Does Direct Mail Still Work?
Thursday, 18 February 2010 12:56
Articles - Sales and Marketing
In 2003 when we launched our company in the middle of the refinance boom, direct mail was like the gold rush for mortgage companies. Dropping mail, meant phone calls and the more mail you dropped, the more phone calls you got. The dynamics of how much or how little you made, could easily be correlated to the amount of mail being sent. A time came when this approach needed to be thought out in more detail as the mortgage markets got more competitive and response rates started to drop. As a marketing company, we looked to find a niche where we could anchor ourselves in the direct mail industry and continue to grow and flourish with our customers - enter the Reverse Mortgage, a strong hold for Smart Marketing over the years.
Since we started our business, there have been many changes in the Reverse Mortgage industry; the biggest being the tremendous growth. At the first NRMLA show we attended there were about 400 members in the organization, since then the industry has grown by almost 8 fold. The future shows even more growth with baby boomers turning 62 every day! During the past few years we have witnessed the growing pains of the industry and have seen many mixed messages being sent to the Senior population. Various advertising tactics have been implemented that are misleading and confusing to the prospective Reverse Mortgage participants. Some companies are pushing the envelope on sales tactics, in part due to an ever increasingly competitive market place and the need to generate higher response rates. These types of messages can be damaging to everyone in our industry. In fact, acceptable advertising practices in the Reverse Mortgage industry have become a recent concern as highlighted during the last NRMLA tradeshow in November of 2009.
Smart Marketing has held onto our anchor in the Reverse Mortgage industry over the years and in fact now only focuses on direct mail for Reverse Mortgages. Unlike other marketing companies that just offer a direct mail product for Reverse Mortgages - this is all our company does, market for Reverse Mortgages! To that point, we have a very vested interest in the successful evolution and longevity of this industry. Smart Marketing plans on continuing to keep our anchor down and grow as we have over the years, with those committed to this product and the success of this industry. Our mailer is time tested, proven, and specialized for Reverse Mortgages. We only target Seniors who can actually obtain a Reverse Mortgage; not just people who own a home and are over the age of 62, as some of the companies we compete with for market share tend to focus on. More than anything, Smart Marketing sends a clear and clean offer that is both informative, straight forward, and is not misleading to prospective candidates for a Reverse Mortgage.
We spend the extra money on printing our letters on high quality paper, in full color, with larger and easier to read print, plus give all our customers real time call tracking capabilities. We even plant 5 trees for every 1,000 mailers we sell, in an effort to offset the waste stream that is created from direct mail advertising. Our templates for a successful direct mail piece have been followed with great success for many years. We feel we are helping to educate the Senior population about this product and over the years have helped thousands of Seniors discover the benefits of a Reverse Mortgage. An added value of working with our company is that we have been mailing millions of these letters into the Senior market for many years. That being said, we have branded recognition with our letter that in many markets can be capitalized on to give our customers a leg up on the competition. Each letter we send is tailored to each potential clients own unique situation, so they have an idea about what they can expect from a Reverse Mortgage. We don’t saturate markets and in fact, only mail for any given territory once every 90 days. We know that our customer’s success is our success and strive to be seen as a marketing partner to our clients, not just a company that does direct mail. Hence, why we have many customers with whom we have been working closely for many years.
In an age of high tech advertising choices is direct mail still a wise investment? There are many ways to reach out to potential customers in the market place, from Internet advertising, Radio, and TV to Community based programs. Having a strong and successful advertising plan means you’re going to utilize more than just one form of media to try and attract new customers. There is a reason why most of the top companies in this business have direct mail as part of their advertising and media budgets – because it works! It has worked and will keep working because you’re sending a targeted message to a targeted prospect.
Seriously though, let’s not kid ourselves; the response rates of years gone by have dropped off for direct mail and all forms of advertising with increased competition. This industry has changed from where it once was only a few years ago and recently with some less than terrific media coverage on Reverse Mortgages as well as governmental changes in the program; times have gotten harder for everybody involved in this industry. People who are familiar with this product will have an easier time selling it than somebody who is just now learning about the benefits of a Reverse Mortgage. Those who apply basic “Sales 101” experience and knowledge and who make a practice of actually following up with potential customers; will have a much greater return on their investment. Companies that really care about helping their Senior clients will also be much more successful, than those just trying to turn numbers.
Smart Marketing can assist in implementing an effective capture strategy with an automated pipeline management system, for those who want to integrate Internet marketing as part of their direct mail programs. This allows for a hybrid approach to getting more for your marketing dollar by reaching out with more than one form of media coverage at a time. If you have any questions about our programs and how we might be able to help your company grow in 2010, please call us at 1.877.550.8837 or drop an email to
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More information can be found @ www.smart--marketing.com
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