subject: Direct mail is still the way to stand out in a digital age [print this page] Direct mail is still the way to stand out in a digital age
It is often said that what goes around comes around, and if predictions of future marketing trends in a new report commissioned by the Royal Mail are true, that will also apply to communication, as people become ever more swamped with online information. The report suggests that there will be a backlash against online communication, as relevance, response and restraint' become the most important factors in building effective marketing campaigns.
Some of the UK marketing sector's most influential practitioners, questioned for the report, say that, while online, mobile and social media channels will become much more measureable, campaigns which stand out are also likely to include the use of direct mail. There are many good reasons for believing that this will be the case. It only has to be considered when the last time was when we remembered receiving an email, and when we last remembered getting a letter or parcel. The chances are that emails, much like a great deal of our daily conversations, only register briefly in our consciousness before disappearing again into the ether.
Emails have become so ubiquitous in everyday life that, just as with mass marketing, much of their content is simply thrown away unopened. Marketing gurus are becoming increasingly concerned that the majority of people now treat the messages which they are trying to convey in the same way as they used to do unwanted letters. The difference is that, now people are receiving fewer letters, there is a better chance of those they do get being taken notice of and that is just what marketers want, of course.
So whereas the term junk mail' was once widely used to describe unwanted items put through our letterboxes, people are now more resistant to junk email', and will pay more attention to personally-addressed direct mail, and take the time to read about the offers contained in it. As a result, in the next five years, the UK is expected to witness greater diversification in the means of conveying marketing messages, with mail, far from dying out, continuing to be an important component in the quest to attract potential customers' attention.
What marketing professionals are keener than anything else on ensuring from their campaigns is that they can establish an ongoing and productive relationship with both their potential and their actual customers. And while it can be easy to overlook a regular flow of emails from any particular source, it is much harder to do the same when mail is dropping through the letterbox which contains enticing and especially, relevant, offers.
As people get smaller and smaller amounts of communication through their letterboxes, the value of international courier delivery of important messages is becoming ever greater. When those communications come with the offer of cheap courier deal, they are often made irresistible.
