What's in YOUR Advertising Dollar?
Let’s start with some statistics about Direct Mail vs. other types of advertising media. Don’t let these numbers bore you – they’re quite eye opening.
With the introduction of the $50 TiVo, television viewing has become very selective. It is estimated that very soon 80% of viewing will NOT be live, and that 70% of commercials will be skipped. Known as permission-based advertising, the consumer will be in absolute control over what is and is not looked at. On the other hand, 100% of American households have access to a mailbox; 78% of adults read their mail daily; 86% read it once a week; and 27% of the adult population placed an order in response to or by mail, spending more than $393 billion dollars.
Direct Mail carries many advantages over other ways of delivering a message about your product. It’s measurable, predictable, targetable, flexible, offers affordable testing and stealth marketing, and is personal in nature. And it gets RESULTS!
In 2002, $47.4 billion was spent on Direct Mail with a value to the users of $580.3 billion. Television, on the other hand, saw $23.5 billion spent with a value of $128.9 billion. That’s a difference of a whopping 675% in value – and that’s not small change!
Now that you are contemplating the idea that Direct Mail may be the way to go, you might be thinking – “I can do that”. Sure, you can buy some print, have your employees sit at a table with the phone book and apply addresses and postage, etcetera, etcetera. Probably not a good idea! Besides not having your employees doing things more productive and profitable, you’ll see a LOT of your mail returned. See, the addresses in the phone book are not verified as being current. By using a reputable marketing firm that has the capabilities of designing, producing and mailing to CASS certified addresses, your cost per order will drop significantly!
Central File Marketing is what you need! With experts in design, print, data and list management, and a certified postal expert on staff, Central File can and will be the answer to your advertising needs.
What’s in YOUR advertising dollar? It should be Central File!
Rich Merritt, PME, Production Manager, Central File Marketing.
