An unexpected but powerful channel of marketing that you can apply to your account-based marketing (ABM) strategy would be direct mail.

But how can you ensure it’s not a waste of resources for you? Read on and learn how to apply direct mail to your ABM strategy.

Why Incorporate Direct Mail Into Your ABM Strategy?

Many marketing campaigns focus on digital marketing, so you might wonder why you should use direct mail in your ABM strategy. Isn’t it too traditional? Too old? Do people even send snail mail these days?

Questioning the legitimacy of marketing to your target accounts through direct mail these days is natural. So, let’s first answer these doubts head-on. Because of its specificity, ABM is particularly well-suited for adopting direct mail into its marketing campaign. When you think of the usual marketing campaigns, they must target hundreds and thousands more people. But, with ABM, that isn’t the case.

ABM rarely targets hundreds of accounts at a time. Sometimes, you can target just a handful of accounts per campaign, which will be successful, but it depends on the target accounts. Since you’re only sending direct mail to just a few people, it feels much more personal to them. Plus, it’s easier to do since it’s not like you’re sending out mail to hundreds of people at a time. 

It’s a great way to establish a closer relationship with these target accounts and make you stand out from the rest of the other people marketing to them. For this reason, incorporating direct mail through your ABM strategy can be powerful. Now that you are more aware of why it can be worthwhile to integrate direct mail into your ABM strategy, here’s how you can integrate direct mail into your ABM campaigns better.

Essential Tip How To Incorporate Direct Mail Into ABM Strategy Effectively

Target the correct accounts

Many successful ABM campaign examples start with prioritizing a proper targeting strategy for their direct email marketing push. Given how personal direct mail is to your target accounts, you want to avoid a misfire. Otherwise, your direct mail might scare or frustrate the place you’re sending it to because they’re the wrong demographic for your services or products. The best way to avoid that is by first targeting the correct accounts and doing deep research on your target audience.

When you do thorough research before you solidify who your target accounts are that would receive the direct mail, it will be easier for you to craft and personalize the contents of the mail. It also makes it easier to narrow down the proper recipients for the direct mail, primarily whom you should address the mail to.

Perfect timing for direct mail delivery

Knowing who to send the mail to is one thing. The timing for the mail delivery is also vital. Since you want your direct mail to be as impactful as possible, you must ensure that you deliver the mail at the right time. Also, given that ABM campaigns have to be heavy-handed with personalization, It can be costly or impossible to correct.

There are a few things that you can do to determine what the best timing is for delivering your direct mail. First, you want to ensure you’ve established a relationship with your target account within the target company. A highly personalized mail from a business you’ve barely interacted with is unwelcome. So, tracking how often you’ve personally interacted with a target person in your company will help determine whether direct mail will be welcome.

Aside from that, which stage your target account is in its customer lifecycle can also determine when you should send the mail. Partner that with the goal of your ABM campaign, which will indicate whether they will positively receive your mail.

Develop a multi-channel strategy

If direct mail is your only marketing channel or touchpoint with a target account, then it will be a lot of work and is not the most efficient way to make the most out of the effect of direct mail. That’s why you should ensure that direct mail is just one arm of your multi-channel strategy.

Only direct mail in your ABM strategy as a marketing channel is costly and requires too much work. Plus, it gets dull fast, depending on the direct mail frequency. The best way to make your direct mail more impactful is by ensuring you have a multi-channel strategy that supplements each other. It’s a great way to ensure that you’re already a familiar entity to your target accounts before you send a direct mail.

Send personalized direct mail messages

You can bulk send direct mail to your target accounts, but there are better ideas than keeping the contents templatized to make it easier. Ideally, it should be as personalized as possible to be effective. Otherwise, it sounds similar to the many spam emails people used to get back in the day.

Starting with a “Hey, you!” on your direct mail might, on the surface, seem friendly, but its lack of specificity is off-putting already. But it would be even more uninviting if the direct mail’s contents could apply to anyone. That’s why researching your audience is a crucial part of direct mail usage in your ABM strategy is vital in the first place.

Incorporate personalized URLs (PURLs) or QR codes

Add QR codes or URLs to your direct mail to transition your target accounts into digital marketing efforts. In that case, it’s also a good idea to personalize those. When they scan these QR codes or put in these personalized URLs or PURLs, they should land on an incredibly customized landing page.

It’s great to start by greeting them directly by their name and then show some way to acknowledge your previous interactions with them. By doing this, your multi-channel approach will be a more seamless experience for your target accounts.

Craft a direct mail CTA that can’t be ignored

Your call-to-action or CTA should be more compelling, given all the effort you put into incorporating direct mail into your ABM strategy. That’s the last part of your direct mail you would want to fumble. The QR code mentioned before this point is a great way to transition a CTA, but the microcopy for the CTA should also be something you pay attention to.

Your CTA should be clear and precise about what the recipient will get if they respond to the CTA. That way, it’s more compelling for your recipients, who’ll be more interested in converting.

Follow up like a pro

If you don’t get a response immediately, don’t freak out. You should always have a follow-up plan to reach a target account after receiving the mail. Aside from personally reaching out to them, it’s also a good idea to remind them through your other channels, such as social media, to keep you on top of their minds.

Measure success

It’s a good idea to have benchmarks to tell you whether your direct mail efforts were worth all that time and effort. If you’ve got solid responses from it or have gotten lots of positive feedback but not a lot of conversions, then that can indicate that direct mails work, but you have to tweak a few things along the way.

That’s just one of the few ways you can interpret these benchmarks. But what’s important is that you measure your successes and failures to help inform your future adventures in direct mail marketing.

Conclusion

With these tips, you can incorporate direct mail into your ABM strategy more naturally. Apply them so that your recipients can appreciate your direct mail. At the same time, running these types of campaigns in the future will be easier.