Direct mail is used for many different purposes, like product promotion and proof of transactions, but it is also the perfect tool for business-to-business lead generation.
The importance of using integrated marketing
The most successful businesses generate leads from several sources instead of just one media channel. Therefore, it’s very important to take an integrated approach to your lead generation and marketing strategies to maximise the number of people you’ll appeal to.
A survey found that when they asked businesses how many marketing channels they were using, 40% of the businesses used 5-7 channels, so if you’re still only using a basis of one or two channels, you may fall behind your competition.
B2B lead generation using Direct Mail
Reports have shown that an increasing number of companies are either planning to incorporate B2B direct mail into their current marketing campaigns or already have done so and found it to be a big success. The chief marketing officer of Salesfusion shared that her company found a 10 % to 15% conversion rate with using B2B direct mail within their campaigns.
With the average open rates of emails only being around 20% and their click-through rates being a tiny 2%, the conversion rate of B2B direct mail is extremely high. Furthermore, it was also found in 2012 that direct mails response rate for both B2B and B2C was 4.4% for physical mailings and only 0.12% for emails.
Despite emails not costing much, their cost per lead is around £3 more per lead than it costs for direct mail. You can see that the statistics favour the use of direct mail with B2B generation. These stats would be very useful to use with a B2B audience.
Top Tips for B2B Mailshots
By using a traditional physical mailshot, you automatically stand out from your competitors as the popularity of email marketing and social media advertising has crowded the online space. Direct mail allows you to be far more inventive in ways that aren’t so easy for other platforms to achieve, which will help to generate more leads.
You could consider improving your envelopes by using unique images or shapes, foil printing or trying to engage a business’s other senses aside from just sight.
Businesses receive hundreds of cold and basic emails daily, so the likelihood of them being read and acknowledged is extremely low.
However, physical mail is the perfect way to stand out amongst all the hundreds of other marketing materials that businesses are used to receiving by now.
