On November 19, USPS Business Alliance Manager Mike Naples broached a subject many of us new-media-obsessed marketers don’t think about very much: direct mail. Direct mail, Naples asserted, is the work horse of direct marketing. It has measurable results, it’s affordable, and it’s easy to target your best customers.

Lest you think that snail mail has gone the way of the dinosaur and eight track player, consider the numbers: we spend 47 billion dollars annually on direct mail marketing—about 9% the of GDP. Compare that to the 6 billion dollars spent on internet marketing.

Closer to home, think about how direct mail affects you. I, for instance, am a Web developer. I haven’t had a printer hooked up to my computer in at least two years. I tweet. I also have one Harry and David’s catalog, two Coldwater Creek catalogs, and a brochure for the AMA Face to Face training series on my coffee table. A kitchen drawer is crammed with 20% off coupons from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. So even the techiest of the techies are touched by good old-fashioned hard copy, especially when it is targeted precisely to our needs and wants.

Direct mail also has a much longer shelf life than, say, a marketing email, which drops like a rock into the abyss of the overcrowded in-box in a matter of days. (How long have those catalogs been sitting on my coffee table? You don’t wanna know.)

Direct Mail versus General Advertising

The age of mass media advertising is over. Today’s marketing must be personalized and non-intrusive to break through the barriers of spam filters, TIVO, and our general self-trained indifference to advertising. Direct mail, though massive in scope, is not the same as general advertising, said Naples.

General advertising, such as a sign on the side of a bus, sells a product. Direct mail sells offers. General advertising creates sales. Direct mail creates customers—whom you can learn about and collect data from for better CRM and future marketing efforts. General advertising is short, appeals to the emotions, and maybe even tries to make you laugh. Direct mail can use lengthy copy that focuses on facts, and, Naples, says, it makes you money.

Tips for Direct Mail Marketing

• Use compelling offers in your mail: free trials, free samples, free information.
• Size does matter. A brochure tucked inside a standard size envelope outperforms a postcard.
• Make it personal. Send offers related to the recipient’s background, experience, and interests.
• According to the Direct Marketing Association, 42% of direct mail recipients like to respond online. Personalized URLs (purls) allow you to direct traffic to the Web in a highly targeted fashion.
• Direct mail can be used at any point (or every point) in the sales cycle.
• Add a magnet or a sticky so recipients can tack the mail piece to their refrigerator or wall.

On July 16, 2009, the AMA hosted speaker Shawna Coronado, who shared the story of her dramatic recovery from chronic illness and discussed the value of promoting health, green living, and community through our business practices and marketing.

As the author of Gardening Nude, Shawna Coronado’s approach to marketing is, as you might expect, down to earth and distinctly organic. Her recipe for personal and professional success is all about building and nurturing connections—between yourself and Nature, among your organization’s employees, and between your organization and the local community.

Coronado overcame chronic illness through greening her environment and nurturing personal connections in her life. In the process she also cultivated a highly successful landscaping business, and these days her enterprise has gone global thanks to social media.

She advised us to focus on bringing people together through community action and promoting a greener, healthier lifestyle within and outside of our organizations. Advertising a good message, practicing what you preach, and helping others, she asserted, is the kind of non-traditional marketing that builds your business while making a real difference.

Shawna’s 3 Key Ingredients to Energize Your Business and Your Life

1. Health. In the workplace, a wellness program can be a catalyst for profound change, not only teaching skills for improving health but also by demonstrating to employees that they are valued as individuals. When the organization sets the example of sharing information and empowering people to make positive changes, those people turn around and share the skills and knowledge they learned with others in their community.

2. Conservation. Greening your business makes financial sense, obviously. Send emails instead of snail mail and save on office supplies and postage. Xeriscape office property and lower your water bill. Other benefits are less tangible. Coronado noted that people exposed to an enhanced natural environment—even the sight of a single tree outside a window—are less prone to violence. Making positive changes, such as implementing a greening initiative, brings people together with a common sense of purpose, pride, and ownership.

3. Community. Coronado suggested that responding to the universal human need for community is a key component of business success. When people shop, for instance, they’re not just looking for a product.

• They crave a solution to a problem.
• They crave the meaning of life.
• They crave emotional gratification.
• They crave less isolation.

In short, customers are looking for personal satisfaction. All things being equal, you can stand out from the competition by recognizing and fulfilling that need (not just pushing a product at people). Use your company’s resources to educate and inspire others. Coronado, for instance, has shared her passion for gardening by partnering with a caterer to teach people how to prepare healthy and affordable meals.

The more people you touch in your community in a positive way, the more people you’ll be exposed to; hence, you’ll have more people to sell to. Doing good things for the community at large draws in people from outside your traditional customer base. You’ll also be contributing to the health of the local economy.

Coronado began her presentation by asking, “What if your business could make a difference?” So now I am asking you, Austin AMA members: How can your business make a difference in the community? What talents, passions, and resources can you share with others to get the word out while enriching our local community?

If you missed the presentation, I highly recommend you watch the video. Shawna Coronado is a fantastic presenter, and by the end of her talk the room was buzzing with energy, inspiration, and many questions about gardening!

Hungry for more green wisdom? Check out Coronado’s blogs, http://www.gardeningnude.com and http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com.

Amy Gelfand (Gelfand Design) is a Web developer and writer. She is also an avid cyclist, SCUBA diver, and Web standards advocate. Amy specializes in designing accessible Web sites and spoiling her clients rotten. Contact her at info@gelfanddesign.com.