Monday, February 22, 2010

Direct Mail vs. Electronic Marketing

Typically when new technology comes in, it replaces old technology. However, for some reason e-mail and the internet have failed to completely phase out our aging system of snail mail. There are many factors that play into snail mail's resiliency, but in any case the fact of the matter is that it is still practical. This is proven in the article "...Snail Mail Marketing" in which certain companies profiled their success with snail mail. Based on the examples from the article, snail mail still offers a more personal and harder to ignore form of advertising. In the article, one business owner says "I think it's easier to delete electronic junk mail without taking a second look."
Although many companies still stick to snail mail, there are many new forms of advertising that seem very promising. Barcodes are one of the latest trends to take off in marketing, they have yet to become a staple in advertising but they are certainly on the rise. Barcodes use the technology in modern day smart phones to automatically link customers to products companies are trying to advertise. The technology is fantastic, and I think it is a great form of marketing. As American's we live in a world of convenience and instant gratification, what is more convenient and instant than seeing something you like, scanning it and being able to buy it right then? I think that barcode technology is a great way to advertise, but it unfortunately limits itself. The only customers that a company is marketing to when they use barcode advertising are those customers that have smart phones, and although that number is growing daily, it is still limiting. I think that electronic forms of advertising are certainly on the rise, but I do not think that e-marketing will completely phase out traditional forms of marketing. I think that as long as people are reading newspapers, magazines or any other forms of paper, traditional forms of marketing will still be around.

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