Should you focus on direct mail marketing this winter?

With direct mail marketing having an astonishing 95% engagement rate, clever postal campaigns should 100% be on your marketing agenda this winter.

Everyone loves a little pick-me-up, especially when it’s cold outside, and that’s why we love direct mail marketing in winter. It’s great at putting your brand in front of your customers in a creative, fun way. Whether it’s a printout that makes them chuckle or an ingenious item you know they’ll love, direct mail marketing during winter is the perfect opportunity to keep your brand relevant, build momentum during the quieter months, and helps you stand out from your competitors. 

Here’s everything you need to know about direct mail marketing, and why you should definitely be focusing on it this winter.

What is direct mail marketing? 

Direct mail marketing consists of sending out marketing materials (be it a letter, a product, or something else) straight to your customer’s door. It’s a great way to encourage brand engagement, as well as build strong foundations for ongoing relationships with clients.

Why direct mail marketing works best over winter?

Direct mail marketing allows for personalised, direct contact with your customers. It allows you to enter into a conversation with them from the get-go, adding that all-important personal touch we all love from a successful marketing campaign. 

Your clients will feel valued, and you’ll benefit from this level of relationship-building between your brand and potential customers. 

You can tailor your campaign to suit certain demographics, whilst still having that big brand impact. That’s why we love direct mail marketing - it’s just so flexible. 

And once your mail is in your client’s home, it’s sort of there to stay. 45% of direct mail stays in households for a month or more, meaning there’s longevity to direct mail marketing campaigns that are rarely seen from other marketing avenues. 

Direct mail marketing works especially well during the colder months as people are home more often. They’re not on holiday, favouring staying home. This means your direct mail campaign is exceptionally effective when it comes to delegating budget.

Also, winter is the time for storytelling. It’s reminiscent of cold evenings huddled around the fire sharing tales. Direct mail marketing can open the door (literally) for new clients discovering your brand story from the comfort of their own homes. 

3 creative direct mail marketing campaigns 

Big brands love a direct mail marketing campaign. It allows them to reconnect with old (and new) customers, making them a household name. Here are 3 recent creative direct mail marketing campaigns from big brand names that we absolutely love. 

1) Smart bike helmet
Back in 2017, Smart sent out postal bike helmets to help publicise their new range of Smart bikes in Mexico. The flat-pack helmet was delivered to customers' home addresses, inviting them to build their very own helmet to wear when cycling. It was a campaign that gathered a lot of momentum on social media and was a success for Smart’s bike launch. 

2) Nestle’s free chocolate bar
A campaign that offers free chocolate bars is always going to be a success! 

Nestlé’s 2012 direct mail campaign promoting their KitKat Chunky bar mimicked the red Royal Mail delivery slips. Apparently, the chocolate bars were too chunky for delivery, so the recipient could collect a free one from their local store. 

This campaign was a huge success, as people would automatically read the slip, thinking it was a piece of genuine, trusted communication from Royal Mail. Nestlé piggybacked off of this established brand’s success in order to gain traction for their own campaign - ingenious! 

3) Griffiths, Gibson, and Ramsay Productions Cardboard record player
This might not be a well-known brand in the UK, but it still warrants a mention for their extremely successful 2009 direct mail campaign. 

A Vancouver-based sound production company sent out cardboard record players that actually worked, in order to promote their business to advertising agencies. 

The campaign ended up going viral (every marketer’s dream), and it created a real buzz over how creative (and successful) mail campaigns can be.

What makes a good direct mail marketing campaign? 

What makes a great direct mail marketing campaign a success is being as unique as possible. You need to make sure your campaign hits all the aims of a great marketing campaign in one succinct package.

You need to play on your customer's curiosity 
For World Water Day, the environmental organisation Green Belgium sent out bright blue letters. However, what piqued the interest of recipients was that the leaflet was blank, the only instructions on it was to hold it under running water. When performed, as if by magic all information regarding World Water Day was revealed!

This is a great example of playing on your customer’s natural curiosity and using it to your advantage.

It needs to be interactive
In 2010, SKODA launched a direct mail campaign with postcards containing an image of two parked cars, with a third, separate car on the back. Designed with built-in hidden magnets, when the recipients put the third car on the front image, the magnets automatically moved it into the parking space between the two existing cars. 

This successfully promoted SKODA’s driver assist feature on the Yeti model, and was a fun, interactive way to get consumers involved in their new feature. 

It needs to be meaningful
For a successful direct marketing campaign, it needs to add value to your recipients. Either something that’s fun or something that’s useful. There has to be that little sprinkle of something special about it for it to have a real impact. 

It needs to be unique
Speaking of special, the more unique your direct mail is, the better. Word-of-mouth is a powerful thing and a great way to drum-up free positive marketing around your brand.

It needs to bring big brand awareness
It’s time to get thinking and brainstorming. The most successful direct mail marketing campaigns are clever and succinct, but most importantly, fit their brands perfectly.

9 merchandise ideas perfect for your next direct mail marketing campaign

Sending out merchandise in the post can be one of the most effective ways of having a successful direct mail campaign. It’s unique, brings big brand awareness, as well spreads that instant relationship-building magic. Everyone loves to receive a gift, and here are 9 merchandise ideas perfect for your next direct mail marketing campaign. 

1. Hot water bottle
Snuggle up with your very own adorable mini hot water bottle. With its 310ml capacity, it’s great for a little winter mailing campaign. Plus, don’t let its size fool you, it’ll 100% keep you super toasty all night long. 

2. Hot chocolate spoon with marshmallows
Melt a few hearts this winter with our dreamy, creamy milk hot chocolate spoons. These smooth seasonal sensations are the perfect pick-me-up for the colder days. Simply stir into warm milk, sprinkle on the marshmallows, drink and relax. You can even customise each hot choc spoon with a bespoke info card, for that personal touch. 

3. Wellness journal
This wellness journal has become a firm favourite in the office. It’s been developed as a tool to encourage emotional well-being in the workplace, plus it helps you find that balance between home and work life. The cover is made from recycled post-industrial coffee cup waste, with a luxuriously soft finish. It fits through a letterbox, too. 

4. Waco hand warmer in heart shape
Are your hands getting cold on your morning commute? Share the love and instantly heat them up with this heart-shaped hot pad. Simply activate it by pressing the metal plate inside. Can be used again by placing it in hot water. 

5. Tea selection box 
A lovely, warming box full of tasty teas that are sure to warm up any mailbox. The selection box includes 4 individually wrapped tea bags, including flavours such as Assam, English breakfast, and earl grey. 

6. Soup envelope 
The perfect little pick-me-up for a cold winter’s day. This sachet of instant tomato soup in a large, full-colour, digitally printed envelope would be welcomed on any doorstep. 

7. Hot chocolate survival box
Our eco hot chocolate survival box comes filled with x2 Mini Shortbreads, x1 Flow Bag of Mini Marshmallows, and x1 Hot Chocolate Sachet - everything you need to make the perfect cup of hot chocolate. It’s been perfectly designed to fit into a large postal envelope and delivered straight through the letterbox.

8. Instant gardens 
The instant garden is our narrowest grow kit yet, ideal for postal shipping!  It contains a grow kit filled with a large coconut fibre tablet and a small plant seed bag. Great for bringing a little instant sunshine to a cold winter’s day. With a large selection of plant seeds to choose from, you’ll find the plant to match your campaign.

9. Popcorn
Cosy evenings in watching your favourite film are only complete with a big bowl of delicious popcorn. These postal microwave popcorn boxes would be great for promoting a new film or experience, or just your brand ‘popping’ around to say hi.  

Warm up at home this winter

Whether you take inspiration from a build-it-yourself bike helmet or post a mega box of popcorn to your clients, we’ve got everything you need to make your direct mail marketing strategy as effective as possible.

For other great gifting ideas, including more cosy merch ideas, why not get in contact with our team today? We’re here to help your brand make a big impact, and we can’t wait.