DIRECT MARKETING VS. EMAIL MARKETING: WHAT’S BEST FOR YOUR BUSINESS?

With the rise of email marketing, you may think that direct marketing is becoming more obsolete – but that’s simply not the case. Each type of marketing has its own strengths, and multiple strategies can help you reach your marketing goals.

Direct Marketing

Direct marketing still has plenty of advantages. Email marketing pieces can get lost in the shuffle, and many are deleted without being read. But according to entrepreneur.com, data from the U.S. Postal Service showed that 98 percent of people check their physical mail daily, and 77 percent of people sort their mail as soon as they get it. That means that a direct mail piece is likely to be seen and will not get lost in the pile.

Email Marketing

Email marketing, or eMarketing, has advantages too. According to smallbiztrends.com, a recent study found that a majority of people preferred to receive promotional messages through email. People are more connected to the internet than ever, and ignoring that ever-growing segment of technically savvy customers would be a mistake.

Another benefit to email is that it is relatively inexpensive compared to direct mail campaigns. Emails are not subject to printing and shipping costs, and time-sensitive material can be communicated with a customer almost immediately. Printing and shipping a direct mail piece can take days or even weeks to arrive in the hands of the intended audience.

The biggest advantage of email marketing? Analytics. Results from a marketing piece sent through email can be easily tracked. Trackable metrics include the number of people who opened the email (open rate), the number of people who clicked a link within the email (click-through rate), and the number of people who went on to complete a certain goal you had in mind with the marketing piece (conversion rate). The goal could be anything from making a sale to having the recipient sign up for a newsletter. Tracking this data over time will give you a good idea of what’s working and what you need to adjust.

Utilizing both email and direct mail will amplify your marketing strategy and make sure that your message is getting out there to your target audience. If you’re looking for a simple way to deploy both direct and email marketing pieces, contact our full-service agency to learn more about Conduit, our marketing software tool, and to receive a free demonstration.