NEW! Royal Mail incentive launched to help hard hit brands during COVID-19

The travel, retail and charity sectors have been some of the most impacted during COVID-19 as consumers can’t jet off on their summer holidays, can’t hit the high street to peruse the latest offers, and can’t participate in the all essential charity fundraising events like the London Marathon or gala balls.

To help brands, Royal Mail have launched a new incentive to support businesses and charities to communicate and reach their customers by offering some significant reductions on postage rates.

What companies can benefit from the incentive?

The Open For Business incentive from Royal Mail is for:

* Any retailer that has been forced to close its doors and wants to use mail to encourage consumers to shop online with them or promote home delivery
* Any charity that is fundraising
* Any travel or tourism business wishing to promote future sales

Dragonfly are delighted to be working in conjunction with Royal Mail to deliver this opportunity to clients and would be delighted to help you too.

What do consumers want right now?

According to a Kantar report, only 8% of UK consumers think brands need to stop advertising right now.

How brands are advertising during COVID-19 is changing. Budgets which were once allocated to Out of Home and Cinema are now being redirected. And this is where direct mail steps into the picture more so than ever before. A direct mail piece is the perfect advert that is personalised and mailed directly into your recipient’s letterbox.

At Dragonfly, we have seen the positive uplift from consumers now being at home more, so have more time than ever to engage with mail - in fact 99% of mail that lands through a letterbox is engaged with.

What’s the opportunity with mail?

A letter can be a welcome break from the busy digital world just now as consumers are inundated with emails and online content. Things can easily get missed online, however as mail stays in the home it can be revisited countless times, with each time prompting an action.

Mail is safe too. At a time when we are all ensuring we abide by government regulations, Public Health England have confirmed you cannot catch Coronavirus from a letter. So, with Royal Mail classified as an essential worker, they are playing a vital role to keep our community connected, and they can keep your community connected too.

What can you say in your letter?

A letter can deliver a million messages, here are just a few ideas:

Critical information:
* Send information on store opening times or support available
* Guide people to go online, use QR codes for digitally savvy consumers or information guides for older audiences
* Deliver targeted and personalised messages to key audiences
* Provide benefits to loyal customers

Supportive information:
* Communicate what changes you have made to help your customers, donors or benefactors
* Give details on how to access your services and who it is helping
* Remind lapsed audiences what you offer
* Offer new reasons to use your brand or donate to your charity

On hold information:
* Show you are committed to your customers and give them an offer to use when the crisis is over – a discount voucher or preferential booking
* Updates on how you are looking after your staff, or making services available
* Messages about how you are supporting the community; fundraising, delivering, volunteering

Sending mail is not as expensive as you might think

Brands who continue to engage with their customers and market themselves during difficult times come out stronger when life returns to normal as they are in the forefront of consumers minds. And remember, there are people out there who have more money for charity donations or online shopping right now because they’re not spending as much on nights out, dinners out, petrol and gym memberships.

If you would like to discuss the new Royal Mail incentive, or how direct mail could help your business just now, please drop Isla a line at isla@thedragonflyagency.co.uk or give her a call on 07823 345 365