Tips of the Trade: The Rules of E-Mail and Direct Mail Differ

I’m very bad about getting my mail.

On a good week I might go down to the mailroom off my condo lobby one or two times to peek into my little silver mailbox. Occasionally, as I’m sorting through the pile, I might discover a relic that harkens back to another marketing era called a catalog. When I do get one of these I smile and think, “Wow they’re still mailing, huh?”

Say the term, “you’ve got mail” and let’s face it, nobody’s thinking mailbox. They’re thinking inbox.

In an advertising world racing at lightning speed towards e-mail, social networking, SEO and SMS there’s a marketing “sit in” of sorts quietly taking place. A large number of “holdouts” are hanging on to their postal presort indicias with every breath in their bodies. On any given week many list sales reps tell me that they speak to a large number of mailers who have NEVER done anything BUT postal. Because, well