Direct mail may not be most marketers’ go-to strategy anymore, but it’s far from obsolete. There are plenty of good reasons why you should add direct mail to your rotation of marketing tactics, if you aren’t currently using it. In fact, since there is less competition in direct mail marketing than there used to be, you might find it a great way to stand out from the pack and reach consumers who might otherwise have never heard of your business. Here are here are 5 reasons why print and direct mail should still have a place in your marketing strategy:

1. Direct mail is more tangible than digital marketing
Online ads are fleeting to look at — and sometimes, that means their impact on consumers is fleeting, too (when was the last time you saw an online ad memorable enough that you were still thinking about it hours or days later?) Direct mail, on the other hand, asserts itself. It’s a physical object that recipients have to pick up and interact with. You can stick an interesting brochure on your fridge or put it aside to look at later. Online ads are often out of mind as soon as they’re out of sight.

2. Print ads can be more personal than online ads
Most smartphone users get bombarded with ads every single day. There’s nothing particularly personal about digital advertising, even if it’s well-targeted — it’s just one more thing to scroll past. Some online ads are even downright annoying. By comparison, print advertising has a much more personal touch. It’s similar to email marketing, but with the potential to make an even more tangible impact. Most people like getting mail and check their mailbox regularly, so direct mail marketing can be an effective way to stand out from your all-digital competitors.

3. Direct mail offers an impressive ROI
You know how important it is to allocate your marketing dollars to the strategies that offer the biggest return on your investment. But did you know that print marketing has an excellent ROI that rivals that of many major digital marketing strategies? On average, you can expect to make $13 for every $1 that you spend on direct mail marketing. Of course, the exact ROI varies based on how good your campaigns are, so putting in the effort to become a skilled print marketer is well worth your while.

4. Direct mail is less likely to seem like spam than online advertising
Online advertising is becoming more and more sophisticated, and marketers have increasingly precise control over which prospects they target. Despite this, a great deal of digital marketing still comes off as spam to consumers. You’ve probably been annoyed by this type of advertising yourself — think pop-up ads and pushy sales emails. Direct mail, on the other hand, is far less likely to be seen as an unwelcome annoyance. At worst, your materials will simply get dropped in the recycle bin. But it’s more likely that people will take a look at what you sent them, since a physical piece of mail is hard to ignore.

5. Direct mail lets you target prospects closely
Thanks to new developments in the tech sphere, digital marketers have more targeting options than ever before at their fingertips. There are several very sophisticated tools that integrate with many marketing automation platforms allowing you to customize your direct mail campaigns to align directly with your digital campaigns making for a cohesive experience for your prospects and customers. With all these new techniques stealing the show, it’s easy to forget that “old-fashioned” marketing methods like direct mail also offer lots of targeting benefits. In fact, depending on how much information you have about your audience, print marketing may even let you target the consumers you want to reach in a more granular way than digital advertising.