March 23, 2016
Mail marketing is too expensive….Stick to email and social media – it’s cheaper.
I completely understand being addicted to social media, tweeting ‘interesting’ facts or retweeting videos. Achieving Facebook ‘likes’ is ‘acid’ for marketing professionals desperate for their brand to go viral; that one opportunity to hit their 15 minutes of social media fame.
However, have your considered however, how much energy, cost and effort goes into this? More importantly how much income to you receive directly as a result of investing in this medium? Is it time to stop taking the same pill as everyone else and start investigating the alternatives?
Email response as a stand-alone marketing medium is increasingly producing a diminishing return. It has never received a great response rate, but as it is relatively cheap form of getting your message in front of clients it has been used profusely; it can definitely help in enforcing brands and making offers if not overused.
Enhance your brand – not damage it!
What damage is done to your brand and client relationship if you overuse email? In a hailstorm of constant emails (many of which are increasingly being filtered out by software such as ‘clutter’ Microsoft’s software that learns your email habits moving less important, often ignored or deleted emails from your in-box.) Your message is not being read, brand is being weakened and efforts wasted. Easily avoided and quickly deleted, your frequent emails start to frustrate the recipient with too much information for them to enjoy engaging with you.
How do you measure the return on your marketing spend?
If you take a genuine view of the time, cost and investment made in each of your channels to market, have you really got the mix correct? I am in no doubt, that all businesses must trial and research all types of medium to reach their market. Have a presence that ‘suits’ the need of the consumer so that choice is available to them. Social media and e-marketing is superb for helping to endorse your initial message/contact. It helps retain clients by keeping them informed once they are fully engaged with your brand.
Use of tangible, quality, marketing print, particularly direct mail that is delivered to the doorstep, makes your message standout so much more than email to gain and retain clients.
But it’s too expensive – I hear you cry
In 1993 the cost for second class postage for a letter was 19p per item.
In 2016 the cost of second class postage for a letter is 19p per item.*
“HOLD ON…do my eyes deceive me?…Let’s read that again….“
In 1993 the cost for second class postage for a letter was 19p per item.
In 2016 the cost of second class postage for a letter is 19p per item.*
OMG! You’re right – the cost of sending a marketing mailing through the post is 19p per item, that’s the same as in 1993!!
So having crunched some numbers, for under £1000 worth of postage I can send 5000 letters that will land in my client’s letter box telling them something positive that they can act on. Tangible printed communication receives a better response both emotionally and financially in terms of cost per acquisition, than email or social media marketing, as a standalone medium. After much research the Direct Marketing industry recognises that a well-planned campaign that incorporates a joined up strategy across e-media, involves Social media AND print and direct mail, far outperforms those without print.
Market Reach and Mailmen
Yes I know Royal Mail did the research – I’m cynical too – but read it through and apply it to your own marketing, then compare it with your own purchase decisions. You know that you respond better to quality print presented to you in a unique and personal setting, than through electronic marketing alone.
That is not to say that electronic communication is a poor relation, quite the contrary, using a thoughtful and sophisticated marketing plan to reach out across all media is the very best way to retain, and grow business. Printed Direct Mail playing a fundamental and surprisingly cost effective route to market.
What should be advocated?
Take stock – Stop and make a proper study into the tangible return on your marketing spend. It is no longer an excuse to say that “Half of my marketing works – I just don’t know which half” measure the responses properly and understand where leads and more importantly sales are being generated from against the money invested in that channel.
If your market is responding well to e-media only that’s great, however is that because you only use e-media? What improvements could happen if you tested a direct marketing campaign utilising print and e-media?
But I am bias…..I run a mailing house in London
Yes I am bias, and we offer much more than just mail marketing services. I simply want clients to benefit from their marketing campaigns that include direct mail the same way that we do. The same way that we benefit from using e-media. The same way we analyse data to get the best message to the appropriate consumer. We test each and every marketing route to see what works best for us. Then we help others to improve their response rate too. If that make us bias then so be it!
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