dynamicard4s

[dynamicard4s]

direct mail marketing

direct mail marketing

In an era where the world around us is growing more and more “digital” with each passing day, some have predicted that we will soon see the end of direct mail marketing as we know it. After all, in an environment where you can literally reach out and make contact with a client as soon as five minutes after they wake up in the morning, how much good can a plastic postcard mailer actually do?

The answer, as it turns out, is “quite a lot.”

Make no mistake about it: the reports of the death of direct mail advertising have been greatly exaggerated. Not only is this still an incredibly effective way to strike a chord with your target audience, it’s only getting MORE effective as time goes on for a number of compelling reasons.

The Power of Direct Mail Marketing

One of the major reasons why direct mail marketing and assets like direct mail postcards are so effective comes down to the fact that you’re offering something to your audience that is a true rarity these days – a genuine, tangible experience. Social media postings are very easy to miss and emails are even easier to ignore.

With direct mail advertising, however, you’re giving them something they can hold in their hands. Something that they can give to friends, family members or colleagues. Something that instantly separates itself from all of the other distractions that someone has by virtue of the fact that it exists in the “real world” in the first place.

According to one recent study, the average direct mail household response rate is a massive 5.1%. Email, on the other hand, only has a .6% response rate. For as important as online display ads can be, they tend to have an average response rate of only .2%. Even the mighty social media – something that has become a ubiquitous part of our lives over the last several years – only musters a .4% response rate.

Direct mail marketing is so popular among nearly every audience that you can think of that most people actually say they’d like to see more of it from their favorite brands moving forward. But perhaps the most important statistic for you to understand is the following: for every $167 spent on direct mail collateral in the United States, marketers tend to sell approximately $2095 in goods and services as a result.

In the End

Now, nobody is saying that “direct mail” and “digital” marketing have to be an either/or proposition. Digital absolutely has its advantages and will likely play an important role in all of your marketing efforts moving forward. But anyone who tells you direct mail is “dead” or that its firmly a part of the “old school” way of doing things is deeply, gravely mistaken.

Direct mail isn’t going anywhere anytime soon – the brands that recognize that as quickly as possible will be the ones who enjoy a tremendous amount of success moving forward.