obo. Blog

The Single Channel Fallacy

June 17, 2017

Relying on one channel for communication is never a good idea. For some industries, like commercial printers, this is an issue many companies struggle with. The convenience and familiarity of direct mail leaves many printing companies reluctant to embark on a digital outreach campaign, for example.

We live in a hybrid world. Analog and digital actually play nice and share their toys, despite what many will say. If you ignore one, you’re losing out on a huge portion of your prospective clients.
And your brand will go absolutely nowhere.

Direct Mail Outreach

A direct mail piece is essentially an HTML email in print, meaning it is full of graphics that are more eye catching than a typical whitepaper post card. Using direct mail pieces for outbound marketing is very convenient for commercial printers that have the necessary resources at their disposal to produce and distribute them in-house.

We aren’t saying direct mail is bad; quite the contrary.

Direct mail used to be an extremely popular method of outreach, but has slowed down considerably with the rise of the internet. The irony is that since less people are doing it, it’s actually more effective.

According to IWCO’s 2015 DMA Response Rate Report, direct mail has a 3.7% response rate, which is huge compared to the response rates of mobile (0.2%), email (0.1%), social media (0.1%), and display advertising (0.02%).

But since most commercial printing companies use direct mail as their only channel of outreach, it makes email and other methods of communication much more effective for their market (go figure!).

The Problem with Only Using Direct Mail

Direct mail is an excellent mechanism to reach out to new prospects, but if it’s not coupled with another campaign, it loses most of its steam.

One of the major issues with direct mail is cadence. It’s far too easy to annoy prospects with direct mail, so attrition is high. Because of this, direct mail pieces are normally only sent out once a month. This by itself generates very little memorable brand awareness. And in an industry where your services are typically seen as a commodity, brand awareness is everything.

The Benefits of Multi-Channel Marketing

Hard to Ignore

It’s easy for potential customers to ignore a direct mail piece by itself. But if they are nurtured by a multi-channel campaign with a clear, central focus, they are more likely to pay attention. A report from Digital Doughnut and Episerver highlighted the importance of multi-channel marketing; 95% of marketers they spoke to said this marketing strategy was key to the success of their business for several reasons.
Stay Top of Mind

Multi-channel marketing allows you to stay top of mind without being overly persistent, prevents you from limiting your potential customers, and lets you pick and choose better mediums for certain messages.
Ensure Delivery

Know your customers: for people who check their PO box every other week but go on LinkedIn every day, using a greater variety of mediums ensures that they will see your message.

Utilizing these multiple channels also allows you to tailor your format to your message. Say your company is having a 20% off flash sale. Sending a quick, friendly email advertising the sale makes a lot more sense than a direct mail piece or a print ad.

But keep in mind that no one wants to receive eight emails from the same company in a period of thirty days. A customer is much more likely to respond positively if they receive three highly targeted emails and a thoughtful direct mail piece instead.

Challenges in Transitioning to Multi-Channel Outreach

Adding more channels to your company’s outreach campaign seems like an obvious choice, but it’s not always that simple. Many businesses are reluctant to make the transition because they lack the experience, the staff, and the time needed to successfully implement these strategies.

Unfortunately, it’s true. Transitioning to these marketing campaigns requires vast amounts of time, money, and focus. So unless you have people on retainer capable of launching in-depth personalized campaigns on several platforms at a time, you’re going to have to outsource.

Outsourcing is a great way to ease into this new marketing strategy, but some companies are reluctant to make that investment.

Time To Adapt

Yes, there are challenges in adopting this new marketing strategy, but the benefits far outweigh the struggle—especially for commercial printers, and especially if the competition hasn’t figured it out either.

The long-standing reliance on a single channel of communication is choking businesses all over the world. When’s the last time a lack of innovation helped anyone? Just go ask Blockbuster.