Royal Mail & Direct Mail – Think Digital

I have a love/hate relationship with The Royal Mail

I love the way the post people send me is delivered through my letterbox, but I hate all the other rubbish they stick in with it, and I can’t figure out how to opt out.

When poking around on their website I found a page called Why Use Mail Shots?

They claim:

“Mail is a boom advertising medium. And it generally boils down to one key point. It works. Mail works because it’s personal, it’s responsive, it’s measurable and it’s cost effective.”

Erm……no it isn’t….it’s a pain, it’s a waste of paper, and it soaks up large wads of my council tax recycling it.

They go on:

“Mail has the power to change the way people think and feel about you because you can make it so personally relevant.

Mail is engaging. Consumers spend on average 10 minutes reading mailshots. Compare the cost of that length of exposure against other media such as TV. (eh???)

Mail is a tangible form of advertising. It gives you a physical presence in your customers’ home or office, and can literally put your product in their hands.

Mail can be targeted to reach very specific audiences – almost every individual, household and business in the UK can be reached by mail.

Mail can support and deepen relationships with your customers, building awareness as part of integrated campaigns, or involving customers with your business as part of ongoing, two-way communications. It can provide one of the few opportunities for people who actually use your product or service to tell you how they use it, why, and what else they would like from you.

Doordrops (unaddressed mail) offer you the chance to talk to people you don’t know. You can profile and target lists of likely customers – either in broad geographic or lifestyle bands, or through the use of highly specific street-by-street or even door-by-door data.”

Swop the word “mail” with “digital” and you have a much more compelling marketing channel 🙂

BTW – It’s 11.26am and the postie still hasn’t been 🙁