Why Direct Mail Can Be an Effective Tool in an Account-Based Marketing Strategy

The growth of account-based marketing (ABM) in the B2B space during the last couple of years has opened up some interesting avenues for marketers and business owners. While other marketing strategies like content marketing, social media marketing, and email marketing are geared toward raising awareness and interest in your business, an ABM campaign takes a more focused approach by engaging with an extremely targeted number of high-value accounts. 

ABM campaigns are commonly used in digital marketing efforts via paid advertising and email, but with a little outside-the-box thinking, direct mail can actually be an effective tool in an account-based marketing strategy. Let’s briefly discuss how ABM campaigns work, and then look at a couple of creative ways to use direct mail in an ABM campaign.

How does account-based marketing work?

Imagine a world where you can begin the sales conversation by engaging directly with customers you already know are an ideal fit for your product or service. Not only would this eliminate the time and resources necessary to weed out leads or contacts who aren’t quite right for your business, but it would also help you provide more valuable content because of how well you understand the needs, challenges, or pain points of your audience. 

Imagine no more. Account-based marketing removes so many of the costly and time-intensive steps associated with finding the right customers, as well as some of the trial and error that comes with understanding how to best engage and create meaningful connections with customers.

With an ABM strategy, not only can you communicate with customers on a more personalized level faster and more efficiently, but you’ll also have the ability to tailor content or offers to individual accounts for increased ROI and customer loyalty. 

How can you use direct mail in an ABM campaign?

What makes direct mail such an interesting vehicle for an ABM strategy is: 

• First, we know that direct mail does work, as 79% of Americans read or scan their mail daily. Plus, 4 in 10 Americans say they look forward to checking their mail every day, which means there is a captive audience for highly-targeted, personalized content.
• Second, with more than 306 billion emails sent every day and nearly 16% of these emails either going missing or caught in spam filters, the email communication channel is clogged and, as a result, not necessarily the most reliable way to reach your customers. Plus, as companies continue to develop and increase the sophistication of their email firewall software, more and more marketing emails simply aren’t reaching their intended destination. 

There are a few things to keep in mind when using direct mail as part of an omni-channel ABM campaign.

First, the contact information you have in your CRM software makes it easy to use variable data printing (VDP) to create personalized content and messaging that best appeals to the decision makers and influencers at your target accounts. First impressions are everything, and beginning the conversation with a prospect on a personalized note via variable data fields like name, title or role, company name, company size, and others can help increase the response rate of your direct mail. 

Using Print-on-demand (POD) technology from Varispark can streamline the creation of direct mail for ABM campaigns by enabling you to print the exact quantity you need — even if it’s a small quantity because you are sending to a highly targeted list.  

Because you’re sending to a small list and you want to make a big impact, ABM campaigns are great for going beyond postcards to create premium mailers that include a special gift, offer, or other high-quality, personalized content intended only for your top prospects. The more special and custom the piece feels, the more likely the recipient is to act. Dimensional mailers, personalized boxes with collateral or swag, and unusual print finishes or stocks all make fantastic ABM mailers. 

If you think you’ll be doing a lot of ABM marketing, you might consider setting up a self-service campaign for your sales team. A web-to-print solution that leverages print-on-demand technology can make account-based mailers easy for your sales team to create (using templates you’ve already approved) and send to their top accounts on demand. 

With a little ingenuity, direct mail and ABM can be a highly effective duo in helping you reach your ideal audience and grow your business.  

Ready to combine the power of direct mail and ABM campaigns? Tell us about your next project and we’ll work together to ensure success.