I came by this article as I was going through some archives. Still rings pretty true. What say you?
I recently received a US Postal Service direct mailer on Variable Data Printing (VDP). It’s a nice piece. It had my name all over it…very personable. The only thing: I was a bit bothered by some of the copy.
The last line of the insert read, “As a large business looking for new ways to appeal to customers, personalization may be the exciting new temptation you’re looking for.” Besides the fact that I run a small business, the question begs: As marketing professionals, are we really looking for a “new temptation” to reel our customers in?
Look, I’m no direct mail expert. My expertise is in content marketing. But it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to see that VDP will pretty much become the standard. Direct mail, both in print and online, that isn’t personalized, will be perceived as SPAM. Some people might even argue that this is already the case.
But VDP, or any kind of personalization, isn’t enough. Two things complicate the issue: buyers are becoming smarter (whether we like to believe it or not), and they’re continually being inundated with marketing clutter. Both of these are making legitimate marketers cry as even their most sophisticated direct mail programs show low response.
Temptation isn’t enough. It’s not about how we tempt customers to open a letter or email or anything else. It’s about how we as marketers can deliver ongoing information to our customers that make them more intelligent. It’s about tearing down the decades of organizational interruption-style marketing practices that most of us are used to, and creating a singular focus on delivering quality content in multiple formats. All the while, our goal is to help customers do their jobs better, or lead more improved lives.
The future of marketing is not about tempting them or conning them into buying more; it’s about communicating a message that says, “Regardless of whether you buy from me or not, you need this information. Enjoy!” Smart marketers are doing this today via every media imaginable, including direct mail.
There will always be a place for direct mail in the years to come, but personalization without valuable, consistent content will be destined for the trash. Those brands that take the high road will ultimately find profitable customer relationships that will drive business success.
NOTE: Even if we initially tempt customers with an offer or a new product, we’ll need to continually distribute valuable content to them in order to keep the conversation going.
3 Comments
This post does a great job of summing up the general paradigm shift that customers are forcing marketers to make. I particularly like these two lines:
“It’s not about how we tempt customers to open a letter or email or anything else. It’s about how we as marketers can deliver ongoing information to our customers that make them more intelligent.”
“…personalization without valuable, consistent content will be destined for the trash.”
Consistent content requires a change in thinking from campaign-based to program-based. It’s not about one mailer or promo, but about a collection of them over time that help a customer meet a knowledge need. What’s beneficial for brands is that by creating extended programs they can actually find scalable savings over time because they aren’t constantly re-starting an effort. I can also lead to more consistent brand engagement which is always a good thing.
Great points Natanya. I agree. Most of this thinking is more common sense than anything else, but it’s hard for brand marketers to move from well-worn marketing paths. It’s starting to change…slowly. In five years, this will all be old news (I hope), but we have to start somewhere. Thanks for the post. Good stuff.
It sometimes feels like direct marketing is dead. But in my 25 years in advertising, I have never written a funner, more effective piece of direct mail than this: http://tinyurl.com/forkletter . And it still works great.