Direct Mail Is Back
Have you been paying any attention to your mailbox lately?
The reason… direct mail marketing is back and doing well and this indicates that direct marketers are getting better responses than in the past. This is good news for the USPS and everyone knows that they really need some good news these days.
Regardless of the communication channel, the function and objective of direct response remains the same after all these years—a means of commerce allowing businesses and nonprofits to showcase their products, services and needs directly to customers around the globe.
What has changed is the methods used to generate direct response like CRM programs and relationship management methods. Direct response channels continue to evolve, whether they are outbound channels carrying a brand message or response devices for placing one’s order.
Direct response has grown to include envelopes and selfmailers, postage-paid mail, toll-free numbers, direct response radio and TV infomercials, as well as a host of new emerging digital technologies, including email, banner ads, search, digital targeting, webcasts and videos, PURLs, and QR and other 2D codes, with many more yet to come.
The New Normal
Unlike in other economic downturns, the most recent had become a marketer’s new normal. Starting in 2007, as the US entered its own economic turmoil, marketers were faced with paper cost increases, fuel surcharges and multiple postage rate hikes. Many marketers had become more cost conscious, and, as a result, many made drastic cuts and budget reallocations to new lower cost digital channels. This resulted in significant decreases in direct mail spending, as evidenced by lower mail volumes from 2007-2009.
More Articles on Direct Mail Marketing
- Rely On Your Mailman For Creative Direct Mail Ideas – Do you throw out most of your mail? Do you just ignore anything that doesn’t come from someone you know? You may be tossing out the inspiration for yo.
- Marketing Essentials: Is Direct Mail Dead? | Article Search Engine – Is direct mail dead in terms of its ability to reach today’s consumer? Has it been replaced by other marketing strategies, ones that are much easier to track and simpler to manage? More importantly, has it reached its limitations …
- Creating Successful Direct Mail Campaigns for Real Estate Investing … – Direct mail campaigns can be a great way to keep your funnel full of leads. I have said many times before, that direct mail is my number one source of leads. But there are some basics concepts that you need to follow in order for it to work for …
- Direct Mail Strategy: JCPenney’s New Postcard Campaign … – Last month when I read about JCPenney’s new integrated marketing strategy I was excited to see how the retailer would execute on the direct mail component of.
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