If You Think Direct Mail Is Dying, Think Again!

You've heard it before and you'll hear it again ― direct mail is dying. How many lives does this cat have? With every new marketing channel created, or improved, the eulogies start for direct mail. The truth is direct mail will not be leaving us anytime soon.

Like internet advertising, social networking, newspapers, radio and TV, direct mail is simply another tool to get your message out. How you use it, and how much you use it, depends on your marketing strategy and your target audience. No one tool can do it all and a strong marketing strategy is one that's integrated and based on your organization's goals.

Here are the facts about the current health of direct mail in a report from the United States Postal Service:

According to the USPS Household Diary Study, in 2008, U.S. households received 148.6 billion pieces of mail, and sent 21.3 billion.

Advertising mail represented 63% of all mail received by households in 2008.

According to McCann-Erickson, says the report, American businesses spent about $271 billion in 2008 advertising their products and services, a decrease of 3.2% from 2007. Of this total advertising spending, 22% was spent on direct mail. In 2008, more than one-fifth of total advertising dollars was spent on direct mail advertising.

Direct mail was the second leading media choice of advertisers in 2008, after television. However, due to a steep economic downturn, direct mail advertising spending fell 1.0% compared to 2007. Except for the Internet and Other, all other spending media categories declined as well.

Direct mail's share of total advertising spending has been on a strong upward trend for most of the past 17 years. Since 1999, the direct mail share has risen steadily reaching 22% in 2008. Direct mail has maintained its large ad share even with the introduction of new, fast-growing ad markets such as the Internet.

Ultimately, advertisers send direct mail because it works, says the report. Household members read and respond to it. Households report they intend to respond to about one in ten pieces of advertising mail. While intended responses do not always lead to actual responses, the data presented help explain why direct mail is the number one choice of advertisers in America, concludes the study.

View the full report from USPS.

What's the status of your direct mail program's health? If it needs a check up and some new life breathed into it give us a call. Measured Marketing can also help you decide if taking a more integrated approach is appropriate for your marketing strategy.

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