Education: Direct Mail Marketing Vs. E-Mail Marketing

Which is more effective, direct mail marketing or e-mail marketing? The debate leaves many business owners confused. Because believers in both camps are such staunch supporters of their views, blind spots can occur when researching what is best for a particular company or product.

Joy Gendusa, CEO of PostcardMania, Clearwater, Fla.—a direct mail postcard-marketing firm with year 2006 revenues estimated at $17,000,000—promises to challenge both sides by bringing in experts on each method during “Power MarketingMania Bootcamp, taking place March 30 and 31 at the Belleview Biltmore Resort, Clearwater, Fla.

Event co-organizer, Marsha Friedman, CEO of public relations and advertising agency EMSI, said attendees will learn how to increase their response rates, and learn all of the newest marketing techniques to really make their businesses succeed.

Participating in the event will be Constant Contact, an e-mail marketing firm which more than 90,000 small businesses and associations use for their permission-based e-mail marketing solutions.

According to a new study published in DIRECT magazine, e-mail marketing delivers the highest return on investment of all media available to marketers. The study also projects that e-mail-driven sales in the United States will show a compound annual growth rate of 14.9 percent between 2006 and 2011. But, direct marketing sales will show a compound annual growth rate of 6.3 percent between 2006 and 2011. However, understanding how e-mail direct marketing impacts long term customer-relationship-based revenue streams for companies is a metric that needs to be tracked.

The two-day Bootcamp agenda includes:

• The “Truth” About Direct Mail Marketing

• How Publicity Fuels Marketing

• Out-of-the-Box Marketing Ideas

• Search Engine Optimization

• Internet and E-mail Marketing

The the Bootcamp will focus on helping business owners create action plans to implement tailor-made strategies for their business so results are assured. “There’s no one silver-marketing bullet,” stated Gendusa. “I don’t only use postcards to market. Sure, postcards were my number one staple for my first three years in business, but I heavily use the Internet, publicity and e-mail now, as well.”