Getting Started

Marketing your business requires innovation and creativity, but sometimes it is best to revert to traditional methods. 

Business-to-business direct mail marketing is one such example from the dinosaur age. While it has evolved over the years, it remains a highly efficient way to market to new and existing clients. 

With business-to-business direct mail, businesses can send out postal mail containing informative pamphlets, brochures, guides, and other material. These will generally feature information about new products and services, news, events, and so on. 

This article provides a guide on what business-to-business direct mail marketing is, why you should be doing it, and how to do it. Spoiler alert on the why: 

According to an SG360° study, four out of five 18 – 24 year olds declare themselves “unlikely to act on email marketing”. That’s because digital fatigue is a very real thing. The tangibility of mail cuts through the online clutter and influences buying decisions.

B2B Direct Mail Use Cases

Brand Awareness

One of the key functions of business-to-business direct mail is marketing to businesses to increase brand awareness.

Business-to-business direct mail marketing uses the old-school method of postal mail. Sure, direct mail marketing has been around for ages, but this doesn’t mean your approach to increasing brand awareness has to be a snore-fest. It means it’s a tried and true form of communication that influences consumers into taking action.

Include engaging reading materials with interesting visuals to pique the business reader’s interest. Adding in a branded gift or product samples would also be welcomed by a potential business client. Everyone loves a freebie!

Advocacy

To take the marketing approach to the next level, you want the business to advocate for your product or service. 

The best way to do this is by sending a sample of your product. You can also invite them for a complimentary experience of your services. If they experience what you offer firsthand, they are more likely to back it and return as a paid customer. 

To elevate a product or service sample, try to personalize it. This can be offering a service that fits the business’s needs. Another option is simply customizing a product with their name or logo. Names and logos sound too easy but people pay attention when they see or hear their name!

Appointment

When using business-to-business direct mail marketing, your main goal is to convert these opportunities into sales. Try to incentivize businesses to meet with you, or make bookings to experience your services in person. 

This can be a discount on their first appointment or even an offer to sign up for a loyalty program. These offer them short- or long-term savings and benefits and can help set up a lifelong business connection.

And don’t underestimate the power of a thank you after the appointment is over. If someone has invested their time in listening to what you have to say, a notecard conveying your gratitude for the opportunity goes a long way in creating goodwill and additional interest in the produce or service you’re selling.

Direct Mail for Demand Generation

Demand generation is linking the needs of the consumer with the product or service for targeted marketing. This should ideally lead to sales conversions. 

This form of business-to-business direct mail marketing should follow a research process into potential business prospects. Research allows you to frame the benefits and features that directly meet their needs. 

Direct Mail for Account-Based Execution

One of the big motivators for business-to-business direct mail marketing is gaining new business accounts and retaining existing business accounts. This requires quality account-based execution and marketing.

You can use business-to-business direct mail marketing to update current business clients about new products and services. You can also promote what you offer to potential business clients, to prompt a first meeting – and maybe even score a second date too. 

How to Use B2B Direct Mail Marketing

Top-of-Funnel Direct Mail Marketing

Top-of-funnel direct mail marketing refers to potential businesses that are nowhere close to buying your product. This is the audience that requires a great deal of convincing (and bribing) in your business-to-business mail approach. 

The best way to reach this audience is with personalized mail. This should highlight what you have to offer. 

It can also be attaching a letter addressed directly to the relevant person in the business. You could include a personalized offer to pull them in. 

Middle-of-Funnel Direct Mail Marketing

For potential business clients who are in the market for what you offer, you should use a middle-of-funnel direct mail marketing approach. This audience will have interacted professionally with your business in some way and just needs a gentle nudge to buy into your product. 

Personalization is also key here, as this can make your business stand out amongst competitors. Sending information about your product that fits into where their business needs lie will also give you an edge. 

Bottom-of-Funnel Direct Mail Marketing

Finally, bottom-of-funnel direct mail marketing speaks to business clients who are either very close to buying in or are already consumers. This audience does not need convincing as such but needs constant reminders of what you offer to keep them loyal.

you offer to keep them loyal.

The best approach is to keep these businesses updated on upgrades or new products that you offer. You can also keep them in the loop about news and events relating to your own business. 

If these business clients still need a bit of convincing or have started to lose interest, nudge them with a promotion or discount coupon to sweeten the deal. 

B2B Direct Mail Ideas

Build Your Audience

Marketing on a mass scale may seem like the best method. Sending out mail to as many people as possible is like chucking spaghetti at a proverbial wall and hoping a couple noodles stick. But often, targeted marketing is the best approach for building your audience. You’ll get better results spending your marketing dollars on mail addressed to people who are hungry for the product or service you’re offering.

Research which companies are most likely to buy into your business and then send direct mail marketing to them. Focus resources on those companies who will likely engage with your offerings. 

Tap into Emotions

Every business has its challenges and weaknesses, which can be difficult to deal with. An effective way to do business-to-business direct mail marketing is to focus on how you can help these companies. 

This means highlighting the benefits of your product that provide a direct solution to their pain points. You can research statistics and data surrounding their professional performance, and where they fall short. 

An approach like this speaks to what that company needs. It makes it clear to them that your business can help theirs, and they’d regret it forever if they miss out on the opportunity. 

Talk Benefits, Not Features

An overflow of information is likely to send a potential business client heading for the hills. They will be overwhelmed and unclear as to how your business can fit well with their own. 

Keeping the focus on the benefits of your product is more likely to capture their interest. More specifically, focus on the benefits that help them make money, save money, and / or save time. 

Lead with Content

If you are providing marketing content to business clients, ensure that it is useful and informative. 

This can be interesting information about your products and services, client testimonials, advertorials about relevant topics, news, events, or upcoming promotions. Keep the writing clear and simple, as businesses in other industries may not understand your jargon. Break out the red pen and eliminate duplicate or unnecessary information before you call a project finished.

Show Your Credentials

A potential business client is more likely to buy your product if you communicate your expertise, credentials, and previous success. Flexing on your business savvy goes a long way here.  

Incorporate these elements into your marketing material to gain a sense of trust. This can be reviews, testimonials, qualifications, awards, etc. You can ask existing business clients to provide accounts of their experiences with your business, which you can send out. 

Send Personalized Messaging

There are several ways in which you can personalize your business-to-business direct mail marketing. This makes all the difference in forming a connection with a professional recipient and converting a lead. 

This can focus on benefits for their business needs, or sending spiffy, customized products or merchandise. You could also include letters addressed to the business.

Measuring and Tracking B2B Direct Mail Success

Business-to-business direct mail is a hands-on approach to marketing that generates conversions. But to see how exactly it is performing, you should keep a watchful eye on the analytics. 

A mail service like Click2Mail is the easiest way to do this, with our detailed reports that help determine which mailers have been delivered when. Now, you can have eyes in the back of your head too, tracking response rates, conversion rates, and more from your business clients. 

Wrapping Up

When it comes to direct marketing methods to convert professional leads, direct mail is the best way to go.

This approach allows you to reach business clients in a personalized manner. They are less likely to leave the chat and more likely to engage with the material. It is easy to delete an email, but a physical delivery will always pique curiosity, even from a company. 

A mail service provider like Click2Mail will do the posting and tracking for you. All you need to do is provide us with the information and address list, and we’ll take it from there.