Posts Tagged ‘Direct Marketing Association’

Is it Time to Bury Direct Mail?

One of my salespeople had a conversation with one of her customers last month where she asked the customer whether they had thought about doing a direct mail campaign. The answer she got back was laughter. Why would anyone consider a direct mail campaign when you have email newsletters, a drop-dead website, a business FaceBook page, an active Twitter account and an ongoing blog? Why pay anyone to design a mailer, have it printed and pay postage to distribute it?

I am not here to bad mouth Social Media and the Internet. I, myself, have adopted all of the practices I described above and I believe that each of these items are a critical part of any company’s marketing arsenal. However, I believe that direct mail is still a vital component of a comprehensive marketing plan.

First of all, here are some of the discussion points that most people use to justify an email only approach:

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The Current Power of Direct Mail

While attending a session at the annual Direct Marketing Association Conference & Exhibition in San Diego this year, I was part of an interesting discussion about direct mail, it’s direction and it’s current power.

We all know that the USPS is in financial troubles, postage rates have gone up and direct mail volume has been recently shrinking. What does this mean for the business owner and direct mailer that are still mailing? Well for one, it does mean that you’re paying more per mailed piece. However, because the volume of direct mail has shrunk, your message stands out to prospects more than ever. Recipients of your piece are paying more attention to it, and if you’ve crafted a relevant offer, more recipients of your offer are turning into paying customers. So while the initial cost of your campaign may increase slightly because of postage, your return on investment (ROI) could be exponentially larger than it may have been just a year or two ago.

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