Wait, Direct Marketing STILL Works in 2017?

Today, everyone knows that SEO, PPC, social media and all other forms of digital marketing are proven methods for obtaining new customers and retaining existing ones. Using them is simply smart marketing.

These new marketing channels work, for sure. But that’s not to say you should take your WiFi and social networks and ride off into the sunset. Doing so just might cause you to miss out on a major portion of the market, and overlook a potentially powerful way to connect with new and existing customers.

Direct marketing, my friends, still works. Here’s an argument for why you should still carve out time and resources for direct marketing campaigns in 2017.

1. Direct mail is a terrific way to intertwine various marketing channels to provide a seamless customer experience. In fact, 40 percent of marketers identify direct mail as the ultimate “omnichannel team player.” Put simply, direct mail seems to play well with others.

2. Any good marketer is concerned with the response rates of their marketing campaigns. Direct mail continues to outperform other channels, with a 2016 response rate of 5.3 percent to house lists (2.9 to prospects). Meanwhile, digital channels often can’t climb above 1 percent.

3. Unlike an email that can stay unopened indefinitely, most people eventually open their mail. One third of Americans in a 2016 InfoTrends study claimed to read their mail, which was significantly higher than those who read their emails. Another third of the group, reported reading both mail and email at the same rates.

4. Although it might blow your mind to imagine someone not as addicted to Instagram or YouTube as the rest of us are, such humans do exist. A 2016 study by the Pew Research Center showed that 13 percent of Americans don’t go online, at all. This means your direct marketing campaign is in a prime position to reach this group like no other channel can.

5. Marketing today succeeds when the brand makes an impact on the customer. Direct mail leads the game in this because customers read it longer and develop brand recognition much easier. In fact, when direct mail is combined with email, ROI increases by 25 percent as opposed to using email alone.

6. Lots of marketers think the only way to connect with millennials is through digital channels. Apparently, this is not true. Millennials actually get a kick out of receiving physical mail. A quarter of millennials view the process of sorting mail as a “leisure activity.”

7. Furthermore, recent studies reveal that a large percent of Americans are feeling the negative effects of being constantly plugged in. Forty-three percent of respondents under 30 and 52 over 65 endorsed shutting off their smartphones because they were too distracting. This antipathy about being connected may not bode well for digital channels.

There you have it, folks: statistical proof that direct-mail marketing still has a seat at the table. This form of marketing is extremely viable for increasing ROI, reaching millennials and non-internet users, and offering highly competitive responses rates.

For more information about help with your own direct-mail marketing campaign, contact The frank Agency today.