Direct Mail

Direct mail is a common form of direct marketing, and may be employed by for-profit businesses, charities and other non-profits, political campaigns, and other organizations. Advertisers often refine direct mail practices into targeted mailing, in which mail is sent out following database analysis to select recipients considered most likely to respond positively. For example a person who has demonstrated an interest in golf may receive direct mail for golf related products or perhaps for goods and services that are appropriate for golfers. This use of database analysis is a type of database marketing. Alternatively, unaddressed direct mail may be sent on a neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood basis. Whether at the individual or neighbourhood level, direct mail marketing allows recipients to be targeted, attempting to match the demographic profile of the recipients to one most closely matching that of likely customers. Individually targeted direct mail may be tailored based on previous transactions and gathered data. For example, all male recipients of an offer may receive a personalized package with a man’s picture on the cover, while all female recipients receive a picture of a woman.

Political use

Political campaigns often use direct mail, such as these examples from Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. Multiple mailings of the same item are common.[12]
Political campaigns make frequent use of direct mail, both to gain votes from the electorate as a whole, and to target certain groups of voters thought to be open to a candidate’s message and to appeal for campaign funds.
Certain organizations and individuals have become known for their prowess in direct mail, including in the U.S., the Free Congress Foundation in the 1970s, Response Dynamics, Inc. in the 1980s, the National Congressional Club, and Richard Viguerie.[13] With the advent of the Internet in political campaigns, direct mail became just one of many campaign management tools, but still played a significant role.

Business-to-Business mailings (B2B)

When targeted to other businesses rather than individuals, direct mail is known as a business to business mailing. Traditionally, this worked in one of two ways: as a direct sale, therefore precluding the use of a salesperson or a retail store, or as a method of generating leads for a salesforce. The former method was ideally used by products that were easy to sell, were familiar to the prospect and needed no demonstration. The latter method was used for large-ticket items or for those that needed demonstration for example.
One method of direct mailing used in B2B is known as “bill-me”. In this direct-mail marketing offer, the buyer is shipped the product prior to payment and then is sent an invoice later.[14]