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Direct Marketing Goes Digital: Addressability Matters More Than Ever
The core principles of direct marketing are significantly more effective when translated online in
the form of direct digital marketing.
by Josh Gordon
A common marketing misconception is that traditional advertising and modern digital marketing
are nothing alike. Traditional advertising and marketing communications are divided into two
primary types – addressable communications (direct marketing) and non-addressable
communications (mass marketing). For example, marketing organizations have used direct mail
campaigns – which are addressable with a physical address – to achieve certain sales goals, and
mass communications like television advertising to meet brand awareness goals. Each strategy is
important, though starkly different in execution and measurability.
Rather than approaching digital marketing the same way as traditional – having addressable and
non-addressable communications strategies – marketers have gathered every online tactic,
strategy, and channel together under one umbrella called “online.” What appears to be an
innocent mistake on the part of marketers, driven by how marketers first leveraged the Internet
channel when it initially burst onto the marketing scene nearly two decades ago, has now created
the opportunity for the emergence of a fully defined discipline of addressable online marketing
called, simply, direct digital marketing.
While traditional direct marketing is defined as a single message delivered to a single postal
address, direct digital marketing extends that basic principle to the three primary online delivery
channels – email, Web, and mobile. The email channel uses an email address to reach a
consumer, the Web channel uses a Web browser cookie for an address, and the mobile channel,
obviously, uses the mobile phone number. The continued evolution of marketing places
increased emphasis on accountability and measurability of results, and no discipline of marketing
offers more of both than direct digital marketing.
Direct digital marketing is not designed to replace tried and true, established marketing methods.
Traditional direct marketing is still thriving and effective. The personalization and targeting
capabilities – from inserting the name of the recipient in the creative to targeting a specific zip
code – make direct mail a relevant tactic now and for the foreseeable future. However, while the
consumer still has a physical address, reaching them at home is no longer the most efficient or
effective method of meeting sales and marketing goals. The modernization and mobility of the
consumer has forced the discipline of marketing to innovate.
September 28, 2009
Marketing Matters
There are several key differences that highlight the separation between direct digital marketing
and traditional direct marketing.
First, direct digital marketing offers enhanced accountability – in real time. An email send
provides click through and conversion data instantly, keeping the marketing manager and the
board room equally satisfied. A common and useful measuring stick for direct marketing is cost
per sale. An email campaign gathers and computes both sides of the equation – the cost to send
the campaign and the total sales from the campaign – easily and instantly. A traditional direct
marketing campaign using direct mail cannot measure any results in real time, and frustrated
marketers sometimes struggle to determine a reliable sales figure from the campaign.
Second, direct marketing’s hallmark is targeting, but direct digital marketing takes targeting to a
completely new, microscopic level. For example, a traditional direct mail campaign focuses on
targeting to a specific zip code. If the campaign objective requires a deeper level of targeting, the
cost goes up. With direct digital marketing all types of targeting and segmentation have the same
cost – no matter how specific the target gets. Also, the opportunities for targeting are vast. While
direct marketing targets primarily on geographic and demographic data, direct digital marketing
goes much further by targeting on very specific data points like recent purchase history.
Third, modern consumers demand relevant communications, meaning the message must both
appeal to the consumer and be received at the right time. Not only do statistics show consumers
are more likely to make a purchase when the marketing content is timely and relevant to their
specific needs, sending a consumer content that is not relevant damages a potentially profitable
relationship. Sure, sales figures improve with relevant content, but the cost of irrelevance is high.
Last, direct digital marketing offers a more pleasing return on investment. Message relevance
demands more versions of the creative, but the cost for developing more versions of the
marketing content for a direct digital marketing campaign – even if a new version is needed at
the eleventh hour (as usual) – are often less than changes to an offline piece of content.
Marketers also have the flexibility to be as specific as they would like to be when targeting a
certain group, while the cost for micro-targeting through traditional channels is so high that it
becomes difficult to incorporate into the campaign strategy.
Direct digital marketing takes many of the core components that make direct marketing effective
and significantly extends them. While it is tempting to list the pillars of marketing’s modern
medium – email, Web, and mobile – under the old and trusty direct marketing name, it is a
misnomer because direct digital marketing offers so much more than traditional direct marketing.
The promise of enhanced accountability, the tremendous targeting capabilities, the ability to
create relevant content, and the reduced cost of designing and executing a campaign make direct
digital marketing ideal for addressable online communications. Marketers must begin thinking
about “online marketing” the same way they think about traditional marketing. Online offers
opportunities for mass marketing with display and banner advertising and search, and
addressable marketing in the form of direct digital marketing.
Direct marketing has evolved because the consumer has evolved. While traditional marketing
methods are still effective, the rapidly increasing importance of specific metrics demands that
September 28, 2009
Marketing Matters
marketers adopt a more accountable approach. No other marketing discipline delivers effective,
measurable results like direct digital marketing.
Adhering to the established methods, or even slight updates to old strategies, are not acceptable
for a marketer who is determined to achieve communications that are fresh and relevant.
Addressable, accountable, and efficient marketing is necessary for survival. Direct digital
marketing offers the flexibility marketing managers crave and the measurability the C-Suite
demands.
Josh Gordon is the Editor-in-Chief of the popular direct digital marketing blog, The Lunch Pail,
and Director of Marketing at Knotice, a direct digital marketing solutions company. Contact
Gordon at [email protected].
September 28, 2009
Marketing Matters