The postal service reminds us today, nearly four in five B2B companies open most of their direct mail. Digital marketing & advertising tactics are playing a major role in generating interest among consumers who are not already customers. Demand creation through advertising is implementing certain strategies to market a company’s products and services to new customers. It typically requires collaboration and alignment between marketing and customer service teams.
But old-fashioned direct mail in lead generation can also play a big part. That is because most consumers, as well as a B2B company, open most, if not all, of their direct mail. They consider this type of mail communication less intrusive than email, which often arrives in floods. According to a few advertising and marketing publications, direct mail is the second most popular form of acquisition advertising behind television.
“The part of the advertising industry not affected by the internet and frankly can’t be, because the internet does not do CEO of Money Mailer, a demand creation direct mail business that reaches 15 million occupants a month.
To be sure, companies will continue to rely on search advertising, in which a company targets current customers mostly online. The next time you try to read a newspaper or another type of publication advertising online, count the number of digital advertisements you encounter.
By exposing consumers to products and services in digital advertising, they may not be aware that they share their collected data with others. By a few estimates, businesses lose about a quarter of their customers each year. To compensate, they need to replace them, so collected data sold by others may be tempting. Over two-thirds of advertising dollars go to demand creation. Nike famously refers to its athletic endorsements as “Demand Creation” that spurs interest in its shoes and apparel.
Overall demand creation advertising is a $140 to $150 billion-per-year industry. Direct mail accounts for about one-third of that.
“The biggest companies of marketers need to have a primary demand creation medium” said Mulloy. “People are more apt to open physical mail than one of the advertisement goes unread. That is a less
intrusive form of advertising.
Consider that:
- The average American gets 570 emails a week compared with 19 pieces of direct mail advertising.
- The U.S. Postal Service says that about 98% of people check their mailbox daily.
- A 2014 study by the marketing research group DNN found that 77% of consumers open most of their direct mail.
The most effective strategy for demand creation is combining direct mail and internet advertising to drive traffic to company websites. Direct mail can build brand awareness at a reasonable cost. “The internet and search trends appear to be speaking to current users and you cannot grow your business by only talking to current users. You consistently need to gain new customers,” said Mulloy.
Please contact us for more information on how U.S. Mail can work for you and your company.
