It’s another sign of the times. The old standard of marketing, direct mail, saw a pretty sizable drop in 2008…down 3% across major industries according to a recent study by the Winterberry Group.
Why the drop happened is critically important. While the economic dips DO have a part to play in the decline, the major reason behind the change is an increasing demand from consumers to use digital media and correspondence.
According to Winterberry analysts, advertisers want to use more efficient methods to reach their target audiences. Direct mailers just don’t bring in the responses they used to. Casting a wide net is making way for lower volume, but higher quality lead marketing.
The answer these companies are looking for is right under their noses…using email, video and online marketing. When we talk with potential clients, we are consistently amazed at how little tracking is done. But when we consider the effort that business owners and their staff would have to take on to do this tracking, it’s no wonder why it’s not done.
Asking staff to ask every customer or every person that calls, “How did you hear about us?” sounds simple, but getting consistent implementation just isn’t realistic. And when you consider that many people who call may or may not remember the exact piece of the “advertising pie” that caused them to take action, you get lack-luster results at best.
With the current online technology available, it’s very simple to track where leads come from and what form of marketing they were last exposed…the ads to that caused them to react. We can track how many people come to your business’ website, how many people opened up your emails and whether they click on the links inside emails.
The days of “spray and pray” marketing are declining rapidly. With advertising and marketing budgets getting tighter, businesses are being forced to consider the ROI on everything they do. Print media, while it does still have a fair share of the market, is quickly being replaced by it’s online counterparts.
For more information on this recent study by the Winterberry Group and what it means to your business, check out eMarketer.com.
