meanings we can give to colors, they also create a psychological response because of the way the wavelengths are received by our brains.  Red can create aggression, intensity and get the blood pumping. Green can relax and soothe.

If you absolutely want someone to open a piece of mail, a red envelop will do it.  On the other hand, it might also make them aggressive and potentially angry when they open it. They might feel the sense of urgency wasn’t worth it. So really, it comes down to figuring out what kind of reaction you want, what kind of mental state you want your prospect to be in when they receive your message.

It’s also important to make sure (and test) that it is not evoking the negative side of that emotion as described with Red. Yellow will bring up emotion and confidence, but can also evoke anxiety and fear.

Take some time to learn some basics about this concept and apply it to a split test. You’ll be amazed at what you can learn and apply from the results.

http://www.colour-affects.co.uk/how-it-works

https://www.fluttermail.com/colour-affects-email-response/

Marketing communications is designed to help your company gain brand awareness and at the same time retain its existing customers. However, it is not always easy to communicate effectively especially if you have no experience in the marketing field. it is hard to know who to target, how and when to market and what strategies to use among more. So, what should you do to make the most out of your marketing communications?
Here is a glimpse of some of the communication strategies you can use to make your marketing efforts effective.
•    Keep the message simple and clear – Most companies have a deeper and complicated meaning as to why they do the things they do. But, that is not what people out there are interested in. Their only interest is what they can gain from the company and so, make sure your message is brief, simple, intriguing and clear for them to understand.
•    Know your audience – Successful marketing efforts begin with analyzing and knowing your audience. Different people have different needs and therefore, it is good that you do some research on the target audience before giving them any information. Sending information to the wrong audience will only use your money and effort.
•    Drop your corporate person hat – Remember, the people you are meeting out there are ordinary citizens and they will only listen to you if they feel they can relate well with you. So, use simple terms, understand their culture and try fit in to their day to day activities. From there, they will be interested in what you have to say.
•    Be confident – Nobody wants to listen to someone who is not sure of him or herself. When marketing, you are selling you company’s product and so, you have to convince your audience that you understand and believe in the product you are selling. Otherwise, you will just get frustrated since nobody will pay attention to you.

Direct mail advertisements are one of the most effective methods of advertisement. The main advantage stems from the fact that with direct mail marketing, the market targeted is one that is likely to convert rather than a general market.

Moreover, it is an inexpensive method as compared with other methods of advertising, it costs much less. The major advantage, however, must be the fact that you can track your mail campaign. Most businesses, after releasing an advertisement, always wonder whether it is effective and whether it reached the intended market. With direct mail, you can track the results to realize whether you had a successful mail campaign.

How to Successfully Track Your Mail Campaign

The methods to successfully track your mail campaign are as explained below:

a)        Send follow up emails.

When using a direct mail campaign to advertise, a single mail is not enough. Most times, adverts in an email will receive a glance then it will be ignored. However, after sending the first mail, send a second mail reminding the potential customer of the first mail, and then a third mail reminding him of the first two emails. This way, if your competitor sends an email after your first mail, your subsequent mail will remind the customer of your product.

b)       Ensure that the target market is likely to convert.

Each business aims to increase profits and reduce costs. Increasing your Return on Investment requires cost-effectiveness of your campaign, and this cost –effectiveness is achieved if more customers convert. Therefore, target a market that has shown interest in your product before, as they are likely to convert.

c)        Use an attractive and eye-catching headline.

The first letters that the target market’s eyes will land on is the heading of your email. An attractive and well-scripted heading will increase the curiosity of the customer, and he or she will end up reading through the email.

By increasing the cost-effectiveness of your direct mail campaign, you increase your ROI, and this is possible only if you successfully track your mail campaign.

With the ever-growing popularity of campaigns for social marketing, landing pages to gather leads and the use of mobile apps as marketing tools, smaller businesses may find using direct mail marketing to be viable option. With the ultimate goal of increasing traffic and leads, ensuring the optimal ROI is achieved means taking a tighter grip on the reigns of already small budgets for marketing. What may be deemed by some as an old-fashioned method for marketing may in fact be a cost-effective option.

Effectively Combine Digital Channels

While research has proved the ROI resulting from direct mail compared to the sole use of email marketing, the use of direct mail as a stand alone isn’t as effective. When combined with multiple channels, direct mail marketing can increase response rates and significantly lower the cost per acquisition when compared with paid search and internet displays. A study conducted in 2015 by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), the CPA proved that direct mail marketing ranked third in performance at an average cost of $19. Moreover, when combined with all digital channels, it was proved to be seven times more effective.

Track Metric

While many businesses employ the use of multiple marketing channels to generate leads and bring about better awareness of their brand, direct mail marketing can still stand as a viable means of bringing substantial ROI. In order to determine the effectiveness of campaigns, it’s important to track the rate of response. This can be accomplished by using a call to action that can be used to properly monitor responses.

Growing a customer base is one of the main objectives of your business. Using digital marketing combined with direct mail marketing will not only increase the customer base but will increase sales if executed effectively.