Consumers are surrounded by digital advertising. Ads appear in social feeds, search results, streaming platforms, and inboxes—often disappearing just as quickly as they appeared.
For local businesses, simply getting seen isn't always enough. Customers also need to recognize your name, trust your business, and feel confident that you're a real part of their community.
That's something we've heard directly from Taradel customers across very different industries. From surrogacy and addiction recovery to lawn care, business owners and marketers keep coming back to a similar advantage of direct mail: it's physical, personal, and local.
Here’s what three businesses had to say about using direct mail to build that connection.
For Andrea McAfee of Hawaii Surrogacy Center, building trust is especially important.
Her organization competes with larger national surrogacy agencies, but its approach is intentionally local—connecting gestational carriers with families in their own communities. That local positioning is one reason Andrea sees value in putting something physical into potential applicants' hands.
“Having something that was local, they can physically hold it, versus having an ad that drifts across their screen...reinforces that message that we are a real local company.”
That distinction matters when you're asking someone to make a deeply personal, high-consideration decision.
And Andrea's perspective lines up with consumer research. 49% of consumers view brands that send direct mail as more credible than brands that don't, while 44% say direct mail feels more authentic or trustworthy than digital communications.
A postcard isn't just another impression. It gives someone something tangible to associate with the business.
Hear Andrea explain why physical mail helps reinforce Hawaii Surrogacy Center's local presence:
Andrea isn't the only Taradel customer who sees a connection between physical mail and trust.
Patrick O'Brien, Executive Director at Heartfelt Recovery Center in New Hampshire, also views direct mail as a particularly effective way to reach his local audience.
For Heartfelt, trust is essential. Choosing an addiction recovery provider isn't a casual decision, and Patrick believes traditional, local marketing channels can help establish the familiarity people need before taking that next step.
In his experience, people in his market open and trust their mail, which is one reason direct mail has become an important part of Heartfelt's broader local marketing strategy.
Hear Patrick explain why he believes in direct mail:
The same principle applies well beyond healthcare. The more important the decision—whether someone is choosing a healthcare provider, contractor, real estate professional, financial service, or another local business—the more valuable credibility and familiarity can become.
Trust isn't only about proving that a business is legitimate. Marketing also has to feel like it's coming from a real business trying to reach real people.
That's something Nate Miller, owner of 4 Point Lawn Care, has noticed about direct mail.
Lawn care is a very different industry from surrogacy or addiction recovery, but that actually makes his perspective even more valuable. Direct mail's personal, tangible quality isn't limited to industries built around major life decisions—it can help everyday local service businesses connect with their communities, too.
Hear Nate explain why he sees direct mail as a more personable way to reach customers:
A postcard arrives at someone's actual home. For a lawn care company, contractor, cleaning service, or other home service provider, that means the marketing itself is reaching customers right where the service is needed.
Being a local business isn't simply about operating within a certain radius. Customers have to perceive your business as part of their community.
Andrea's strategy demonstrates this particularly well.
Hawaii Surrogacy Center has used EDDM® around specific neighborhoods and local events, allowing the team to concentrate its message in the communities that matter most instead of always targeting an entire county. Andrea described pairing local events with direct mail as a way to create “multiple exposures.”
That ability to show up locally can matter to consumers, too. 60% of consumers who acted on direct mail said a local event or location included in the mailpiece influenced them to act.
For a local business, that creates opportunities to make the mailpiece feel genuinely relevant: promote a nearby location, reference the community, advertise a local event, or simply target the neighborhoods you actually serve.
The goal isn't necessarily to reach the most people possible.
It's to reach the right people in the right places.
None of this means businesses have to choose between direct mail and digital advertising.
In fact, Andrea uses Hulu, Spotify, Facebook, local events, and direct mail as part of her broader strategy. In newer markets, her goal is to use those different channels to build awareness and then reinforce the message through additional marketing touchpoints.
That's where the channels can complement one another.
Digital advertising can expand reach. Direct mail adds a tangible touchpoint. Repeated exposure builds familiarity. And familiarity can help support trust.
Consumers appear receptive to that combination: 41% say they're more likely to engage with a brand when they receive both direct mail and digital communications.
Instead of asking whether direct mail or digital is better, local businesses can ask a more useful question: How can these channels work together to make our brand more recognizable and memorable?
A surrogacy agency. An addiction recovery center. A lawn care company.
These businesses provide completely different services to completely different customers. Yet all three highlight something that's easy to overlook in an increasingly digital marketing world: there's still value in putting something physical into a customer's hands.
Direct mail doesn't automatically create trust with one postcard. Trust is built through experiences, consistency, credibility, and repeated interactions over time.
But mail can help a business show up locally, feel more personal, and give customers something tangible to associate with its name.
And when a customer is deciding who to call, visit, hire, or trust, that familiarity can make a difference.
Put your business directly into the homes of the customers you want to reach with EDDM®. Target the neighborhoods that matter most and combine direct mail with digital advertising to create multiple opportunities for customers to see, recognize, and remember your brand.