Direct mail has been the focus for small businesses and nonprofits alike, in reaching their prospects in mass, and, hopefully, gaining a return on their investment with hopefully, new customers, contributors, members, etc.
If you do An Investigation into The Value of Direct Mail vs. Email Marketing, you'll see why direct mail is a high cost approach, that is not only lacking in quantifiable return, it's costing a lot of your budget to implement!
It’s so profitable for anyone but your business, that even the USPS launched a targeted campaign, after posting a $5.1 billion dollar loss. The focus is on small businesses, with an ‘Every Door Direct Campaign’ which ironically, has a call to action. Is the USPS using inbound marketing, AND selling direct mail? Hmmmm.....
With an inbound strategy, it's an ongoing program, that ever-evolves and drives revenue that you can justify. Case in point, the graphic above.
The fear of the unknown always holds us back from taking that first step, doesn’t it? We go with what’s the most comfortable, even if it’s not effective. Think about it. Why, if it’s so profitable to utilize direct mail, did the USPS experience a $5.1 billion dollar loss? Why is USPS investing so much money to convince you that your small business will benefit from going back, to what didn’t work before?
Remember, the definition of insanity? “Doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.”
We’ve spent the last several years preaching the benefits of inbound vs outbound or ‘native’ advertising/marketing. The fact of the matter is, anything we put into place on the outbound side of advertising, is quantifiably more effective in growing your business, when we utilize an inbound strategy.
The bottom line is, if you choose to stay in your comfort zone of, “this is how we’ve always done it,” you may find yourself missing out on amazing, strategically focused business growth opportunities!
I love this book, written by John Ortberg: If You Want To Walk On Water, You’ve Got To Get Out Of The Boat!” It’s so true. Don’t be afraid to take a calculated risk. What’s holding you back?
image via http://bit.ly/17l8d77
