Three recent stories highlight the growth and power of direct mail, particularly when used as part of a wider multi-channel marketing campaign.
The first of these is the Mail on Sunday announcing it is using direct mail to target 1.5 million households as part of a wider integrated marketing campaign to attract ex-News of the World readers.
With its editorial not often complementary about mail campaigns, it is good to see the powers that be at Associated Newspapers recognise the cut-through that mail can deliver, particularly when research reveals that 92 per cent of direct mail is opened by consumers. In the case of the Mail on Sunday, mail provides a perfect platform to explain its USPs in greater detail to consumers, and it delivers the opportunity for the publisher to encourage trial through the distribution of coupons.
The two other stories came from the IPA. After studying over 250 marketing campaigns from the last seven years it issued its “New models of effectiveness. From integration to orchestration” report, which states that multi-channel campaigns deliver the best return on investment.
One of its key conclusions is that advertising, paired with direct marketing or sales promotion, is the best way to boost sales and profit. This supports recent research by Brand Science which reveals that by combining direct mail with other marketing activities increases campaign payback by up to 20 per cent. The study found that campaigns return on average £2.81 without direct mail, but £3.40 with it.
The IPA’s other piece of news was its quarterly Bellwether healthcheck of the marketing industry, out in mid-July. This showed that DM budgets had been revised up 2.5 per cent, its most pronounced rate in over three quarters. At a time when marketing budgets have to work even harder, it’s great to see marketers increasingly turning to DM, particularly as part of a multi-channel campaign.
This triumvirate of good news for DM bodes well for the industry as we move into the second half of the year. Its many strengths, such as generating cut-through and driving sales, are clearly understood.
Mark Thomson is media director at Royal Mail
