Re: Internet advertising versus Direct Mail

From: Whiteside, John <John.Whiteside_at_CWUSA.COM>
Date: Fri 7 Apr 2000 13:41:15 -0400

ROB FRANKEL WROTE:
> Whereas with offline models, you shotgun a blast in
> hopes of netting a few, the web allows you to narrow
> your shot and pick up the same or more."

I won't disagree that you can do some pretty amazing
targeting online -- but if you are doing all your
offline direct marketing by "shotgun blast," you are
not doing a very good job at it. You can do tremendous
targeting with a mailing list, you can send different
content to different segments, you can make varied
offers, and so on.

The major benefits of doing your direct marketing
online are the ability to personalize even more,
because production costs are lower; the immediacy of
email; and that email makes it far less expensive to
communicate frequently with customer, building an
ongoing relationship.

But none of these things are things you can't do with
regular mail, and smart direct marketers have been
doing targeting, personalization, and ongoing
communications for a long time. Postal mail often looks
less targeted because it includes the first contact
with a prospect -- which you shouldn't be doing with
email -- but compared to the banner ads I see (an
example of an online initial solicitation), the postal
direct mail I get is extremely well targeted.

John Whiteside
Senior Marketing Manager, eMessaging Solutions
Cable & Wireless
john.whiteside_at_cwusa.com
www.surecom.com / www.cwusa.com




Received on Fri Apr 07 2000 - 12:41:15 CDT