New Media Usage Surveys Provide Insights into the State of Marketing
With all the marketing-related tips, tricks, and think pieces floating around the internet, it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction. Whether it’s in the realm of B2B, B2C, content marketing, or any other subset of marketing, you’re bound to find a few hot takes out there claiming everything from “direct mail is dead” to “email is passé” to “data trumps creative.” Most of these opinions are meant to push people in the direction of digital-only marketing strategies.
Maybe some of those opinions are true, and maybe some of them aren’t. The point is that trying to find the truth in an ever-changing industry like marketing can be difficult, especially with so many voices and thought leaders speculating about it. We all want to be the edgiest and latest to adopt new trends, and sometimes that pushes us to take edgier stances on what’s next for marketing.
I recently read through some stats on different marketing communication tactics, and as it turns out, the truth might lie somewhere in the middle of all the rhetoric. (Shocking, isn’t it?) Here are a few of the findings that stood out:
Fact or Faction: “Direct mail is dead.”
Fiction. Direct mail is alive and well. In fact, 69% of marketers are actually holding their direct mail budgets steady or increasing them. (Source: Target Marketing’s 2016 Media Usage Survey)
The ANA/DMA 2018 Response Rate Report found average direct mail response rates of 9 percent for house lists and 5 percent for prospect lists. That lift helps explain why many marketers keep investing in this channel. (Source: ANA/DMA 2018 Response Rate Report)
Fact or Faction: “Print is dead.”
Fiction. Marketers spend 28.5% of their marketing budget on print and direct mail related campaigns. 8 out of 10 American adults said they prefer to read a printed piece than an online piece. (Source: Target Marketing’s 2016 Media Usage Survey)
Canada Post’s “A Bias for Action” study found physical mail requires 21 percent less cognitive effort to process and drove 70 percent higher brand recall than digital ads. (Source: Canada Post, 2015)
Fact or Faction: “Email is passé.”
Fiction. Litmus’ 2019 State of Email report found an average ROI of $42 for every $1 spent on email. Pair that with DMA’s reported email cost per acquisition of $11-15, and the channel is far from done. (Sources: Litmus 2019; DMA 2015 Response Rate Report)
Fact or Faction: “Digital marketing is more cost-efficient than direct mail.”
Fiction. Here are some numbers about the cost-per-acquisition for various media categories: (Source: DMA’s 2015 Response Report)
- Direct Mail: $19
- Paid Search: $21-30
- Internet Display Ads: $41-50
- Email: $11-15
So what’s the takeaway? Simply put, marketers need to temper some of their more bombastic predictions about the future of marketing. Moving forward doesn’t mean abandoning the tactics that have worked well for years; it means combining those tactics with smarter, more insightful approaches that integrate the old with the new.
For example, a strong data approach will empower “outdated” tactics like direct mail and print to drive success. But neither an all digital nor an all traditional approach is likely to be the answer—smart marketers need a blend of the two.
