How effective can a Direct Mail Campaign still be?

We live in the new age of internet marketing. Axiom Internet Marketing (AIM) is an internet marketing company that helps small businesses and web marketing novices achieve their goals. Marketing online, using search engine optimization (SEO), digital marketing and internet advertising is what AIM does best. As web marketing experts, we sometimes forget that traditional marketing methods like direct mail advertising can still be effective tools.

The fact is that physical mail can sometimes be a more effective business marketing tool than email marketing. The reader must at least look it over before deciding if it is worth opening. Online advertising can be dismissed with a very fast click, sometimes before the viewer can even realize what it is. Social media marketing can be effective but it involves heavy involvement in trend following, keyword searching and search engine marketing techniques. Online video marketing and search engine advertising require the depth of expertise found only at an internet marketing agency like Axiom.

At the same time, studies have found that direct mail has more cognitive appeal than digital marketing materials. It produced more brain responses than virtual messages which may be ignored or even annoy the viewer. Even if the mail item is discarded before being thoroughly read, it may leave a more lasting and a deeper impression on the consumer’s mind.

Think about this. We recently went through a political primary election cycle. How much direct mail did you receive urging you to vote for one candidate or another, or to support some ballot proposal? Unless you don’t have a mailbox, you got a lot. The professional people who send and pay for that direct mail are not in the business of wasting money. They are paid to produce results and they understand that a good direct mail campaign can make a real difference.

A small business or professional practice cannot afford to ignore the direct response feature of direct mail. A direct mail campaign is intended to generate a specific response to a given piece of mail, not to create brand awareness. Direct-response advertising does not require prior time, effort and expense in branding. In its place, a business or professional practice can reach a potential customer “out of the blue.” Calculating the return on investment is relatively easy compared to digital advertising.

Given all this, why don’t all advertisers do only direct mail and not internet advertising? The answer is simple: direct mail costs more. An internet marketing agency or search engine marketing company can reach consumers literally for micro-cents per person. The cost of designing, printing and mailing traditional material is much higher. The cost-per-person advantages of web marketing and social media marketing is so great that, even with lower response rates, they may still be the way to go.

If cost were no object, every business would have a search engine marketing company, printing, direct mail, and social network marketing expert. But cost is an object, a very important object to most businesses. So you must choose.

Fortunately, there is help. Axiom Internet Marketing has a twin, Axiom Administrative Services, which has long experience in traditional graphic design, direct mail, and targeted mailing list promotions. Together, Axiom Administrative Services and Axiom Internet Marketing can help any business, non-profit or professional practice make the most of their advertising or public relations dollars. Axiom professionals can provide communication help from traditional direct mail campaigns to web design and search engine optimization. Contact one or both of them today.