Postcards From...

By Roy Schwedelson

It is probably redundant to say that there has been no sector of the American economy or person that has not been affected by the events of September 11, or the bio-terrorism that has happened since.

Certainly, the direct marketing community and direct mail specifically is facing its greatest challenges as it grapples with the Anthrax ridden envelopes that have shown up in mailrooms across the country.

It is surprising that Andy Rooney of 60 Minutes would take the occasion of this Anthrax scare to blast direct mail marketing. In his regular weekly commentary of October 21st, Rooney chose to selectively knock the very system of communication and commerce that has kept this country together since the beginning of the republic. Just when you thought that a media operation such as CBS would understand the importance of direct mail, one of it's most important spokespersons' chooses to further enhance the success of terrorists.
Given the recent deaths and near misses of USPS workers in the D.C. area more sensitivity to the postal system and the commerce that supports it deserves a kinder voice.

The direct marketing community and its creative elements would be able to overcome the misguided statements of Rooney, but the challenge for us is going to be in the many mailrooms of corporate America.

Masked, latex-gloved mailroom clerks are now determining what campaigns of the direct marketing community will reach the various offices and executives of their businesses.
Direct marketing 101 has always taught that the list, the product, the price, the offer and the creative package were the essential key elements of success in direct mail. Now we have to contend with the psyche of a clerk, and frankly the events of the day to see if our efforts are successful. What are we to do?

In the long run things will probably settle back to a pre-September 11 atmosphere, but when that will be no one can judge. For those of us who toil in the day-to-day trenches of direct mail, common sense will have to guide us since there is no history to learn from.

It may be that response rates and all versions of direct mail packages will weather the immediate storm of concern. I hope so. However, catalogs, large envelope mailings, number ten packages and ultra personal designed pieces will all be suspect under the hysterias of the Rooneys and the well meaning vigilance of untrained mailroom personnel.

Let's now draw a page from our friends of the Dot.com era. While many of them did not succeed in closing sales, they did learn that traditional direct marketing via postcard mailers drew traffic to their websites.

This was not just a few Dot.coms that used this channel. It proved to be one of the most successful traffic builders during their heyday of what I'll call the first wave of web marketing (the second has not appeared yet). The problem for the users of the time was that their sites were not set up to handle a direct marketing offer and therefore failed. They basically had 'brochureware' on their site and too many alternative avenues of convenience to the visitor and therefore lost the sale.
The self-mailer/postcard will probably pass muster in mailrooms. The message would be simple; go to our website. It would be a basic "hand raiser" but it will get the job done. The task and opportunity will be the building of a true e-commerce website.

It is unfortunate that its taken events such as the ones discussed in this article to make us all roll-up our sleeves and take a new look at websites. In the long run we will all benefit from the offers and flexibilities online work can provide by the blending of traditional direct mailing with the new world of e-commerce. Direct marketing will once again transform itself into the state of the art marketing community of this new era.

None of the above should discount the importance, obvious and elevated role of email marketing, but like in any other time period, direct marketing has had several channels. Obviously, email has a major role to play in our new world, but to forsake the necessary and profitable channel of direct mail, especially business-to-business direct mail would be a grave error and huge concession to the bad guys.