Читать книгу Direct Mail in the Digital Age - Lin Grensing-Pophal - Страница 9

Direct mail, a subset of direct marketing, takes this concept one step further by targeting specific individuals with an appeal to “act now.” The big benefit of direct mail has always been the ability to target a specific message to a specific individual. Unlike mass-media marketing (i.e., television advertising), which is distributed to the masses, direct mail has the advantage of allowing the marketer to define a market based on various demographic and psychographic attributes and target specific messages to that market on a one-to-one basis.

With direct mail, your marketing dollars aren’t wasted as they might be in other forms of advertising because you’re targeting your promotion specifically to those people who will be most interested in your product. Let’s take a look at a simple comparison:

You’re selling a line of clothing for pregnant women. You could advertise on television — perhaps a spot on a cable network during a program whose audience is primarily women in their childbearing years. The key word here is primarily. Why? Because, in addition to these viewers, there will undoubtedly be female viewers outside this age group, as well as men and children. Even the women who are in their childbearing years may very well not be pregnant (or not planning to become pregnant) at the time your commercial is airing. But, you’re paying to reach all of these viewers. You are, in effect, throwing a portion of your money away.

If you were using direct mail, however, you could find and purchase a list of women who subscribe to a magazine specifically for pregnant women. Or, a list of women who have purchased maternity clothes from another manufacturer. You pay only to reach those people you identify as prime targets for your advertising message.

Better yet, today the concept of direct mail has evolved to incorporate online mail (i.e., email) delivered to the inboxes of both consumer and business audiences.