Direct Mail = Your Money, From Printer to Mailbox to Trash!

I did a quick, very unscientific survey of 25 of my friends. I asked them to put the mail that they do not open or read in a specific trash bag. At the end of one week they gave it to me to be weighed. Guess how much the bag weighed? Remember, most mail is a fraction of an ounce. 63.4.....not ounces....lbs! Something is wrong with this picture! That's like 2 1/2 pounds per person per week! Holy Cow! Also this was a March survey, what if it had been done in November?

Let's get a grip on this absolute waste of paper, ink, money and time! There are some common sense points we need to look at here.

Direct mail, at 2-5%, has a totally unacceptable response rate.

Bad will generation must be factored into the cost of marketing this way. How many people vow never to do business with the company that sends endless streams of junk mail?

The sophistication and alienation of the American consumer will not support this system for much longer. (Did we learn NOTHING from the "Do Not Call" list?)

Moving to e-mail is not the solution! It is much easier for a person to close an email account than it is to move.

If each of my friends got over 2 pounds of junk mail in just one week.. how can you set your important marketing material apart from all those peices of junk mail?

Solutions? Can't think of any? Wait for my next article on April 13th.

Ms Gossland is owner of Lasting Impressions 2 a small business marketing service provider. You can contact her at info@lastingimpressions2.com Or visit the website http://www.lastingimpressions2.com

In The News:

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Executives with other automotive brands say they wouldn't have completely departed Facebook advertising as General Motors did this week. But some also concede that GM had a point in its decision to stop buying ads on the ubiquitous social-networking ...
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NPR sees sharp downturn in advertising revenue, leading to talk of cuts
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Seattle Post Intelligencer (blog)
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Sketchy ads? Skechers agrees to pay $50M to settle false-advertising allegationsThe Star-Ledger - NJ.com
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New York Daily News
Sitcoms new favourite for TV advertisers
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New York, New York (PRWEB) May 17, 2012 Vibrant Media, the global leader in premium contextual advertising, has released key research findings that determine what viewers want in their video advertising: choice, control and relevance.

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75% of Advertisers Say Rest-of-Web More Important Than Facebook
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