Direct Marketing News

Almost every business has used direct mail to send sales messages to their prospects. In every campaign, one of the main objectives is getting your prospect to open the package instead of throwing it into the bin. How can you increase the open rate and the success rate of any campaign? Use CDs or DVDs!

For the past two or three years, the consensus is that the Internet is making physical media such as CDs and DVDs obsolete. Yes, internet download speeds are increasing and yes, there has been a steady decline (about 5% per year) in CD sales and DVD rentals and sales. However, the opportunities for businesses to use physical media and incorporate them into their marketing efforts are real and exciting.

Let’s consider the case of a business selling a piece of fitness equipment. Ordinarily, they would obtain a list of prospects based on demographics such as age, location and income. They might also obtain prospects who have bought similar products in the past or who subscribe to a fitness magazine. After constructing the sales letter, they would include some coupons for a time-limited discount on the machine and attempt to drive the prospect to a web page or store location to use this discount. Then, they mail out 50,000 or more of the letters and wait for the results.

Let’s consider another scenario with this same business and same machine. This time, they include a DVD with the sales package. On this DVD, they show how the machine works and include video testimonials from previous clients who have obtained fantastic results. There is also store location information and the ability to make a purchase online by clicking one button. How many more sales do you think they would receive with this second package? Let’s think about it. First, studies have shown that “bulky” mail could double the chance of your package being opened by your prospect. Second, you can track the success of the campaign by sending users to a special secure website and you can track IP addresses and the paths the users take while on the site. You can even segment your prospects and send them to different parts of your site. Finally, the interactivity that multimedia presentations and video allow is far beyond any sales chatter on flat white paper.

Next time you’re thinking of how to increase the effectiveness of your direct mail campaigns; think multimedia, think interactivity and think CD and DVD!

Tara Roitman is the marketing manager for Media Heaven Ltd – full service experts in CD duplication, DVD duplication CD Packaging and USB memory duplication