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Merging online advertising tools with snail mail

Written on
Feb 12, 2009 
Author
Edward Barrera  |
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Merging online advertising tools with snail mail

mailbox1.jpgADOTAS — Scott Couvillon, president, marketing and product development, for Dukky, has a few words about merging direct mail with online tools:

“So with the proposed reduction of mail delivery, retailers are rightfully concerned because the first thing to not make it through the hole is bulk mail, right? But the issue is not simply that this will challenge B2C mail delivery. The real issue is that it is, once again, important to create value in what you put into the hands of consumers. And be able to track the success of that campaign.

Let’s first assume all the mail gets through, there will be a lot more junk mail on fewer days making the individual relevance filter that much tighter. Is it possible to get a response rate more pathetic than .25 – 3%? Absolutely. Especially when you consider that as marketing budgets shrink, more accountable channels focused on customer acquisition and close in purchase activation will start replacing channels with broader awareness or favorability. And direct mail is certainly in that number. So despite smaller budgets, imagine that direct mail will not be as adversely effected as other mediums.

So if there is as much junk mail, concentrated in fewer days, what else could complicate things. Offer quality, that’s what. With $1,000 pairs of shoes at Saks selling for $200, the quality of incentive that retailers are willing to make is improving drastically. Unfortunately this occurs at a time when discretionary income is constricting to rates foreign to retailers over the last few years.

So, is all lost? Never. But marketers have to get smarter about their approach. We have to continue to merger our direct mail marketing efforts with online campaigns, and moreover, online tracking methods to force more accountability on a traditional medium.

It all comes down to value. Is the consumer getting what they want from marketers, not what the marketer wants them to want? Is there an opportunity for feedback? And what would you do if you were to get something valuable back from potential or existing customers. If you are not in a position to address feedback with REAL action, what customization do your efforts enable? Adding components that enable customization or feedback improves the experience and aids in the shifting of control to consumers which is the universal truth anyway.

Direct Mail will remains the least interrupting and intrusive channel that we are accustomed as Americans to encounter regularly. But the game was hard in the past and the recession and now potentially fewer mail days will make it exponentially harder.

Otherwise, your Brand may be trying to invite the nation to a really boring party. Those are rarely fun.

– Express your opinion, comment below.





Reader Comments.

Well said. I agree with Ed’ article. We should see what Dukky is doing and Scott Couvillon is right on the money with this comment b2c mail delivery is a major problem many of the online to direct mail channels are trying to perfect. the more tools that make our lives easier the better. A+

Posted by Sam Hakim | 2:29 pm on February 12, 2009.

Sounds you are in the right place at the right time to squeeze the most out of a downward spiral in retailing.
Good luck

Posted by Susan Laborde | 9:44 am on February 16, 2009.

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