How to Best Use EDDM Marketing During COVID-19 

Last Updated on May 21, 2020 by Carlos Alonso

We understand that the economic state of our country is  tricky and every move matters during these current times of crisis. We’ve put together a helpful guide for understanding Every Door Direct Mailing (EDDM), how it benefits local businesses, and how to best use EDDM to succeed in business in the new, post-shutdown world. 

1. What is EDDM?

If you’re looking to spread the word about your business to consumers in your area, EDDM just might be the perfect option for you. EDDM, or Every Door Direct Mail, is a proven marketing solution that is an easy to use and cost effective way to spread your message to entire neighborhoods without needing to purchase a mailing list. 

EDDM is a marketing option that allows design and printing companies like Catdi Printing to partner with the US Postal Service to send marketing materials right to the door of any neighborhood or zip code you choose. If you’re able to locate specific areas where people in your target market live, your pieces of mail will be delivered to every address within your specified area.  

It’s a marketing service that is popular among local and regional businesses whose success depends on getting consistent foot traffic from local customers. 

One of the most important elements when it comes to EDDM is analyzing your target market and understanding exactly which customer base you are trying to reach. Regardless of what kind of product or service you offer, the neighborhoods that you market to need to have the spending and lifestyle habits that match what your business offers. 

For example, let’s say you own a used car dealership and you’re trying to decide which areas to send direct mail. It’s important to ask yourself the question – Where do my customers live? You wouldn’t want to market to a downtown neighborhood where many people don’t own cars, nor would it be smart to send direct mail to affluent neighborhoods where the majority of people only shop for new cars. Instead, you would need to look for neighborhoods where the average household is in the demographic of consumers who buy used cars. 

Another important thing to consider is whether marketing to entire neighborhoods or to specific households makes more sense for your business. With EDDM, you can target certain census demographics like age range, household income, and more. If you’re looking to target certain households, then direct mail could make more sense for your needs. 

It’s important to know your options when it comes to direct mail. In addition to EDDM, we also provide standard direct mail services, which allow you to send a wide variety of marketing materials to a very specific target audience after purchasing a mailing list. These marketing materials include brochures, catalogs, newsletters, postcards, flyers, and save the date postcards. This option will allow you to communicate with your audience 1 on 1, which can be a great fit depending on the product or service that your business provides. 

There are a variety of companies that offer EDDM, but we want to share the 3 reasons why we believe Catdi Printing really is the best company to help you reach your target audience. 

1. We allow you, our customers, to design your own marketing materials using our special templates to guide you through the process. Whether you’re sending a postcard or a full letter, we’ve got a beautiful and conversion optimized template for your needs. 
2. We’ll happily target the zip codes you’re interested in, which we will pass on to the USPS.
3. We will print visually appealing marketing materials to your precise specifications and volume for use in your marketing campaign. 

Catdi’s proven methods can help boost traffic to your business by providing your audience with valuable information and giving your potential and returning customers a reminder why they love your business and need to make another visit to your store. 

2. How EDDM Can Be Great For Local Businesses

If a business is local, offers great products/services and makes customers feel valued, people will keep coming back. But if people don’t know about you in the first place, it really doesn’t matter how great of an experience you provide. The key is to get your brand in front of your target customer base and provide them with a great reason to give you their business. 

As we know, everyone prefers to shop for goods and services as close to their homes as possible, as long as the businesses near them provide that amazing customer experience that they’re looking for. Whether American’s are looking for a restaurant, salon, auto repair shop, or anything in between, the ideal situation is to find something close to home. If you’re able to use EDDM to let these customers know about your business, it gives you the chance to earn consistent repeat customers. 

As with any high performing goods or services business, location is everything. When you initially were going through the process of choosing a physical location for your store, what factors did you consider? Age and income range, lifestyle, cost of living? The same exact strategies apply to Every Door Direct Mail marketing. The goal is always to put your amazing small business in front of the eyes of nearby consumers who could be interested in spending money with your business. 

Even if you have customers who visit you on an occasional basis, reminding people how great your business is can easily take a every-few-month patron and turn them into a weekly visitor. 

The great thing about EDDM is the fact that you know a large portion of your customer base lives within a certain distance from your business. Thanks to this insight, you can select that zip code to market to and be able to promote the aspect of your business that you’re highlighting in a very targeted way. Also, you’ll save a lot of time and energy from having to do deeper market research and pay for specific mailing lists. 

Not only is EDDM a cost-effective marketing option, it’s also scalable. This means you can slowly increase your frequency or expand your reach as your business grows, which allows you to start small and build over time if money is tight. You’ll be able to track and see approximate conversion rates by looking into the impact your direct mail makes on your business. Make sure you have a system for finding out how your customers heard about you, because understanding which marketing strategies are performing best will let you know which areas to allocate your marketing budget. 

If you’re a new business and looking to promote the opening of your store, using EDDM is a great tool for announcing a new business in the community and offering a promotion to create a buzz in nearby neighborhoods. Depending on the type of product or service you provide, organizing an opening night event at your business is a fantastic way to gain some early momentum. 

3. The Current Business Climate During COVID-19 – Business Strategy Help

We understand the needs off businesses during these times, this is one reason we Covid-19 small business resource page. A challenging reality of the world we’re now living in is that life moving forward will be very different than the world we were accustomed to. Millions of business owners are at risk of losing their businesses if the pandemic continues affecting our country in the same way that it has been since early March. 

COVID-19 has devastated the revenue of small businesses all around the country. As a result, there are millions of American’s working for these small businesses who are at risk of losing their jobs and facing unemployment at a time when the unemployment rate is the worst it’s been since the Great Depression. 

The overall impact of the pandemic affects a variety of businesses, with personal service, hospitality and retail being most severely affected. The smaller the organization, the harder they are hit by the shutdowns. Thus far, companies with less than 20 employees have been affected more because they typically lack the cash flow to support extended periods of closure. For example, many restaurants were forced to lay off most of their wait staff to save money while their establishments sat empty. 

The biggest challenge and opportunity for these industries now is to learn how they can serve their customers in the new environment. 

Because of these factors that are heavily influencing the business world, we’ve entered into a stage where businesses must adapt before it’s too late. Many businesses around the country, small and large, are rethinking their services, products, and marketing strategy to try and understand how to stay afloat. 

Every reason to make a change to your business model is being thrown your way in the current climate. Between loss of revenue, stock market fluctuation, and inconsistent product demand, the old methods and business strategy have been thrown out the window and the market is demanding that you adapt to survive. Here are some ideas for strategic change that are worth considering for your business: Adapting the process to deliver the good or service you provide. Shifting your revenue focus to the product that is most valuable in the current landscape. Targeting new demographics and market segments to try and expand your reach if your niche isn’t providing the business you need. 

Another great strategy to try is to evaluate what your customer base needs now that we’re living in the post- COVID-19 shutdown world. Because of the sudden shift in cultural landscape, you may have the resources to offer something new or different that will serve your customers needs of today, not the ones they had 3 months ago. Even the smallest of changes can help you operate more effectively and still provide great value to your local customer base. 

However, it is important to remember that while some businesses will inevitably have to close their doors for good, there will be others who take this challenge as an opportunity to adapt to the new way of life and leverage their business models to fit the new landscape. 

4. Adapting Your Marketing Strategy – Conversions During COVID-19

Here are some tips for adapting your marketing strategy to during the pandemic:

– Encouraging people to spend their money with small businesses as the country reopens from the shutdown. It’s more personal and encourages people to shop local instead of at large chain retailers. 

– Incentivize customers to choose your business with coupons and promotions to maintain your loyal base of customers. 

– Do as much of your own business as possible with local businesses in your community. 

An interesting trend we’ve found is that the more local businesses offer services for free or discounted, the more paid business they have received as well during the pandemic. This is likely due to the fact that customers appreciate the businesses who are doing their part in helping out the community during a crisis and want to do what they can to support the business financially. In times like these, people will try their best to reward companies that are doing the right thing.

Additionally, an important thing to consider is your competition in the industry. When you have close competitors locally and you’re looking to gain an edge, there may never. Evaluate your risks and if you find that allocating some funds to a tool like EDDM can give you an immediate edge in your market, consider making your move. The same way that many businesses went under after the 08’ crash, there were also new businesses that evaluated the current market opportunities and were able to grow and expand during times of struggle. There will also be businesses who do the same in 2020 and on.

If EDDM is right for your business, understanding how to use the marketing tool to gain an advantage in the most competitive of times. 

5. How To Use EDDM as a Tool to Keep Your Business Thriving

Neighborhood-Focused Marketing

Like we said before, there is no mailing list required with EDDM, so you will save money. Because of the shift in social behaviors, people have become more hesitant to travel outside of their homes and will opt for the closest available option for whatever product or service they need to find. If your business has been struggling during the nationwide shutdowns and you’re looking for an immediate boost in customer interest, get started with an EDDM marketing approach to reignite interest in your business. It’s only natural for people to have forgotten about the businesses they frequented months ago, so it has become essential to do something to put their eyes back on your brand. 

Sending out a piece of well crafted and genuine direct mail can remind your current customers what they loved so much about your business. This is where offering a great discount, a buy one, get one free offer, or something that will show your clients that you care about them can go a long way toward bringing in that much needed business. 

Take Advantage of Opportunities to Avoid Postal Limits

When you purchase direct mailings within a certain volume range, which is typically between 250 and 5,000 pieces of mail, you won’t have to worry about purchasing a postal permit. This will allow for big cost savings for your business. 

Create a Buzz with Discount Offers

EDDM allows you to put your message in the hands of your customers. If you’re able to find ways to include discounts on the mailers, you will create an incentive for new and old customers alike to come visit the store. 

The best part about offering discounts and offer codes is that it can lead to your customers purchasing things they normally wouldn’t consider needing. This is another reason to take advantage of the Catdi printing templates; we’ll take care of providing the appealing visuals, you just need to include the message you want your customers to see in the advertisement.

It’s a Highly Cost-Effective Option 

With everything going on in the world, it’s only natural that marketing budgets are going to be tight. EDDM is among the most cost-effective options for direct marketing that can still help you make a large splash in your community. Catdi’s printing uses colors and expert-level designs that pop and makes sure that your ad is being read and not just tossed in the trash with your audience’s junk mail. Our low postage rates will help you send out your first round of advertisements at low-risk costs and then evaluate and see if you need to make any adjustments with the next batch. Times are changing quicker than ever. There’s no way to know exactly what kind of advertising messaging you’ll need 6 months from now. Having the flexibility to send out ads in appropriate quantities and adapt your strategy as time goes by will be crucial in helping you ride out the ups and downs of the pandemic. 

5. A Message from the Catdi Team 

In times of struggle, all of us at Catdi are here to help you however we can. If EDDM is the right fit for your business and you need assistance designing a logo, choosing a neighborhood to target or anything else at all, don’t hesitate to give us a call. We’ve been around a long time and have watched businesses come and go throughout the years. We want to do everything we can to help make sure your business survives these economic struggles and is around for the long haul. If there’s another marketing strategy that you think would better help your business, we can probably help with that too. Thanks for reading, we’re looking forward to hearing about the many successes of your business moving forward.