Comments on: The Triumph of Snail Mail?

By: Tamela Rich

Tamela Rich — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:22:17 +0000

Financial services is such a difficult sector to market, Dasan, particularly post-meltdown.Since financial services companies have the advantage of their customers’ physical addresses, I think you’re right about giving direct mail another try. I’d suggest snail mail to supplement whatever e-campaigns are underway and then compare ROI on each and go with the momentum.

Of course, this assumes senders are willing to track results (sales folks not being as hard wired for analysis as marketers tend to be, this is a stretch for many). I wrote about this quoting a study that even 18% of marketers admitted they were NOT tracking campaign performance.

Thanks for weighing in.

Tamela

By: Tamela Rich

Tamela Rich — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:09:05 +0000

Thanks for weighing in, Harry. The emphasis your post placed on PLANNING is too often overlooked in the rush to EXECUTE. Great stuff.
Tamela

By: Tamela Rich

Tamela Rich — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:05:53 +0000

Thanks, John. C’mon back to the comments section if you have any great cases to highlight.
Tamela

By: John Sternal

John Sternal — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:50:36 +0000

Way too much talk is dedicated to pressuring entrepreneurs and companies to “follow the herd” and do whatever the latest and greatest may be. Sure, email marketing is all the rage and can be effective. But for some companies, snail mail is still the most effective way to reach an audience. The number one in marketing is still to find out the best way to motivate a buying behavior among your target audience. The right way may not always be the popular way.

John Sternal
@sternalpr

By: Dasan

Dasan — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:21:33 +0000

Very good point, Tamela – when I was a rookie broker, I used to experiment with a lot of mass mail. Handwritten addresses get opened, but are extremely costly. Now they even have computers that can replicate the handwriting – but a keen eye can tell that it’s not real. I found that the clear avery labels with a font that looks like the address was typed directly on the envelope “pulled” much higher than cheap paper labels. Mass mail success is part art, part science. Just remember – if you are getting junk mail it is because the campaign is working, because it is so expensive and time-consuming that they would not do it otherwise.

I totally agree that email is now maybe considered even more annoying than paper junk mail. If I was still marketing financial services, I would do a mail campaign now – a creative one could really pull given the fact that everyone has shifted to email!

By: Harry Hoover

Harry Hoover — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:01:28 +0000

Tamela, I agree that direct mail can be an excellent way to zig while others are zagging. Most marketers are putting all their eggs into digital baskets. But a well conceived direct mail campaign, even if it is just handwritten notes to customers, can pay off in a huge way. I wrote a piece about how to plan out your next direct mail campaign, in case you are interested: http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/2009-the-year-of-direct-marketing/