Marketing Medium Numero Uno

I am afraid that in the last post, I didn’t really give you an answer that would leave you happy and satisfied. You asked me about marketing media.

“Use what works,” said I.

“Huh?” said you.

No worries. I got an answer! (Now, please understand I’m not saying that this is the only medium you should use. I am just saying that this is the medium that attracts the most advertising dollars of them all, and the one that has it’s share growing year after year. )

Ok, I won’t keep you in suspence any longer.

The number one marketing medium is… (drumroll, please!)…

Direct Mail! (a.k.a. "junk mail" that I love so much and most people resent.)

“Direct mail? Says who?” and might ask.

Many people. AdAge, for example. And they have hard numbers to back it up. Just take a look at this chart (click on the picture to expand it):



The AdAge folks measured where advertisers spend their dollars, where they spent them last year, and where they spent them a year before. And from that, you get these charts.

These numbers really tell a story. Not one - many stories.

Notice how direct mail keeps carving out a bigger slice for itself every year? That’s because a lot of advertisers are starting to use direct reponse techniques, those that we teach our client at bizLeverage.

Direct reponse is not the same as direct mail. (You can create a great direct-respnse TV ad, and you can create a lousy image-centric direct mail piece.) But it is a lot easier to be smart, know your ratios and stay profitable when you use direct mail.

The Internet is the fastest growing medium. Why? Again, because more people realize that it’s an ultimate direct reponse medium, if you know how to use it.

And who’s the biggest loser? It's TV advertising.

Did I hear you say “A-ha!”?