Often at the expense of more traditional marketing methods, like direct mail, on e-mail and other Internet message delivery mechanisms, organizations and Companies have spent many billions over the past decade.
But to live up to its initial promise e-mail has failed in some respects. And excellent results are reported by marketers who are turning back to true and tried methods like snail mail often better than e-mail.
E-mail is the fastest and cheapest direct marketing tool and produces the best return on investment according to a 2005 Direct Marketing Association (DMA) comprehensive study of marketing tools. But most rentable lists are opted only by a fraction of the average company's prospective customers.
And sending commercial e-mails to people who have asked not to receive them can be against federal law. It's spam. To the vast majority of their prospective customers using e-mail in mailing services, they cannot get their marketing messages if companies play by the new rules.
Why Direct Mail Works
Consultant Eric Gagnon described direct mailing as the workhorse of every business-to-business marketing program in a recent article in B2B Marketing Newsletter, which is a publication of the Business Marketing Association.
The mainstay of most business-to-business marketing and lead-generation programs is e-mail marketing programs, Google AdWords and direct mail while the buzz these days is all about Internet-based marketing: where there's a profitable marketing project waiting to happen, and a mailing piece to send to them, there's a readily-identifiable mailing list of plausible prospects.
On vertical markets, Direct mail is effective at focusing on marketing strategies that by renting targeted mailing lists can be reached by Mail services.
Conclusion
In your direct marketing symphony, Direct mail is a key instrument perhaps the most crucial. Research findings are supported by most marketers by which the effectiveness of every other form of marketing is enhanced.
If driven by talented and well-researched executed creatively and skillfully, all instruments playing together make great music. In selecting the right media mix, there is as much art as science.