Kickin' it Old School
"Digital marketing has become the way to communicate in the 21st century," says Elaine Fogel in a Pro article at MarketingProfs. "Social media, email, search engine marketing, interactive marketing, blogs, wikis, and knols—the list goes on … to include mobile marketing, podcasting, videos."
But in your rush to marketing's online future, you shouldn't abandon its offline past. Print collateral, argues Fogel, remains relevant.
- Despite the seeming ubiquity of Internet access and usage, many people simply don't go online. She cites a Parks Associates study that found 21 percent of Americans had never visited a Web site, sent an email or used a search engine. Even in highly developed European countries like France, Belgium and Austria, more than 40 percent of the population never uses the Internet; despite high rates of connectivity in countries like Japan and Taiwan, this number jumps—on average—to a whopping 85 percent in Asia.
- Some segments prefer print marketing. Hispanic interest in direct mail has spiked in recent years, according to a Vertis survey, and while 85 percent of women between the ages of 25 and 44 read direct mail pieces, only 53 percent read email marketing messages. "From this," notes Fogel, "we can conclude that if you target women age 25-44 or Hispanics, print collateral may get your marketing messages through over digital options."
The Po!nt: Don't neglect traditional marketing collateral. Says Elaine Fogel, "Even though digital marketing is growing with a vengeance, print collateral can still hold its place in an integrated marketing communications mix, at least for now."
Source: MarketingProfs. Click here for the complete article.
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I agree that there is still a place for direct mail and other traditional marketing collateral. It can serve a different purpose, provide a closer relationship, carry a different credibility, and provide assured delivery.
I'm just not sure how well the data in this article will sell that story to most marketers. I think that there would be challenges regarding the age and income of those "21 percent of Americans had never visited a Web site, sent an email or used a search engine". Similarly, while connectivity in countries like Japan and Taiwan certainly is high, those low usage figures in Asia certainly include hundreds of millions of Chinese who have yet to be introduced to computers.
The old, the poor and the less educated are not likely to be high among the target audiences for most marketers. The facts quoted here may not convince that traditional collateral has any importance at all - though I think it does.
Article is right on but doesn't stress it enough. New media is nice and the only ones screaming it's future conquest are those working in it. Not a single study shows it really has as much return as does traditional. Sure some of you will scream but the impact of one hour of American Idol outweighs a month of all new media combined. There is something passive aggressive about internet marketing. Deep down people like to feel a connection. New media is like looking at a picture of a mountain through a telescope that is aimed at a pair of binoculars trained on that mountain. It just doesn't feel like you are being reached even if it's right in front of you. Sorry for all those raising the new media flag. Just looking at reality as I see it.