Did you know that even young consumers in the 18 to 34 range actually prefer to receive advertising and special offers through paper mailings as opposed to email and other online means? That’s the case apparently, and its good news for those who make their living through paper mailings like direct mail postcards. Business postcards, restaurant postcards, real estate postcards… there are quite a few of these customized postcards you might receive in the mail from businesses in your area.
So you’ll see that despite much of the public’s assumption that direct mail marketing is an outdated method, studies like the one mentioned above demonstrate that it’s still an extremely viable way of marketing, even well into the internet era. In fact another survey conducted by Millward Brown (a global research agency) has shown that physical media like direct mail postcards actually leave a “deeper footprint” in the mind of the recipient, in other words you remember them longer because they have a tangible physical presence.
Direct mail postcards are often produced by custom postcard printing companies that contract with various business to produce attractive paper products that can then be mass mailed to potential customers. I often receive these things with condensed menus for Vietnamese sandwich shops and other Asian restaurants, and I must say that these direct mail postcards have often led me to try out the restaurant advertised. Some of them have even become regular favorites! One could assume that receiving other kinds of direct mail postcards for different businesses might lead to the same end result, which is of course exactly what the businesses sending these out are hoping for.