While businesses are expected to spend more overall on marketing this year, direct mail is losing ground to digital channels — fast.

Look at these predictions for 2016:

· Online display advertising is expected to jump 20.1%

· Spending on all digital advertising is expected to go up by 15.3%

· Direct mail spending is expected to grow just .4%

And that .4%, according to the marketing consultants at the Winterberry Group, is thanks to political candidates.

These days, business owners simply expect more from their marketing. They want their campaigns to be integrated and fully trackable.

To wit:

· In 2014, companies spent an average of 25% of their marketing budgets on digital products

· By 2019, that number is expected to jump to 75%

Despite those statistics, direct mail marketing remains one of the most effective means of lead generation. You know this to be true, but here are some stats:

· 40% of consumers have made a purchase in the last three months because of direct mail

· 92% of Millennials have been influenced to make a purchase because of direct mail

· 48% of consumers hold on to direct mail for future reference

So how can you take your product — direct mail — and turn it into something that delivers on what today's savvy business owner wants?

With three simple direct mail add-ons that increase the value of your clients’ campaigns: mail tracking, call tracking, and Google ad integration.

For one large commercial printer, adding these services to their clients’ direct mail campaigns tacked an extra $1.2 million on to their revenue in just 12 months. And that $1.2 million was JUST from these upsell products alone! That’s on top of traditional direct mail campaigns.

Here’s how these services can enhance your current direct mail products to create a trackable and fully integrated campaign:

Mail tracking to gauge and prepare for delivery

You can add a custom barcode to your client’s mail piece that will allow them to track it as it progresses through the USPS system. They can check its progress online, with updates on its expected delivery date and notification when it is actually delivered. This helps them prepare for a flood of calls to their business!

Call tracking to measure calls coming in from each mailing

Your client is assigned a dedicated call tracking number that rings directly into their business phone. They don’t have to change their main number or do a single thing; the prospect dials a special number printed on the mail piece and it rings in the business directly, g, but every call is tracked and recorded in the cloud as it comes in.

With call tracking software, your clients can see with an online dashboard exactly how many calls are generated from their campaign and even listen to the calls. This helps them TRACK RESULTS. They can see how well their direct mail campaigns are performing and quality-check their reception process and their sales people’s pitches so they can make improvements if needed.

Google ad integration for amplified reach and exposure

You can embed a pixel (an unobtrusive piece of coding) on your client’s website that “cookies” visitors. Then, when those visitors leave without converting, they see your client’s follow-up ads on websites all across the Google network. I’m sure you’ve experienced this yourself, especially on shopping sites — you are interested in a product but don’t buy, and then you see the ad everywhere.

This is known as “retargeting” or “remarketing,” and here’s why it’s so powerful:

Once your client’s direct mail is delivered, the majority of their leadsinterested recipients will go online for more information — but studies show that 96% of those people are not quite ready to become customers.

When they see your client’s ad again and again online, they are reminded of their initial interest and are more likely to become customers!

Look at these numbers:

· Google follow-up ads can boost ad response up to 400%

· Web visitors who are retargeted are 70% more likely to convert

Adding these components to your clients’ direct mail marketing exponentially improves their results — and when they get better results, they reorder from you more often!

Joy Gendusa is the Founder and CEO of DirectMail2.0, a fully integrated marketing solution for the clients of printers/mailers that combines the proven success of direct mail with in-demand features like online advertising and automated campaign tracking. You can schedule a free demo to see how a partnership with DirectMail2.0 can boost revenue and improve your clients’ response and ROI. Visit www.directmail2point0.com or call 800.956.4129.