Nucleus - Marketing and Design Newsletter

Like the old Mississippi riverboat pilot and magazine man who said it first… the report of direct mail’s death has been greatly exaggerated.

Citing shifting media buys and falling print ad revenues, the marketing technorati and blogging heads have been proclaiming the demise of print media for years.

Sure online media can offer less costly marketing opportunities. However, sustained success comes from the savvy application of the full range of tools in their marketing toolbox—including direct mail.

Consider These Facts:¹

• 79% of households either read or glance through advertising mail sent to their households
• 27% indicate they will respond or might respond to standard class mailings (e.g., catalogs)
• 19% state they will or might respond to first-class mailings (e.g., credit card offers)
• 1 in 3 households made one or more purchases as a result of direct mail they received

Contrary to the idea that direct mail is “junk mail” and simply pitched, these figures would indicate that people are paying attention—and more importantly purchasing based on the power of print.

Not Your Father’s Direct Mail
No longer a blunt instrument by which to pummel potential buyers into submission… the best direct mail today strikes with never-before precision. Web components in a campaign, such as personalized URLs, can be combined with QR codes or variable data printing to customize your message, even imagery, in countless compelling ways—demographic data, economic data, purchasing history and much more.

So don’t bury direct mail just yet. In the proper hands, it can still be a critical part of your marketing mix—and an incredibly effective revenue driver.

1. The Household Diary Study: Mail Use & Attitudes in FY 2008