Think about the last email advertisement you got. Can you even remember what it was? Probably not, because email marketing campaigns are overwhelming, impersonal, and nonstop; at a certain point, you just start to tune them out. On the other hand, try to recall the last piece of physical mail advertisement you received — it was most likely personalized to you, using your name and focusing on your specific interests. That little advertisement, whether it was for a pet store or a shiny new credit card, is called direct mail, and its popularity is taking off.
Bye-Bye Email, Hello Direct Mail
People are 37 times more likely to respond to a direct mail ad campaign than email marketing, and certain marketing moguls are taking notice. Dave Fink and Jonathan Neddenriep, the marketing brains behind Dollar Shave Club, Wishbone, Hello Society and a number of other incredibly successful businesses, have just established a new start-up company based out of L.A. called Postie. The company’s clients can use the service to access demographic, interest, and behavioral data of over 320 million people — that’s the entire population of the United States. This information is how online advertising functions, but by combining it with direct mail, Fink and Neddenriep are hoping to boost their clients’ reach and ROI.
“A highly targeted physical piece of mail, especially in today’s ephemeral world, elicits an emotional response that goes above and beyond what is possible online. It’s now possible to open up a whole new scalable media channel by leveraging the same data driven insights and quantitative approach as digital.”
Statistics reveal that around 40% of consumers made a purchase within the last three months that was motivated by direct mail marketing, so it seems Postie is sure to be a hit among producers.
The Potential is Limitless
With so many businesses vying for consumers’ attention, Postie has the potential to bring highly competitive markets and industries to a head. The catering and hospitality industry is one such example. In the age of Airbnb, direct mail marketing can target and encourage specific consumers in the hopes of maintaining a profit. Caterers can send out targeted messages, rather than waiting for someone to Google “caterers near me” and hoping that consumers choose their business. The possibilities of upsetting the current consumer market are truly endless.
