Over the years, faster and newer ways of communicating with customers have been introduced. Due to this, direct mail may now seem like it’s too slow and an old marketing method to look at. But a quick look at statistics will show you that the market continues to take direct mail seriously.
About 90% of direct mail gets opened, compared to the rather low 20% for emails. Also, 60% of marketers confirmed that a combination of direct mail and digital marketing can help increase a business’s return on investment. Hence, direct mail marketing is one of the marketing methods that have stood the test of time.
But what is direct mail marketing, and where did it come from? This article seeks to answer these two questions, helping you gain a quick appreciation of the medium.
What Is Direct Mail Marketing?
Direct marketing refers to the communication between a brand and its customers through direct mail. It’s also part of other direct marketing tools, but it’s one of the oldest tools in the bracket.
A significant segment of the market still prefers direct marketing as a way of communicating with brands they love. This is because direct mail isn’t as congested as every other form of direct marketing, and there’s very little chance of spam. This is because a company is paying money to send mail to their client and needs to compress their message as much as possible. Unlike email, where a company might be tempted to write long and boring copy too often since it’s mostly free to write.
Direct Mail Marketing & Its Coordination With Technology
For centuries, people have been using direct mail as a marketing method. This doesn’t mean it’s always been as effective as it is now. There was a point when, because of less developed technology, data about clients couldn’t be simply gathered as it is today. This made this form of marketing an expensive gamble.
Marketers would have to depend on creating catalogues, pamphlets, and newsletters. Then, businesses would have to send them as widely as possible among communities of people they hoped would be interested. Inside most of those communications would be return envelopes for those that needed to communicate back with the business.
This obviously involved a lot of wastage but certainly no more wastage than mass media. Direct mail was the most intimate form of marketing possible since it represented an age where marketing was starting to angle towards being highly interactive, a two-way communication path instead of one-way.
As marketing grew more digital, direct mail no doubt suffered a plunge in usage as companies began to experiment with these new forms of marketing. The speed of reach that other platforms have was probably attractive enough to be convincing.
But, lately, one can see that marketers are beginning, once again, to give direct mail the respect and attention it deserves, which is why digital mail strategies now have better tools than ever before especially on a local level.
The Direct Mail Conclusion
A lot has changed since direct mail marketing first entered the scene. Over time, technology has been sharpening the effectiveness of this marketing method, and you’ll realize that it’ll become more effective when used together with the rest of your other direct and indirect ways of marketing!
If you are interested in learning more about our direct mail marketing packages, get in touch with Apex Direct Mail today. We are a long-established company with over 20 years of experience delivering highly successful direct mail marketing campaigns for our clients across the UK.
If you are interested in learning more about our direct mail marketing packages, get in touch with Apex Direct Mail today. We are a long-established company with over 20 years of experience delivering highly successful direct mail marketing campaigns for our clients across the UK.
Call 01252 333500