‘Direct Mail is Not Dead!’ This has been the headline of numerous articles. And the statistics back it up. According to the Data Marketing Association, formerly Direct Marketing Association, prospect rates more than doubled in 2017, a 190% increase. However, that doesn’t mean that you should get involved. According to Dan Kennedy, the worst place to market is in a crowd.
According to the DMA, 121.2 Billion pieces of mail were received by US Households in 2017. By my definition, that’s a crowd. In this crowd, you are competing for attention. You’re believing that your mail actually gets delivered, then hoping that it actually gets read, and finally wishing that they would respond.
The crowd includes corporation like Bed, Bath, and Beyond, with ad budgets 1000x’s your miniscule budget. So, while it’s not dead, I’m still convinced that you can and should skip it. You want to be on the fringes of a trend. Why? because its cheaper. To borrow, a GaryVee term, it is underpriced attention.
I’m not just talking. I’m testing it out. Since March 4th, 2018, I’ve only ran ads on Facebook and Instagram. As a result, for each $1.00 I spent my ad was seen by 93 people. When compared to Direct Mailing, which will cost you at least a $1.00 per household, it’s a no brainer for me. I’ll take my small budget to social media where I can target my ads based on interest and behaviors.
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