If you treat your marketing channels as self sustaining islands, you miss the benefits of multichannel leverage. Channels work together to reduce buying resistance and increase motivation. Where the order is placed may not have anything to do with the motivation to buy.
Direct Mail
Welcome to the match of the decade – Social Media vs. Direct Marketing. Around the globe people are choosing sides, anticipating that one will overcome the other. Let’s take a moment to review their features:
Today, catalogs and direct mail have been marked for extinction. Surveys show that businesses are reducing their budgets for traditional marketing and expanding into new media. While some of the surveys may be self-serving, one fact remains: the way we communicate with our customers is changing.
It has always bothered me that a 3% response rate is considered successful in direct mail prospecting. I know all of the arguments. ("It's part of the acquisition costs. We'll make it up with the next mailing." "The breakeven is low, so a lower response is profitable." And, my personal favorite, "It's how things are done in the mail order industry.")
Many purveyors of social media have declared that traditional marketing is dead. In their minds, direct mail was the first casualty in the battle between viral and old school sales tools. Their rally cry "Stop marketing and start engaging" is gaining traction as companies seek new ways to generate revenue without increasing costs.
