Pros and cons of direct mail advertising

Let's look at some of the pros and cons of direct mail advertising.

Pro:

Direct mail advertising has been around for a long time. Its structures are in place. You don't have to learn any complicated technology with direct mail advertising, you don't have to deal with actors with direct mail advertising, and so forth. It's one of the simplest forms of advertising there is.

Con:

Direct mail advertising has been around for a long time. People find it boring, they tune out of direct mail marketing so to speak. Direct mail marketing lacks the excitement and in your face quality of other forms of advertising. Direct mail marketing is especially outmoded when it comes to advertising to younger generations.

Pro:

Direct mail advertising seems less disruptive to the older generation. It seems less intrusive. Again, it's been around for a long time-it's safe, familiar, cozy. You get this envelope in the mail, you can open it or not open it, you know your neighbor got it, too, no one in the great democracy is left out. Or it comes in a nice little magazine or newspaper in which all sorts of money-saving coupons and things are to be found.

Con:

We mentioned above that lots of people "tune out" when it comes to direct mail advertising. You can't really expect to hold their attention, no matter what size font you use, no matter how fiery or exciting the color. Even if you use multiple exclamation marks there's no guarantee that Joe Cool or Sally Smooth are going to pay attention. Into the wastebasket it goes.

Pro:

On the other hand, direct mail advertising is direct in a way that other forms of advertising simply are not. Direct mail advertising does get right into a person's hands. Direct mail advertising mixes with the other mail, so you know that millions of eyes will read at least the name of your company (etc.) before turning to bigger and better things. And that's actually more than you can say for television or radio advertising, even for Internet advertising, which are more often than not brushed away with an irritable click of the mouse or remote or knob. Direct mail is real, actual, something people touch. It feels more personal in that sense, like somebody really went to a lot of work to get this to me. Ironic, surely, given the fact of the enormous expense and complexity of other forms of advertising, but human psychology is pretty regularly ironic.

Con:

Direct mail advertising eats trees. It chews them up and spits them out by the thousands and millions. Direct mail advertising is very politically unpopular with vast segments of people, and more and more businesses are turning away from it because it doesn't fit in with their environmental policies. Millions upon millions of pieces of paper simply tossed away (as opposed to recycled) every day, day after day.

Pro:

If a person actually does open your envelope, it means that they'll probably at least rifle through the stuff inside. And you can provide a lot of information in a letter, as opposed to a short television or radio or Internet spot. You can provide coupons, a history of your company, alerts of upcoming sales, etc., all in one place. As thick as you can stuff the envelope. A simpler way of describing this Pro is to say: Once you get a person's attention with direct mail marketing, you've really got their attention. Plus, they don't have to run around looking for loose scraps of paper and working pens to write down a phone number or an address, it's all right there in front of them.