Direct Mail isn't dead...

I finally got around to catching up on some blog reading today, and read a fantastic post on The Agitator in response to a paper written by Chuck Prewitt of A.B. Data. Chuck believes, and I agree, that the predictions of the death of direct mail are groundless. And he’s angry they seem to get so much attention.

To give you an idea of who Chuck is, his firm directed the direct mail fundraising efforts of the Obama campaign. That's right - Obama's campaign didn't rely solely on social media - it included a DM campaign that brought in $103 million through the mail.

In his paper, Chuck argues 3 facts, all supported with evidence.

1. The direct mail donor universe is alive and well and actually shows little signs of rapidly diminishing - at least in the next decade.
2. The growth of online fundraising is happening but it is happening much more slowly than many predicted.
3. There are enormous multi-channel marketing opportunities out there for smart people with open minds.

The Internet, and now social media, have certainly produced a valuable new marketing tool, but one that cannot yet replace Direct Mail. This is not the time for non profits to be abandoning this medium...for many of them it makes up to big of a chunk of income. Instead, organisations need to look at how they can do direct mail better.

You can read Chucks entire paper here.