late and you can’t sleep. The program you’re watching is interrupted by a musical performer from days gone by strumming a guitar and promoting a collection of greatest hits. To order, all you have to do is call a toll-free number now.
Or, you’re watching what you think is a regular program, only to discover that you’re in the midst of a long commercial known as an infomercial. The infomercial idea is not new; only the name is. The 30-minute commercial actually emerged in the 1950s. As programming time became harder and harder to get, the Federal Trade Commission outlawed these commercials. Now, however, with the renaissance of cable networks, they have become a staple of the airwaves.
Television direct marketing offers the strong impact of both visual and auditory messages at the same time. It is, however, much more expensive than other forms of direct marketing, and although some cable stations now offer marketers the opportunity to target specific market segments, the message will still reach a large number of people who are not part of your desired target audience.
1.3 Print advertisements
You’re flipping through a magazine when your attention is caught by an interesting ad for product XYZ. To order, all you have to do is call a convenient 800-number or visit a website.
Print ads can be an inexpensive way of doing direct marketing, and the wide variety of consumer, trade, and technical publications offer marketers the opportunity to target specific market segments. However, a print ad in a multipage publication is competing with many other messages (including other ads) for the reader’s attention. Also, news about the decline in subscriptions means fewer potential readers for your marketing messages.
1.4 Direct mail
Direct mail, a subset of direct marketing, takes this concept one step further by targeting specific individuals with an appeal to “act now.” The big benefit of direct mail has always been the ability to target a specific message to a specific individual. Unlike mass-media marketing (i.e., television advertising), which is distributed to the masses, direct mail has the advantage of allowing the marketer to define a market based on various demographic and psychographic attributes and target specific messages to that market on a one-to-one basis.
With direct mail, your marketing dollars aren’t wasted as they might be in other forms of advertising because you’re targeting your promotion specifically to those people who will be most interested in your product. Let’s take a look at a simple comparison:
You’re selling a line of clothing for pregnant women. You could advertise on television — perhaps a spot on a cable network during a program whose audience is primarily women in their childbearing years. The key word here is primarily. Why? Because, in addition to these viewers, there will undoubtedly be female viewers outside this age group, as well as men and children. Even the women who are in their childbearing years may very well not be pregnant (or not planning to become pregnant) at the time your commercial is airing. But, you’re paying to reach all of these viewers. You are, in effect, throwing a portion of your money away.
If you were using direct mail, however, you could find and purchase a list of women who subscribe to a magazine specifically for pregnant women. Or, a list of women who have purchased maternity clothes from another manufacturer. You pay only to reach those people you identify as prime targets for your advertising message.
Better yet, today the concept of direct mail has evolved to incorporate online mail (i.e., email) delivered to the inboxes of both consumer and business audiences.
1.5 Digital direct mail
Digital marketing (like direct marketing) is a broader term that encompasses online direct mail (or email) marketing, as well as the use of websites, blogs, social media, etc., to market products and services. Digital direct mail, like traditional direct mail, is a subset that is differentiated on the basis of specifically targeting individuals through the delivery of messages via email or online communication through various social media channels (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) which targets them individually.
1.6 Billboards
Billboards or other forms of outdoor advertising can be used to elicit a direct response from consumers who drive or ride by the signage on a regular basis. Advertisers will evaluate traffic patterns to carefully consider the placement of these messages, which are often coordinated as part of a larger campaign that might also have messages in other media. An example of how this was done quite effectively is 1-800-FLOWERS; their phone number is an integral part of their messaging and is used to encourage direct response.
2. Digital versus Traditional Direct Mail
There is much more that is the same than is different between traditional direct mail marketing and digital email marketing. In fact, the primary difference is the distribution method — mail delivered to a traditional mailbox versus mail delivered online in electronic format. The basics still apply. You need to do the following:
1. Identify your overall goals and objectives.
2. Identify your target audience.
3. Identify your strategies and tactics (i.e., traditional or electronic direct mail or a combination of both) that will be most effective for you based on your goals, objectives, and target audience.
4. Create the offer.
5. Select, locate, and rent or purchase lists.[*]
6. Develop key messages or copy points.
7. Choose format options.**
8. Design materials.***
9. Distribute your promotion — either through the postal system or online.****
10. Evaluate the results.
As we explore each of these traditional steps in the chapters ahead, we’ll identify any issues that may be different between traditional and electronic direct mail marketing.
3. The State of the Direct Mail Industry
In 1897, Mark Twain was quoted by the New York Journal, in response to rumors of his death, as saying: “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” Interesting how rumors could spread even before the days of mass communication and electronic communication. This quote has additional relevance for us because it could similarly be said of traditional direct mail marketing.
Many have lamented direct mail’s passing and, in truth, the US Postal Service has struggled in recent years to recapture revenue lost by the decline in traditional mailed correspondence to more online communication. Despite the US Postal Service delivering approximately 170 billion pieces of mail in 2010, it lost about $6 billion in revenue, making mail volume about 7 billion pieces fewer than in 2009, according to a release by Postmaster General John E. Potter in October, 2010. Much of that decline can be attributable to the shift from traditional direct mail to online options that can take advantage of significant savings, not only in postage but in print production costs as well.
Still, despite the dire prognostications, the Direct Marketing Association’s “2010 Response Rate Trend Report” pointed out that response rates for direct mail have stayed
