Direct Mail Marketing Isn't Dead! | FUSIONb2b Blog

Direct mail marketing isn?t dead! It?s incredibly alive, breathing and equally effective as email marketing for b2b-focused businesses.

Many have formed the attitude that direct mail marketing is no longer relevant due to the transformation into the digital age, where businesses communicate largely through digital channels. That is just not the case. Discovering how to create a balance between email and direct mail marketing is essential in today?s marketplace. Both digital and mail communication channels have a unique way of getting your business?s brand message in front of the face of your consumer.

With the exceptional growth of the Internet in which 75.6% and rising of the entire population is an Internet user, email marketing has established itself as a ways to quickly reach a large amount of people. In the business-to-business industry, business owners and decision makers are surfing the web to locate new business and communicating through email daily. They are also utilizing this convenient and fast paced digital channel to market to their clients and generate new leads. So it only makes sense that it is no longer applicable to exercise direct mail-marketing right? Wrong.

Direct mail marketing posses a different style of marketing that digital marketing does not offer. It allows the business owner to touch, feel and see up close what message you want to expose them to. Research has shown that people haven?t lost their liking for holding physical objects in their hands, that they have much larger attention spans and are much more receptive to direct marketing materials than emails. B2b marketers must not neglect the direct marketing arena and learn to utilize both, the ever-rising ?digital generation? form of email marketing and the matured ?handy? form of direct mail marketing.

Here are some quick facts:

FACT ? 84% of b2b marketers use segmented targeting in their email campaigns.

*TIP ? Sweeping marketing trends generally reflect the most effective methods being used; apply segmented targeting to improve your campaign.

FACT ? 59% of b2b marketers say email is the most effective channel in generating revenue.

*TIP ? If this is what a majority of b2b marketers are saying, it means you should at least have a regimented monthly email marketing plan in place for your business. Don?t get left behind!

FACT ? Investment in email marketing will grow from $1.3B in 2010 to $2B in 2014.

*TIP ? The money is there for a reason. Money chases money.

FACT ? Businesses receiving brochures or other direct mailings are 2 times more likely to generate into a new lead, spend more meaningful time on the businesses website, spend more money, and consistently purchase that business?s product or service.

*TIP ?Getting brochures and other direct marketing material into the hands of a b2b industry-specific decision maker is an effective means for gaining attention.

FACT- A well thought out strategy to mail marketing has a success rate of nearly 46%.

*TIP- Plan ahead when utilizing direct mail marketing by determining what business owners you want to target, how much your willing to spend, and how to make your mailing stand out from the rest.

There are plenty of additional statistics out there that highlight the benefits and disadvantages of both email marketing and direct mail marketing.? The bottom line is clear though: email marketing is fast, cheap, and easy to monitor, while direct mail marketing is creatively unbound and influential in gaining recognition from targets.? Both methods are increasingly significant to any business marketer.? Sticking to one method means losing out on the potential of the other.? My suggestion? Create a viable mix between the two that best reflects the specific b2b environment that your business is in.

Every business varies.? A medium-sized capital equipment firm may need more of an emailing effort to reach a nationally dispersed pool of targets, but a niche business law firm may find direct mail to be a more effective way of standing above the competition that bombards business owners with spam.? It all depends on relevancy and finding how you can successfully connect with businesses to inform them about your products and services.? So get out there, listen to your customers, and find your potent mix of emailing and direct mail marketing.? A well-thought-out plan is sure to gain the right kind of attention and push you above your competition.

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