The recent trend with marketing is the use of ebooks, blog posts, email campaigns to cover potential customers of a business. These would replace traditional advertising, and it is a bold fact that there is a massive surge towards content marketing for all types of brands. As the surge towards content marketing is on the cards, many brands follow a tactical approach to transform their email subscribers, repeat readers and social followers into customers. The simple reason behind why content marketing is beneficial than traditional advertising is that, ‘ it works well’.

Traditional advertising VS Inbound marketing:

Traditional advertising techniques are found everywhere, these include listing in business directories, trade shows and expos, brand awareness campaigns, newspaper advertising, advertising through radio and television, poster ads and ads in movie theaters, advertising through monitors in shopping malls, airports, etc. Idea behind traditional advertising is to create maximum visibility for a business so as to convert its visitors into potential customers. But the traditional advertising market is fierce and at times, places the business ads of a company with that of its competitors. These ads need to be consistent and repetitive to create a strong effect on consumers and the possibilities are that, bigger companies dominate the industry compared to smaller ones.

Inbound marketing:

Inbound marketing makes use of the internet as a potential marketing tool and allows its customers search and research brands online before making the purchase decision. It offers a stable approach towards advertising and its focus is on winning the attention of the consumer through engaging and up to date contents in the form of blogs, forums, videos and podcasts. Engaging contents connect with the customer positively, helping them connect with the business at the end as it takes control of the customer, It offers more information to the customer than he is actually looking for and provokes the interest of the buyer through engaging content. Nowadays, there are several inbound marketing agencies in Virginia, Washington, DC and all over the US.

Six definite reasons why inbound marketing is better than traditional advertising:

1.  It harnesses the complete potential of the internet and social media:

There are more than 25 billion internet users across the world, social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter allows users to like, share and recommend a product at just a click. By tapping the complete potential of internet marketing, online contents are capable of getting viral within seconds as it is being shared by millions of online users.

2.  Customers go behind business owners:

Business owners face a welcome change with content marketing, customers go behind them as internet empowers them to look for online business information. Since customers are the ones going behind business owners, the likelihood of them making the final purchase is quite high.

3.  Target audience promptly:

Inbound marketing targets content towards specific customers, who would be interested in the offer. No longer business owners have to shoot in the dark and wait for customers to call them back about the offer.

4.  Customers are not interrupted:

Customers are not disturbed by calls from tele-marketers or by salespersons at the door. No spam emails, pamphlets or brochures on products they are not interested in disturbs them. They simply search the WWW for what they are interested in and hence the buying decision is completely at their perusal.

5.  Incurs less cost compared with print media:

Traditional advertising methods are pretty costly and to set up a campaign for creating brand awareness is a hectic task. Inbound marketing costs much less compared to traditional ways and its potential to gain great results is high.

6.  Marketing on the go:

The entire world has gone mobile, with such wireless technologies and mobile development, access to the internet for an average person is available everywhere and anywhere. They are able to search business online and make purchases on the go.

Verdict:

Customers today get educated on the products, before spending their money on them, they visit a number of places online and offline before purchasing the product they want. No doubt marketers work hard to improve their inbound marketing skills to enhance their sales ratio.

One thing that a mortgage business requires from its customers is their trust on the company and the services it provides. Convincing a prospective customer to do business with you that involves big money and high stakes is no joke. There are a lot of ways a business could market its offerings and services, but only few could gain the trust of customers and compel them to take actions. One such unique and effective technique is the direct mail marketing and the one used in the mortgage business is known as mortgage direct mail marketing. In this article we will discuss all about this old but gold marketing strategy, list out its advantages in the mortgage industry and also provide tips to improvise the technique and execute it flawlessly.

What is Direct Mail Marketing?

It is a marketing technique where a product/service/offer is advertised to the future customer/client using direct mail. Be it postcards, newsletters, envelopes, brochures, catalogues, flyers or any other form of mail… a business organization will try to convince its customers and convey its message through any of these forms. It is one of the oldest but effective marketing technique used by business and non-profit organizations all over. Rather than making it seem pushy or spammy like sales calls and emails do, direct mail conveys the message in subtle ways using creative postcards and newsletters. They have a high open rate when compared to emails and also convey the message to the customer with a personal touch. This not only helps gain new customers but also retain old customers and earn their trust and respect. Hence, the popularity of mortgage direct mail marketing in the mortgage business.

Advantages of Mortgage Direct Mail Marketing

• Expanding Your Reach- Even if direct mail marketing is your flagship marketing initiative, it doesn’t have to be the only one. In fact, in the age of websites, smartphone apps and social media, you can’t afford to fall back and let these channels go for waste. Considering that direct mail has a high open rate and receives great responses, you can direct your customer to connect with you on these convenient channels and take immediate actions. Rather than obtaining random emails from corny listing sources, you could collect emails of interested customers who visit your site after reading the mail. To sum it up, mortgage direct mail marketing expands your network across online and offline channels, increases your conversion rates and makes your mortgage business look credible.

• Building Relationships and Trust- As told before, a mortgage business has to earn its customer’s trust before it earns money. Newsletters and postcards help a great deal in earning your customer’s trust by conveying important messages in the most subtle, creative and emotional ways possible. This will make the customer feel more valued, respected and understood at the same time. Rather than spammy email marketing which is full of cold facts and corny offers, mortgage direct mail marketing is more emotional and helps in building relationships and trust. It is the best way to introduce yourself to a customer, not too pushy and materialistic, but friendly and respectable.

• Cost Reduction- If you are reading this article, it is certain that you have a certain pre-defined budget on your marketing spending and mortgage direct mail marketing is one of them. The advantage of using this marketing technique is that it helps in reducing your budget to a great extent and influence higher success rates across other marketing channels as well. The open rates and conversion rates of direct mail is easily measurable and based on this data, you will have a refined listing of your own. Thus you can now focus on a limited number of interested customers and achieve high success rates with minimal spending. Moreover, printing postcards and newsletters is cheaper than running TV ads and making radio announcements.

Tips to Improvise Mortgage Direct Mail Marketing

Follow the below mentioned tips to ensure you a successful mailing campaign

• Complementary Offers- Include attractive offers and gifts so that the reader is influenced to take immediate actions.

• Detailed Information- Include every information about the services you offer, including correct contact information. It ensures transparency and trust.

• Handwritten Fonts- Use handwritten fonts to address the mail as it makes the postcard/newsletter more valued and respected.