Cashflow is the lifeblood of any business. Without it, industries would never survive. However, cash flow doesn’t grow like plants. It should have a source where you can get the money.
For businesses, they get their money from customers. If more people go to your store and buy your goods, more money you receive. Conversely, if you only have a few buyers, you only get a few sales.
If you want to improve your revenues, then you should advertise your business. Marketing is the best way that you must do if you want to make your business visible. It allows you to get more clients and to improve sales.
However, advertising a company can be costly. If you own a large corporation, you need to hire an ad agency or an actor to promote your firm. If you own a medium or small-scale business, you need to print posters and flyers and spread them out. But that was then.
Nowadays, you can promote your business for a fraction of a cost. You just need to send an email or a postal message.
Email marketing and direct mail marketing are two of the most powerful advertising techniques. Of course, both methods have benefits and setbacks. However, you can’t deny the fact that they are the most budget-friendly marketing strategies.
In this article, we will discuss the pros and cons of these two tactics. Furthermore, we will discuss which method is the best for business. Without further ado, let’s begin the discussion!
Pros & Cons of Email Marketing
Email marketing lets you reach millions of people with just a few mouse clicks. Like any advertising strategy, this medium has its pros and cons. If used in a correct manner, you get more cash. Conversely, if done in a wrong way, your business will fail. To help you decide if it’s the best strategy for your business; you should weigh its advantages and disadvantages.
Here are the pros and cons of email marketing.
Cost: The expenses of email marketing campaign are lower than other strategies. You don’t need to print flyers and send them to targeted home addresses, which are costly. You just need to get an email marketing software for your internet advertising needs.
Email marketing companies come in paid and free services. Free accounts don’t ask for money in exchange for their service. Paid versions – on the other hand – ask for monthly payments. Despite the monthly dues, you only have to pay less. The only time you need to spend more is when you upgrade your software.
Improved Sales: Email marketing allows you to connect with your buyers and prospects through emails. If you send your campaigns personally, it will increase the importance in your goods. Hence, it will increase traffic.
However, it can’t tell how much you can get from an email marketing system. What it can guarantee you is that it will help in increasing sales.
Tracking: Another advantage of email marketing is it lets you track your campaign. Unlike direct mail, this method allows you to monitor your marketing schemes. It’s because most of the email marketing applications have tracking features. It allows you to follow not only the number of receivers who opened your message. It also tells you which strategy is more efficient.
Spam: Spam is an unrequested email. If you want to send campaigns to specific clients, you need to ask their permission first. Otherwise, your emails will turn into spam.
However, some recipients consider your campaigns as spam messages, even if you already get their permission. If you forward too many campaigns, people would think negatively of your business.
Deliverability Concerns: Sending an email doesn’t guarantee you success. If you use a free email campaign software, your emails will go to the recipient’s spam folder. Furthermore, if the subject is not enticing, only a few people will open the message.
Advantages & Disadvantages of Direct Mail Marketing
Direct mail marketing involves cooperative mailing, in which a firm’s address reaches other businesses. It can also be a solo marketing piece that includes data from another company. Cooperative marketing saves cash, while a solo ad generates leads and orders. But if you compare it with other marketing strategies, this method has pros and cons.
Here are the benefits and setbacks of direct mail advertising.
Profoundly Targeted: One of the benefits of direct mail marketing is it’s highly targeted. Companies can deliver letters to certain groups based on their location, sexuality, age, income, etc.
For instance, a business wants to promote a vacation package for the family. To start the process; they need to look for residences that have numerous family members. After that, they need to look for big families that purchased such services before. Once they’ve found what they’re looking for, they can start sending direct mail packages.
Easily Track: Contrary to what many people believe, direct mail advertising is easy to monitor. Businesses that forward mail packages include application or order forms in it.
If the firm makes orders or leads by direct mailing, the owner just needs to type the order form. For instance, you sent mail packages on August 1. You can key in 81 to represent the date of the mailing. It will help the sender to identify which dates obtained the highest response.
Informative: Unlike other forms of marketing, direct mailing provides detailed information about the goods or services you’re promoting. Businesses that use direct mail marketing may include a newsletter, an order application, and a brochure. You can also provide a photo and additional information about the product or service. Furthermore, you can include the price so that they won’t be surprised when they purchase the product. You can even give a specific deal to encourage them to get goods.
Expensive: One of the disadvantages of direct mail marketing is the cost. You need to spend more money just to deliver mail packages. The average price of mail delivery is $20. Imagine how much you have to spend if you forward hundreds of postal messages a day!
So how are they recovering from the money they spent? According to “E-Mail Vs. Direct Mail: Which Works Better?” industries that use direct mail rely on returned deals. If loyal consumers support their business, they can get back all the money they spent. Hence, you need to get more clients if you want to get back the money you lost.
Mostly Unread: In spite of the effort of designers and writers of the ad, 44% goes to the trash. The worst part is they throw it away without reading it.
According to “Typical Direct Mail Response Rate,” the average acknowledgment rate is between 1% and 2%. However, it increased on 2012. It went up to 4.4 percent. Still, it is a low rating.
Hence, you need to make the headline more enticing. That’s the best way to get their attention and read the message.
Time-consuming: In direct mail advertising, you have to do things manually. You have to create a design, write letters, print them out, and send them to the post office. If it’s just a personal message, time won’t be a problem. However, if you’re running a business, time is precious. Nonetheless, you still need to wait for months to see the result.
Which is the best choice for your business?
As you can see, both strategies have pros and cons. Hence, it doesn’t matter whether or not you get the best email marketing software. What values most is you get positive results from both tactics.
If you want to get more revenues, then it’s best if you choose both methods. Some are responsive to direct mailing. Others are receptive to emails. If you combine these two systems, it will be easier to reach your target market.
When getting the best email marketing software, make sure you read reviews about this tool. Reading email marketing software reviews will help you select an app that’s best for your business.
You should also consider your budget. If you have extra money for this service, then you should rent or buy an email marketing platform. However, if you’re on a tight budget, you may use the free-based software. It doesn’t have the full features, but it has the necessary functions for your campaign.
These are the pros and cons of email marketing and direct mail advertising. Now you know what you can get from these methods; your choice lies in your budget. If you have a budget to spend for sending high volumes of mail packages, then you should select direct mailing. However, if you want to get rapid results, then you should choose email marketing.
If you want to market your business via email, it’s best if you read some email marketing software reviews. These articles will tell you what you need to know about the package.
There are many websites dedicated to providing customer reviews. However, if you want to read fair reviews of email marketing services, then CrowdReviews is the best choice! The site ranks top email advertising agencies based on customer reviews.
Keith Moore
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