Читать книгу Direct Mail in the Digital Age - Lin Grensing-Pophal - Страница 4

Direct mail can be simply defined as mail that is delivered directly to a single, intended recipient. It is direct and it uses the mail. Traditionally, in business-to-consumer environments, this has meant mail delivered to a mailbox. In business-to-business environments, mail is delivered to business addresses, post office boxes, etc., and is often sorted, managed, and distributed by mail rooms. Today it means mail delivered electronically to email inboxes or social media accounts.

Direct mail is a form of direct marketing. Lester Wunderman is widely considered to be the creator of modern-day direct marketing. Wunderman was born in 1920, is still alive as of this writing, and introduced marketers to such innovations as the magazine subscription card, the toll-free number, and loyalty rewards programs. He coined the term “direct marketing” in 1967.

Direct marketing is marketing that is directed at a specific group of individuals and intended to elicit an immediate response (e.g., placement of an order or generation of an inquiry). In fact, the basic requirement for a marketing effort to be classified as direct marketing is that the response be direct and immediate. General advertising, by way of comparison, is designed to convince consumers to make a purchase at some later date. On the one hand, when you watch a commercial for Target, the people who developed the commercial don’t expect you to immediately jump up, get in your car, and drive to Target. Direct marketing, on the other hand, is designed to elicit just such an immediate response.