Many years ago, I interviewed a guy for a book I wrote named Matt Gillogly.
Back in the day, he was one of Dan Kennedy’s golden boys. i.e., one of the guys Dan would stick up on stage at his own seminars because he was so good at selling, closing, giving a good Experience to the audience from the stage.
And he dropped a lot of zingers about this in his interview.
But, the thing he said that stuck out most, and still does, is when he said:
“Paul [from the New Testament] was the world’s first multi-step direct mailer.”
It’s absolutely true, too.
Direct mail – like email – helps forgive a lot of marketing “sins” because you can come back, again, and make another pitch basically whenever you want. Including if you bungled something, got something wrong, or simply were misunderstood or want to keep in touch.
Take Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians for example.
In the first letter he wrote something he had to clarify in the second letter, that I even warned my son Willis about in my Email Players Annual #4: After School Special issue last year, that I gifted to Email Players subscribers.
i.e., Paul used a multistep direct mail campaign.
You could argue Paul grew Christianity with direct mail.
Admittedly, I am an “email guy” through-and-through.
But even I admit direct mail has a far more powerful impact on people, when correctly targeted, with the correct message-to-market match, coming at people correct (with respect for their time, their problems, their state of mind, etc).
In fact, yesterday I talked about Ken McCarthy.
And, specifically, how I used direct mail to connect with him after a falling out.
Well, guess what?
Ken may be the founding father of online marketing, online marketing’s biggest advocate, and, I argue, THE most important person in the online marketing industry by sheer fact without him none of us would even be selling online at all without needing a license from the government or Bill Gates… he’s still a direct mail guy.
Here are some facts cited in his (“must read” imo) System Club Letters book:
* 98% of consumers bring their mail into their homes the same day it is delivered.
* 77% give it their immediate attention.
* And instead of reading it at their computer, where distractions and potential interruptions are infinite, they read it in the comfort of their livings rooms (36%), kitchens (22%), studies (15%), bedrooms (8%) and dining rooms (8%.)
* “Direct mail ads are portable. . .and the ad does not disappear when the computer is switched off. Direct mail is tangible.”
So it goes.
The number of neurons that “fire off” when someone gets something in the mail, physically, vs as digital “bytes” is night and day different.
I have experienced this as both marketer and consumer.
And, so have many others who you see advocate for direct mail.
That is, after all, why they advocate for it…
That said:
I am not one of these guys who runs around telling you direct mail is superior, in an email, but never actually uses direct mail myself. Got a lot of those guys running around. I have been using it since 2002, and especially since launching Email Players 15 years ago. We also are gearing up to test it heavily in Low Stress Trading now – to both cold and warm leads.
And, I believe, direct mail is coming back in a big way.
And if you use it in conjunction with email and other marketing media?
You almost can’t lose, imo.
You can learn more about the paid Email Players newsletter here:
Ben Settle
