Why direct marketing still works despite the popularity of social media

By Glen Eisenberg

A recent article in the New York Times revealed just how popular social media is with adults. Eighty-two per cent of people online use social media which is up from 75 per cent just one year before. It’s a staggering number. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, LinkedIn, Digg, Del.icio.us, the list is practically endless and it’s affecting nearly everything we do online. Naturally, it also affects direct marketing. But how? And, can direct marketing still succeed now that social media is dominating the marketing-communications world?

The answers to both questions are strongly influenced by who you are targeting and your message. But the bottom line is, traditional direct marketing not only has a continued place in our profession, it has key strengths over social media that can be undervalued.

Control – In a direct marketing campaign you have absolute control over who receives your message and when. The biggest advantage of social media is its potential word of mouth endorsements by fans. For big rewards however, there is also big risk. Letting go of a controlled messages is not for every company.

Personalization – With new printing technologies and ability to connect through databases, direct marketing can be highly personalized. A personalized message carries much more weight than messages delivered to a general mass market which is what happens if a social media campaign is not able to strike a chord with key word-of-mouth influencers.

Measurability – With social media in its infancy, defining and tracking success is a constant and evolving challenge. Traditional direct marketing’s measurability is tried and tested. Advancements in direct e-mail marketing have also made this communication method quite easy to measure.

Transparency – Social media has made audiences wiser. People do not join social networks to be bombarded with direct marketing – if fact, it is considered quite a faux pas to obviously market in this setting. They join to have a conversation with likeminded individuals. When a company tries to soft sell to online communities, users read through it instantly. Direct marketing via mail, phone, e-mail or in-store is just that – a directly marketed message that consumers have come to expect and accept.

Social media does not pose a threat to our industry; it has in fact opened new opportunities for more meaningful discussions with our target market. Crafting and packaging the right emotionally-charged, valued-based message in the most attractive and concise way, is now more important than ever. Our work is ripe with opportunity with social media having helped to engage the market simultaneously. Think of it as providing a service to our industry, priming the very large pump through the World Wide Web.

Glen Eisenberg is President of Precision Advertising, an innovative marketing firm that has redefined the relationship of the marketing executive with its client by bridging the communications gap between their internal sales team and their customer. Since 1997, the company has created marketing programs that are now used across the globe in over 17 languages.

Glen Eisenberg can be reached at:
Glen Eisenberg
514-343-4949

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