Sometime in the mid 80's e USPS came out with "peel off" adhesive stamps. Avery Dennison produced them and helped to eliminate the need to lick, or wet postage stamp adhesive in order to place a stamp on a letter. Those were the "good old days", direct mail is now facing extinction. The USPS lost a mammoth $8.5 billion in 2010, while it’s projecting a $6.4 billion loss this year. Standard mail delivery has dropped by 20 percent since 2007. The Postal Service is closing as many as 2,000 post offices, cutting 7500 managers, and looking to end Saturday delivery as mail volume fails to cover the costs. Obviously the Internet and email are the leading causes of this huge drop in mail. Let's see if that’s good or bad.
1. EMPLOYMENT - You used to be able to send paper resumes out to employers. The advantage to this was that you could use quality paper, layout and typesetting to create a overall image, that is unlike any you can reproduce on the Internet. Monster and other job sites have all but eliminated classified advertising in newspapers, and paper resumes have been replaced by electronic ones. WINNER: MAIL - with the Internet there are just too many jobs with too many applicants who have a problem differentiating themselves. When you had to mail a resume, your odds of an interview were much higher.
2. DIRECT MAIL CATALOGS - Beautiful full color catalogs are alive, but declining. They cost a lot to produce and mail, and generally are used to enhance online sales. Internet catalogs provide more information and 360 degree views that were impossible in catalogs. WINNER: INTERNET
3. DIRECT MAIL LETTERS ETC. - You may still get a few of these. But they have been on a constant decline over the last 5 years. Insurance companies, banks and local businesses used this inexpensive form of marketing for decades. eMail is cheaper, faster and generally gets a better response. WINNER: INTERNET
4. NEWSPRINT CIRCULARS, FLYERS, CO-OP - For years one of the most effective forms of marketing and the one that supermarkets still use effectively. WINNER: MAIL (at least for supermarkets).
5. SCAMS - "You have just won $1,000,00" wow. Remember the envelopes with fancy seals and handwritten notes? They were the Spam of their day. Fortunately the cost of direct mail kept them to a minimum, you may have received 2 or 3 a week. Now you receive hundreds of Spam emails daily, (well some of us do). WINNER: MAIL
OVERALL WINNER: THE INTERNET (duh). Although I still love to flip through catalogs and read real newspapers.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
ANNOUNCEMENT:
EARLY BIRD PRICING FOR THE POWER OF EMARKETING CONFERENCE ENDS AT 9AM (EST) TOMORROW SEPTEMBER 16TH REGISTER NOW AND SAVE.
THE POWER OF EMARKETING CONFERENCE, OCTOBER 12TH AND 13TH, PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.
OVER 35 SPEAKERS, THREE TRACKS, SOCIAL, EMAIL AND SEARCH. PLUS A BONUS TRACK, NETWORKING RECEPTIONS, BREAKFAST, BREAKS INCLUDED.
http://www.emarketingassociation.com/2011/PROV/register.html
CAN'T GO TO THE CONFERENCE? SIGN UP FOR OUR ADVANCED SOCIAL MARKETING COURSE:
http://www.emarketingassociation.com/ecourse_social.html
Cheers,
Robert
Robert Fleming
President/CEO
eMarketing Association
www.eMarketingAssociation.com
Be sure to power-charge your network by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/emarketingassociation
Twitter: http://twitter.com/eMarketingAssn
1. EMPLOYMENT - You used to be able to send paper resumes out to employers. The advantage to this was that you could use quality paper, layout and typesetting to create a overall image, that is unlike any you can reproduce on the Internet. Monster and other job sites have all but eliminated classified advertising in newspapers, and paper resumes have been replaced by electronic ones. WINNER: MAIL - with the Internet there are just too many jobs with too many applicants who have a problem differentiating themselves. When you had to mail a resume, your odds of an interview were much higher.
2. DIRECT MAIL CATALOGS - Beautiful full color catalogs are alive, but declining. They cost a lot to produce and mail, and generally are used to enhance online sales. Internet catalogs provide more information and 360 degree views that were impossible in catalogs. WINNER: INTERNET
3. DIRECT MAIL LETTERS ETC. - You may still get a few of these. But they have been on a constant decline over the last 5 years. Insurance companies, banks and local businesses used this inexpensive form of marketing for decades. eMail is cheaper, faster and generally gets a better response. WINNER: INTERNET
4. NEWSPRINT CIRCULARS, FLYERS, CO-OP - For years one of the most effective forms of marketing and the one that supermarkets still use effectively. WINNER: MAIL (at least for supermarkets).
5. SCAMS - "You have just won $1,000,00" wow. Remember the envelopes with fancy seals and handwritten notes? They were the Spam of their day. Fortunately the cost of direct mail kept them to a minimum, you may have received 2 or 3 a week. Now you receive hundreds of Spam emails daily, (well some of us do). WINNER: MAIL
OVERALL WINNER: THE INTERNET (duh). Although I still love to flip through catalogs and read real newspapers.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
ANNOUNCEMENT:
EARLY BIRD PRICING FOR THE POWER OF EMARKETING CONFERENCE ENDS AT 9AM (EST) TOMORROW SEPTEMBER 16TH REGISTER NOW AND SAVE.
THE POWER OF EMARKETING CONFERENCE, OCTOBER 12TH AND 13TH, PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.
OVER 35 SPEAKERS, THREE TRACKS, SOCIAL, EMAIL AND SEARCH. PLUS A BONUS TRACK, NETWORKING RECEPTIONS, BREAKFAST, BREAKS INCLUDED.
http://www.emarketingassociation.com/2011/PROV/register.html
CAN'T GO TO THE CONFERENCE? SIGN UP FOR OUR ADVANCED SOCIAL MARKETING COURSE:
http://www.emarketingassociation.com/ecourse_social.html
Cheers,
Robert
Robert Fleming
President/CEO
eMarketing Association
www.eMarketingAssociation.com
Be sure to power-charge your network by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/emarketingassociation
Twitter: http://twitter.com/eMarketingAssn
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