Direct mail offers unique benefits (and limitations) that your law firm should consider when trying to grow its client base and position itself as an industry leader.
It’s no secret that direct mail marketing still works. Billions of dollars are spent each year on direct mail campaigns, and businesses that use direct mail are better able to attract and retain new clients.
The following will help you understand the benefits and drawbacks of direct mail so that you can determine if this is the right option for your marketing strategy.
What to Consider Before Using Direct Mail
Direct mail can be more expensive when compared to online marketing methods. Acquiring mailing lists, printing mail, and sending it to a large number of recipients costs money.
Although you may have already built a mailing list, some law firms have to start from scratch by buying or renting qualified lists.
Direct mail requires testing along the way, and your initial mailing may not produce the response rate you anticipated.
Although this can result in some financial loss, it provides you with an opportunity to determine what didn’t work so that you can improve your next mailing.
Over time, you optimize your campaign so that your costs are lowered. But at first, you may need to spend more than you’d like.
Response rates for direct mail campaigns can be low. It’s easy for mailings to be thrown into the junk mail piles of recipients. This occurs when you don’t know how to package your letters in a way that increases its chances of success.
There are certain strategies that can increase your mailings open rates including personalizing the envelope to each recipient, using handwritten notes, and creating urgency.
How Direct Mail Can Work for Law Firms
Despite the limitations mentioned, businesses spend billions of dollars each year on direct mail campaigns. But why spend so much on this strategy?
The answer is that it works if you know how to implement an effective direct mail marketing campaign.
The first step to achieving results is to know your target audience. Generalized marketing messages fall flat because they don’t address the specific needs of their recipients.
Direct mail allows you to give detailed information on your legal services. This is often hard to do in an online or print advertisement. By sending a well-crafted direct mail piece, you give recipients the information they need to make a buying decision.
Direct mail lets you track your responses. You can test and optimize your marketing messages so that your response rates improve over time.
You reduce the costs of future mailings, and optimized campaigns will generate higher returns and offset your costs.
Finally, direct mail is versatile. Use it to send out a simple brochure or a long-copy sales letter. The one you choose will depend on factors related to your area of practice, business goals, and target audience.
Versatility allows you to leverage the benefits of direct mail in different ways. It makes it easy to control your costs according to your marketing budget at any given time.
Direct mail still works, but only for those who know how to implement it. Do you think direct mail can increase your law firm’s revenue? Let us know what questions you have in the comments below.
Knowing how direct mail works and how to deliver a compelling message that leads to measurable returns are the keys to taking advantage of this marketing strategy.
