The increasingly fierce competition between business to business (B2B) companies leaves many sales teams bewildered. Despite well-intentioned marketing efforts, sophisticated calls to action, blog posts, and newsletters, the target audience often remains indifferent. So how can you make them take notice of your offer? What channels should you use next to increase campaign response rates? Here is the answer: it’s high time to go back to the marketing origins and launch a B2B direct mail campaign.
While B2C marketing campaigns typically attempt to evoke emotion, B2B direct mail campaigns have more specific objectives. Therefore, it’s crucial to understand what’s different about B2B direct mail and adapt your promotional strategy accordingly. In addition, before the direct mail campaign launch, sales and marketing team needs to complete a number of steps. These stages will help increase the ROI of your B2B direct mail and build your brand awareness.
Do TheseBefore Launching B2B Direct Mail Campaigns
#1. Research your target audience
It’s common knowledge that your target audience for B2B direct mail is another company. Here’s what to do next to drive a profitable direct mail campaign:
- First, select a market segment to focus on and create your ideal customer profile based on their needs and expectations.
- Next, narrow down the selection of companies to a target list and collect the relevant information about them.
- Process all this data to create a customized mail piece. It should include a call to action to nudge the decision-maker to contact you and increase response rates. For a more professional look, you can use a postcard builder.
B2B marketing is also about deepening relations with existing customers. Hence, if you already have a client base, consider using a direct mail service to encourage cross-selling and upselling.
#2. Analyze B2B direct mail campaigns of your competitors
Don’t hesitate to learn from your rivals. A closer look at their B2B direct mailers can help you better understand their strengths, weaknesses, and avoid unnecessary mistakes in your own direct mail campaign. For example, if they sent a postcard with a special offer, but your competitor analysis shows it didn’t make as much of a difference as it could – consider what went wrong? Maybe the offer got lost in the pile of Season’s Greetings and the time was not right? Or it was a limited-time offer and lost its impact within a couple of days? Customize and improve the idea, focus on your company’s unique selling points and make it a winning part of your next marketing campaign.
B2B marketing is also about deepening relations with existing customers. Hence, if you already have a client base, consider using a direct mail service to encourage cross-selling and upselling.
#2. Analyze B2B direct mail campaigns of your competitors
Don’t hesitate to learn from your rivals. A closer look at their B2B direct mailers can help you better understand their strengths, weaknesses, and avoid unnecessary mistakes in your own direct mail campaign. For example, if they sent a postcard with a special offer, but your competitor analysis shows it didn’t make as much of a difference as it could – consider what went wrong? Maybe the offer got lost in the pile of Season’s Greetings and the time was not right? Or it was a limited-time offer and lost its impact within a couple of days? Customize and improve the idea, focus on your company’s unique selling points and make it a winning part of your next marketing campaign.
#3. Choose an appropriate marketing approach
Remember that what is suitable for B2C marketing may not work for B2B. Compared to other types of marketing campaigns, B2B direct mail is highly proactive. B2B marketing is focused on long-term relationships based on trust and mutual benefit. It’s not aimed at immediate results. Keep this in mind while selecting your marketing approach, types of a mail piece, and mailing list. Also, if you target large enterprises, don’t forget about account-based B2B marketing. This strategy is a perfect marketing match for large-scale deals and long sales cycles.
#4. Know your KPIs
You won’t be able to put your direct marketing campaign in perspective if you don’t track and measure the results. To understand what source a lead came from, make sure to add a specific QR code to the mail pieces you send. This way, you will have better control over your marketing efforts. You should also calculate an approximate ROI of the B2B direct mail campaign and estimate its response rates before the launch. Later, such estimations will help you see whether you have managed to achieve the planned KPIs and understand the areas for improvement.
#5. Consider marketing automation
Long before you start toiling on designing and delivering mail pieces manually, think about mail automation. Everything from financial services to healthcare becomes more digitized and computerized. B2B direct mail campaigns are not an exception. A direct mail tool like Inkit can fulfill all your mailing responsibilities. You will get a chance to use a custom template builder, integrate your mailing lists from CRMs, and enjoy automatic printing and shipping. Inkit’s marketing automation toolchest allows you to focus on your core business activity entrusting mail services to professionals.
