The Highlight of Her Day

My bride just received a mailed offer for Highlights magazine.

This traditional direct mail package had stickers, cover letter, brochure, order form, and envelope. She’d get 50% off by moving a sticker from the mailing address to the order form.

This interaction was smart, making the customer feel involved in the process. In fact, everything about the mailer made perfect sense…except us receiving it.

For those unfamiliar with Highlights, this publication is geared toward kids under 12. It’s full of puzzles, games, stories, and useful tools for getting children to develop a love for reading.

I enjoyed it years ago, and today I’m a voracious reader. So…maybe there’s something to it.

Still, I wondered why this mailing appeared in our home. We have one adult child, no grandchildren, and no reason to read or buy Highlights.

The rented mailing list came from a women’s clothing company. We know this because my bride inserted an incorrect middle initial when placing her order so we could track just this sort of activity.

We also know that mailing lists are typically overlaid with lots of information floating “out there”, including age, earnings, race, religion, political bent, etc.

Which suggests Highlights concluded women on this mailing list are probably a soft touch to buy a subscription for their grandchildren.

They also probably know that Boomers, more than any other generation, prefer to read promotional direct mail over digital media.

So even though we aren’t the right audience, their strategy was very logical.

Regardless of who you’re selling to, you can also use direct mail to promote your business. After all, the infrastructure’s already in place to economically reach every home in America. And you should also know;

  • Direct mail resonates with Gen Z, since there’s a novelty factor. They respond 100x more frequently than with digital ads.

  • 47% of Millennials can be counted on to visit your website after receiving direct mail.

  • 68% of Gen-Xers use coupons they receive in the mail.

  • 89% of Boomers look for special offers in the mail.

Add it together and you’ll find an economical strategy for driving any audience to your website to buy practically any product or service.

Meaning if you haven’t included direct mail in your marketing strategy, perhaps it’s time to reconsider that decision.

With that said, I wish you a week of profitable marketing.

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Follow rob on Instagram @askmistermarketing.

B2B Marketing, b2c marketing, business/marketing plans, corporate messaging, direct marketingRob WeinbergMBT ConsultingHighlights Magazine, ask mister marketing, ask mr. marketing, carlsbad rotary, carlsbad marketing consultant, carlsbad Rotary, carlsbad chamber of commerce, rancho bernardo sunrise rotary, rancho bernardo, rotary 5340, rb sunrise rotary, rob weinberg, poway chieftain, poway marketing consultant, poway chamber of commerce, San Diego, san diego north chamber of commerce, san diego marketing consultant, san diego union tribune, UT Community Press Newspapers, mr. marketing, marketing advice, Marketing strategy, mister marketing, direct mail, direct marketing, b2b marketing, b2c marketing, business planning, business plan, business strategy, marketing communications, marketing consultant, marketing strategy, marketing plan, marketing, consumer marketing1 Comment