Direct Mail – Here Today - Gone Tomorrow?

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I don’t know about you, but I found 2012 to be a year of great experimentation regarding how we communicate with our marketplace. Growing our top and bottom lines has never been easy, but the more complex our marketing activities become, the more people and resource we have to throw at it. It gets harder and more expensive to get a reasonable return on our marketing investment.

This year has seen us fully integrate Social Media, cross channel communications with on-line and offline media, as well as implement new technologies and creative tools trying to increase the impact of our communications with constituency in order to grow our businesses.

Granted, we have opened up many new doorways to talk to our customers and prospects, but has all of that work yielded incremental top and bottom line growth for you or your clients? Is there a real ROI?

We are all chasing the Holy Grail hoping to get a leg up on the competition and again, I ask if we are really accomplishing that? When other industry participants implement these new technologies what choice do we have but to follow suite? We can’t miss the opportunity to get our share of the prize, can we?

To tell you the truth, I don’t have the answers to those questions, I wish I did, but, there is one thing I do know, all of the changes within our industry have not altered the basic fact that our customers and prospects want to be reached, recognized and understood. One tool that accomplishes this goal, never goes out of style and that consistently performs well is direct mail.

Direct mail that follows the core direct marketing tenants to create highly personalized, relevant and timely messaging has been and will continue to be the basic blocking and tackling tool of the industry.

When all else fails, we can count on direct mail to come through for us.

The effective use of internal and external data, has allowed us to greatly reduce waste and cost through precision targeting. Reaching just those that will truly benefit from our messaging has become a standard skill. Today’s small production runs are becoming just as cost efficient as yesterday’s million-piece jobs and believe me, this will only get better in the future.

In the end, this is a time of challenges, frustrations and new competition. We will continue to see innovation, new channels, and more ways to communicate with our constituencies. As Patrick Brand, President, Pitney Bowes, North America Mailing said in a recent post, “If the actions of market leaders are any indication, this is an exciting time to be in the print and mail industry. Even as we have seen an explosion of digital media—from email and Web, to YouTube, Facebook and Twitter—the unique attributes of direct mail stand apart. Today’s direct mail pioneers are embracing the data-driven, digital capabilities of the online world to deliver a stronger connection on paper that is more dynamic, more welcoming, and more personal. Direct mail will thrive.”

Bottom line? Yes, we can continue to count on direct mail. I believe this channel will be with us for a long time. As direct mail specialists, AccuLink has a 32 year history of producing results in the direct mail arena. Please give me a call to discuss some of the unique solutions we offer to improve direct mail results.

Ed Glaser
Chief Marketing Officer
252.321.5805
ed.glaser@acculink.com
Learn: www.intelimailer.com
Watch: http://youtu.be/He429Ylw3l8
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Ready – Aim – Fire!

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Are you sending the appropriate message to your audience?

In order to understand buyer behavior, you must know how different generations interact within the marketplace. Our current marketplace is composed of four different generations and in order to create a successful marketing campaign, your message must resonate with each of them on an individualized basis.

Each generation has different needs and wants.

Age cohorts are used to classify these generations. Age cohorts are defined as a segment of people from similar geographic locations born roughly around the same time.

Their life experiences can be defined by certain events in their lifetime such as the Great Depression, President Kennedy’s assassination, the Vietnam War, 9-11, etc.

Let’s take a look at four different generations, and define some of the major descriptive qualities of each:

1. Traditionalists (aka The Silent Generation)

·         Born between 1922 and 1946

·         Lived by the motto “Live to work.”

·         Called traditionalists because of their slow adaptation to new technologies and innovations.

·         Experienced the aftermaths of the Great Depression, they are not wasteful and are hard working.

·         To market effectively to traditionalists, you have to show the value of the product, and reward their loyalty to your product.

2.Baby Boomers

·         Born between 1946 and 1964

·         Tend to be workaholics, and are driven by success.

·         They sought stability, and wanted their children to have a better life than they did

·         More and more boomers are holding off retirement because of economic downturn.

·         Many embrace technology.

·         Boomers currently have the largest spending power, and account for 55% of
consumer product goods purchased.

·         Boomers prefer contact through email or phone calls and rarely use texting and social media

3.Generation X

·         Born between 1965 and 1976.

·         They are currently waiting for Baby Boomers to retire.

·         Were brought up in a time of huge layoffs, making them the first generation to be
skeptical of loyalty to companies

·         Divorce rates increased at this time, giving them different views on family makeup.

·         Generation X is more likely than any other generation to research a product or service before they buy it.

·         To gain their trust, offer a money-back guarantee.

·         Grew up with the introduction of new technologies, so they are true digital natives.

·         Overall, this generation is very distrustful of corporations and faceless entities.
This means you must make the experience more personal for them.

4.Millenials (aka Generation Y)

·         Born between 1977 and 1995.

·         This is the fastest growing generation.

·         Tend to “live in the moment” and are the most social of the groups.

·         This generation has embraced more technology than any other.

·         Are delaying adulthood by 3-5 years more than any other generation.

·         Have short attention spans due to being raised with the Internet.

·         Love to challenge the status quo, so they do not trust traditional advertising.

·         heir spending power is just beginning to grow.

Each of these generations is marked by different needs and values, so a word of advice. Know your audience before you pull that trigger!

AccuLink can help you build a successful personalized direct marketing campaign. Please let me know if I can help you.

 

Ed Glaser
Chief Marketing Officer
252.321.5805
ed.glaser@acculink.com
Learn: www.intelimailer.com
Watch: http://youtu.be/He429Ylw3l8
Build: https://storefront.acculink.com/Promo/Login.aspx