Direct Mail Marketing Is a Trusted Marketing Medium and Easy to Use

Direct mail marketing is making a comeback to the masses, although some marketers have known its value for years. From those of us in direct mail marketing, thank you to the hackers and malicious people who use email for destructive purpose. It has caused the spam blockers to make it nearly impossible to send emails. On the receiving end, consumers are worried that opening an email will leave their finances and personal information open to hacking. Everyone knows breaking the seal on the envelope will do no harm. Everyone knows that when you open direct mail nothing jumps out and steals your financial information.

Consumers also monitor and filter their emails with much more scrutiny than their mailboxes. I personally have three email accounts but only one mailbox. Depending on how frequently I purchase from a company determines which of the email accounts they get. I check each of the three email accounts with different frequency, based on relevance of the mail I receive, but every day I am at my mailbox.

Responsys, a company that tracks and analyzes the email marketing activity of more than 100 of the top retailers, says retailers sent each of their subscribers an average of 177 promotional emails in 2011. This is overall an average of 16% over 2010 and 51% higher than was tracked in 2008.

With the overwhelming volume of email being ignored, it makes good business sense to integrate the marketing plan of digital with print. In a survey conducted in 2011 by LoyaltyOne, 74% surveyed said that they did not believe that they received any benefit at all by providing personal information. If they aren't sharing their email address, then they are not receptive to receiving email marketing.

Online advertising doesn't seem to be faring any better than email marketing. According to Staci Kramer in "The Economics of Digital Content", in March 2010, 77% of internet users do not engage with online advertising. According to a January 2012 Upstream (a digital marketing company) poll in their report "Digial Advertising Attitudes ", of 2015 American Adults, one-fifth of users would stop using a product or service if they felt they were being bombarded by too many ads.

So if the consumer is not reading your emails and not clicking on your online ads, then it is direct mail that will cut through the marketing clutter.

Direct Mail can be completed in 4 Easy Steps:
1. Choose your target audience with an accurate lead list: The list is crucial. Sending a home improvement offer to apartment dwellers reduces your credibility and wastes marketing dollars.

2. Design your direct mail medium: What type of mailer are you going to send and what is it going to look like.

3. Write the copy for your mailer: Hire a professional. Copy is not something to leave to chance. This is what will get your prospect to move on the action.

4. Final approval, production, and mailing execution: Hire a professional. Don't risk your brand image, your reputation, on typing up a word document and sending it in a No.10 envelope. Direct mail can seem that simple; however, it is not.

Direct mail marketing is the one workhorse in the marketer's toolbox that is easy to use, reliable, trusted, private, and personal.