The Next Thing In Direct Mail Marketing Is...

It must be so, because Seth Godin says so.

Just as most change happens incrementally, sometimes measurable in microns, so will change happen to direct mail.

Maybe dying isn't the right term. Morphing may be more like it. After all, even though advertising created to build a brand is getting wilder (think GoDaddy SuperBowl ads), direct marketing has to become more subtle.

Direct mail marketing is about making connections with good timing. It's Sears and Roebuck sending you their catalog just before Christmas so you can conveniently and affordably do your shopping at home. It's the Wall Street Journal sending you a letter that lets you identify yourself with their fine demographic of readers, and giving you an enticing opportunity to try their paper just as your stock portfolio value is dropping like a stone.

And so with the next phase of direct mail marketing. Maybe there's a way to make junk mail more appealing. Or a way to refer to 3rd class mail in a way that doesn't make it look like junk. Or, maybe there's a way to get just the right offers to appear in your customer's mail box on exactly the day she wants to buy from you.

Where email has gone to spam, postal mail has gone to predatory credit card offers. But direct mail marketing is all about change. Testing and trying new approaches. Whether you're online or offline or both, direct mail marketing, generally defined, is the fastest and most nimble tool for conversing with your customer. One at a time. Finding out what she wants. And sending it to her.

Interested in implementing new ideas in your small business marketing plan? Find some ideas on this site, or contact us for small business consulting.