Full disclosure: As an undergrad, I majored in marketing and worked for a rather colorful direct mail consultant (not to mention the king of mail order fruitcake, but that's another story).
Basically, I've been knockin' around the direct mail game my entire adult life. But these days, the majority of our revenues come from online marketing.
When it comes to direct mail, I can be an honest broker.
Direct mail didn't die for several good reasons that have little or nothing to do with spam. For one thing, many email lists only contain around 20% of the quantity of their postal counterparts -- and lots of marketers can't afford to miss 80% of the target group. In some categories, the only worthwhile lists available are postal lists. To this day, I've yet to see a wildly profitable campaign that ran on lousy lists.
And how 'bout all those direct marketers selling high-end products and services who need to be uber intrusive, and want to whip way beyond the ordinary math of conventional direct mail and start a dialogue with the highest possible percentage of le creme de la creme prospects? That's an argument for dimensional direct mail, otherwise known as clutter-busters or 3-D mailings.
Finally, we have the folks who simply prefer direct mail. Seniors are as good an example as any. Yes, lots of old-timers enjoy receiving email, but millions don't. And ultimately, consumers have the final say, by voting with their greenbacks.
Yep, we'll keep seeing higher growth rates in Internet marketing for the time being. Trees won't fall in cases where digital marketing is more cost-effective. But don't expect direct mail to fade into the sunset anytime soon.
What are the best approaches for your business? That's easy. Carefully think through your viable options -- then run your own tests and see for yourself.
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