Who would’ve believed it? Despite the growth of online sales and all the buzz over social media, the lowly catalog remains a key marketing tool for many businesses. Why? Because it still works.
Jeffrey Ball, The Wall Street Journal’s environment editor, wrote an article dealing with environmental issues involved in creating and mailing catalogs. What I found really interesting is the data presented in the article that indicates how effective catalogs continue to be.
Surprising facts?
The article presents some interesting facts from the latest survey by the Direct Marketing Association of its members.
Among retailers who rely mainly on direct sales, 62% say their biggest revenue generator is the paper catalog (from the latest survey by the Direct Marketing Association). Only a fifth of those retailers said they draw their biggest sales from their websites.
That is why virtually no one expects the mail-order catalog to go away – even though only 1.3% of those catalogs generated a sale, the survey found.
The “old” promotes the “new”
Of course the U.S. Postal Service is concerned about any efforts that would cause a decline in the catalog mailings because advertising mail helps pay for universal mail in America.
To protect its catalog revenue amid the recession, the post office recently hired a consultant to conduct a study that concluded that consumers who received catalogs from a retailer spent 28% more on that retailer’s Web site than those who didn’t get a catalog. “The more often you mail,” the study said, “the more sales you could see.”
Beware of hype – Study actual behavior
We’re paying the price for the recent real estate bubble – prices of real estate were never going down, “it’s a new world.” Prior to that, we dealt with the aftermath of the Internet bubble – “it’s a new economy.”
If you listen to the current buzz, you will only do business online and your marketing through social media. Beware of buzz. You’ve got to pay attention to what people actually do. People research online, yet still go to a bricks and mortar store to make purchases. People still like picking up catalogs and physically looking through them before going online to buy.
Advertising is not dead. “They” say radio is dead. I’ve got multiple clients growing their business in this recession with radio. The “old” media still works and helps drive the online experience. The key is understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each type of media and utilizing them correctly.
The Internet and social medial will continue to grow in their marketing role. I recommend having a website to every client I have. Just keep everything in perspective and don’t pour your dollars into the latest buzz.
Stay focused on making your brand relevant to your customer. Then you’ll find that “old” and “new” marketing both work just fine.
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When it comes right down to it, you know it is working if the cash register is ringing. Excellent post- thanks for being the voice of reason!
Excellent job… This post is helpful for me to make new targets and achieve them in marketing….
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