2019 Trends Open Doors for More Direct Mail Success
Direct mail lists and data services are core to AccuList USA’s business success, so each year we research which trends our direct mail marketing clients will want to embrace for maximum response–and which trends are fading in effectiveness.
Digital Ad Tune-outs Offer Mail Opportunities
Digital issues can create direct mail opportunities, points out direct mail agency Inkit, noting that customers are tuning out digital advertising, whether e-mails, banners or social media promos. In fact, eMarketer estimates that 30% of all Internet users will use ad blockers in 2019. One way to offset the drop in digital ad effectiveness is to beef up direct mail campaigns. Note that ANA-DMA research shows that 84% of millennials take the time to look through their mail and 64% would rather scan for useful information in the mail than e-mail. Plus, 41% of millennials and 53% of Gen Xers report enjoying catalogs. That engagement translates into higher response rates for mail than for any other media, per the 2018 ANA-DMA Response Rate Report, with 9% for house lists and 4.9% for prospect lists.
Snail Mail Can Join the 2019 Video Boom
While digital ads are being ignored, digital video is booming; Inkit reports that Cisco projects video will encompass more than 85% of all Internet traffic in the U.S. by 2020! Direct mail doesn’t have to be left out. Thanks to print technology–QR, AR, Video-in-Print and Near Field Communication (NFC)–paper promotions can jump on the video bandwagon and further boost their own mail response.
2019 Demands Personalized, Cross-Channel Campaigns
Customers in 2019 will expect marketers to personalize offers and deliver a seamless experience across channels, Inkit asserts, requiring integration of online, e-mail, direct mail, social media, mobile, and in-store campaigns. In fact, retailing research recently found that close to 90% of retailers say integrated cross-channel or omnichannel marketing is key to success. AI is one way marketers are getting a handle on messaging across channels and at different points in the buyer journey, which can help decide timing and targeting of direct mail. Meanwhile, for mail, variable data content printing and enhanced database targeting and segmenting can deliver the personalized relevant messaging that will be a basic of 2019 marketing.
Take Variable Data Printing to the Next Level in 2019
Yet when it comes to printing and personalization, there are some popular direct mail practices that need to be ditched this year, advises direct marketing agency Darwill. For example, using a 4-color master shell on which variable content is laser-printed in black and white has become old-hat given that new inkjet presses can create endless 4-color versions for a more targeted and engaging campaign. Along the same lines, the custom maps laser-printed in black and white can be replaced by full-color variable maps that are more personalized, eye-catching, and likely to drive leads.
Use Envelopes to Intrigue Outside; Put Tailored Offers Inside
This year, instead of revealing all details of a promotional offer on the outside envelope to drive opens, Darwill advises that a promotional pitch that is visible but not fully revealed on the envelope is likely to work better–a sneak peek at a personalized offer. Then once the recipient opens the envelope, he or she better not find one-size-fits-all content! Luckily, with today’s full-color inkjet technology, a letter or a coupon can now be varied based on a recipient’s past shopping patterns or demographics.
Is Your Fundraising Plan Ready for 2019 Challenges?
As nonprofit marketers make final tweaks to fundraising plans for 2019, AccuList USA can support its nonprofit clients with a brief survey of some of this year’s top trends as identified by fundraising pros.
Story-telling, Personalization, Video
NonProfit PRO magazine cites three general 2019 trends that will affect both traditional direct mail and digital fundraising via e-mail, mobile, social media and website. Nonprofits should include a commitment to story-telling in this year’s fundraising communications, the magazine urges. Stories create an emotional connection to the mission and are remembered better than facts, studies show. However, gathering the best stories relies on more than marketers; it requires a story-telling culture that pulls from across the organization, NonProfit PRO stresses. That culture requires leadership buy-in; a mechanism to regularly encourage and gather stories; a story-banking method, from database to manilla folder; and a way to regularly and consistently communicate stories via newsletter, website, social media page, etc. “Personalization” is another marketing mantra for 2019, with success requiring clean up-to-date data and list segmentation to craft targeted messages for direct mail and e-mail. Anyone doubting that response is significantly improved by personalization, even in the crowded digital space, should consider this Hubspot finding: 39% of marketers who segment e-mail lists have a higher open rate, and 28% experience lower unsubscribe rates. Finally, put that targeted story-telling into a video format to maximize results. In 2019, video is projected to represent 80% of Internet traffic. Nonprofits that embrace video will be able to take advantage of the proven facts that people remember videos better than written content and share them more often for viral reach. Luckily, the cost of video production is going down and online tools are readily available, the magazine assures.
Digital Technology Supports Strategy Changes
Meanwhile, the Nonprofit Tech for Good blog identifies some key digital trends to include in 2019 fundraising plans: 1) increased use of marketing automation software to create personalized appeals and individualized pathways and engagement with the general mission and specific programs; 2) more focus on a recurring-gift donor base and commitment to engagement strategies and technologies that nurture donors; 3) more relevant, personalized, contextual messaging based on data technologies; and 4) more disruption by commercial social media players like Facebook via removal of fundraising fees, matching funds and direct access to donor data and AI.
Opportunities & Risks, From Instagram to Data Privacy
The TrueSense Marketing blog came up with a whopping “https://www.truesense.com/blog/fundraising-trends-best-practices-2019
Harness These 2019 Trends to Boost Social Media ROI
As social media marketing competition rises, organic reach dwindles and social ROI gets tougher, AccuList USA clients will need to hone their social media marketing data, targeting and creative strategies. Here are just a few big social media trends to include in planning for next year, based on analysis by Hootsuite and Social Media Today.
A Need to Re-build Trust and Transparency
Trust in social networks has declined. Edelman’s “2018 Trust Barometer” found that 60% of respondents no longer trust social media companies, and Facebook is among the hardest-hit, thanks to headlines about its role in 2016 presidential election interference, ongoing “fake news” abuses, and security breaches compromising user data, reports Hootsuite. Twitter has its own trust problems because of the use of bots and fake accounts. As a result, Hootsuite sees brands focusing less on maximizing reach and more on “transparent, quality engagement.” Instead of posting the same content across multiple platforms, marketers are more likely to favor context-specific and audience-specific messaging that reaches smaller but more valuable groups in 2019. The need to balance privacy demands with personalized treatment is also leading marketers to be more open about when and why data is collected and then to use only willingly shared information to create personalized one-to-one experiences and unique value offers. Yet personalization still drives success despite privacy issues. Social Media Today (SMT) reports that up to 96% of marketers surveyed believe personalization advances customer relationships.
Micro-Influencers Replace Celebrity Influencers
As the number of social media influencers has grown over time, prices for their services have climbed, and, at the same time, trust in celebrity influencers has declined, both Hootsuite and SMT report. One solution is to increase use of experts and employee advocates over celebrity influencers, notes Hootsuite. Meanwhile, SMT suggests more micro-influencer marketing. As opposed to major influencers, micro-influencers exist in every marketing niche. While they have followings of fewer than 10,000 people, most of the micro-influencers’ followers are genuinely interested in what they have to say. Since micro-influencers are not massively targeted by advertisers, they also are seen as trustworthy and down-to-earth, notes SMT.
Stories Format Challenges New Feed Use
Hootsuite predicts that “the news feed may be slowly becoming a thing of the past,” as social media users increasingly prefer content in a stories format. Certainly, the stories format has exploded on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp–and is even being tested by LinkedIn. In fact, Hootsuite cites a recent finding by consulting firm Block Party that sharing via that method is growing 15 times faster than feed-based sharing. One way marketers can ride the trend is to push intimate, less polished content in a stories format, suggests Hootsuite, although the company acknowledges that the stories format’s intimacy and spontaneity do not fit with all brands.
ROI Gets Tougher, But Shopping Gets Easier
Social marketers who rely mainly on organic reach are behind the curve. The pay-to-play era is here and driving larger social ad budgets, Hootsuite notes, with “The CMO Survey” reporting a 32% increase in social budgets in 2018 alone. As the price tag for social ads rises, along with competition for audience, ROI is getting tougher. Hootsuite can cite the most recent “Internet Trends Report” from Mary Meeker, which found that while click-through rates on Facebook are up 61%, CPMs (cost per thousand impressions) have soared 112%. But good ROI is still attainable, especially as the gaps between social media and commerce narrow. For example, Meeker’s 2018 report also showed that 55% of survey respondents have purchased products online after social media discovery. Shopping is being made easier by technologies such as in-stream payment tools and video plugins along with social media special features such as shoppable posts, Instagram’s Explore shopping tab, Facebook Marketplace and Pinterest’s Buyable Pins. Video is especially effective in social ads, with a study by video marketing company BrightCove showing that 74% of respondents cited a connection between watching a social video and making a purchase.
Growing Real-Time Messaging and Listening
Messaging applications are becoming integral to social media business relationships. Hootsuite cites a survey from Twilio, which found that nine out of 10 respondents would like to use messaging apps to communicate with businesses. Plus a study by Facebook IQ finds that 61% of U.S. respondents used a messaging app to contact a business in the prior three months. The audience reach of messaging is undeniable. According to Meeker’s report, the top five messaging applications—WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Instagram and Twitter—total some 5 billion monthly users. However, there are challenges, warns Hootsuite, such as messaging scale and using artificial intelligence in a way that avoids privacy infringement and unsolicited communication. The next step, predicts SMT, is use of social listening (monitoring) to actively generate leads and facilitate social selling. Social listening is the act of crawling the web and social media platforms to find all mentions of a brand (or keywords) on social media platforms, blogs, forums and news sites. Monitoring tools such as Awario, Brand24, Mention, Brandwatch, and Hootsuite now are used mainly for customer service and reputation management, but a few brands are already monitoring to find leads, and some monitoring tools are introducing features for lead generation!
