Direct Mail—An Old Favorite In A New Light

Today, Direct Mail is a billion dollar market, and if you’re reading the latest trends and reports, you’ll know that it will keep growing rapidly in coming years. A comprehensive study by Graphic Arts Marketing Information Service in the year 2000 supports this trend and in 2002 the Wall Street Journal also reported a
long-term shift away from traditional advertising toward direct mail.

Why so popular now? As uncertain economic forecasts pull the purse strings on marketing budgets, marketers look for more affordable, highly targeted channels to deliver their messages. Direct Mail remains one of the most targeted forms of marketing that can reach a single individual at their home or business, elicit response, and enhance the customer relationship. Consisting of letters, envelopes, order-forms, self-mailers, and in recent years also covering direct marketing via the Internet—direct marketing makes immediate contact and lets
the seller control the time and place. In both business-to-business and consumer advertising Direct Mail is an effective way to establish a one-to-one personal relationship between a potential buyer and the product or service, company,
or brand, and it’s also used successfully to support other marketing efforts in comprehensive campaigns. Every Direct Mail response is measurable, so companies know the success of the promotion (if it increased sales, client base,
or interest) within a few weeks. With a much lower cost than most other forms of media, Direct Mail is on many levels, the most efficient way to reach the most desirable prospects.

The newer definition of Direct Mail, which includes Internet and interactive marketing, also delivers targeted messages to a qualified buyer—in this case,
to their desktop rather than mailbox. And like its printed, post-office cousin, interactive Direct Mail shares all the same benefits—like being cheaper, more personalized, and easier to measure than traditional forms of mass marketing.
E-mail has already emerged as a crucial tool for marketers, and as the technology emerges more squarely in the marketing mainstream, new forms of online advertising are rapidly following suit including new Internet applications, cell phone, and palm pilot advertisements.

As the use of traditional and interactive Direct Mail marketing promises to rise, a study released in 2000 by the University of London's Business School predicts that spending for media advertising (television, radio, etc.) will drop.
The survey reviewed the ad spending of more than 700 companies across
diverse product and service categories that range from automobiles to telecommunications, in the world's five biggest markets—the U.S., Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, and France. Findings show the percentage of
ad dollars spent on Direct Mail advertising will grow from 12.8% in 2001, to
13.3% in 2003. Newer forms of Internet Direct Mail marketing will command a
7% share in 2003, up from 6.1% in 2001. "Direct marketing channels are more measurable, better at targeting, and are seen as a good value," according
to Patrick Barwise, a London Business School management and marketing professor and one of the study's authors. In the end, highly targeted Direct
Mail in print and Internet forms offer advertising opportunities that marketers cannot afford to ignore.