Direct Mail Increases Share Of Below The Line Spend
E-commerce companies now spend an average of £1.58 million on direct mail, which is benefiting from a growing trend towards highly targeted advertising, according to new research from the Direct Mail Information Society (DMIS).
The study shows that total advertising budgets in the sector averaged £9.8 million, with just over half of the 87 companies surveyed reporting an increase in adspend over the last two years.
Below the line activity accounts for the majority of advertising budgets set by e-commerce companies, which invest over 58% of their spend in this area. A remarkably high number (17%) claim that more than 91% of their advertising budget is spent below the line.
The research shows that direct mail takes an average of 56% of below the line marketing budgets, making it the largest single medium in this field. Almost 45% of companies say they are using more direct mail than in the past, with just 16% saying they were using the internet more for marketing.
According to the DMA, the main drivers behind the shift to below the line and direct mail are the increasing demand for a more targeted advertising strategy, the need for greater diversity, or the desire to use a more direct media.
Commenting on the findings, director of the DMIS, Jo Howard Brown, said: “Many e-marketers forecast that traditional direct marketing methods would be replaced by the digital revolution. Instead, e-commerce companies are finding that direct marketing – and especially direct mail – is central to achieving their marketing objectives.”
In this week’s NewsLine column, Mark Young, managing director of The Leaflet Company, claims that door drop campaigns are often overlooked by direct marketing agencies that fail to recognise the medium’s mass market potential.
He says: “Direct marketing agencies regard door drop as the ugly child and a medium that is not sufficiently targeted to their needs. When used, they try to make door drop into a cheaper version of DM, which it is definitely not as it is a mass marketing tool” (see NewsLine Column: Turn On, Tune In And Door Drop).
DMIS: 0207 494 0403 www.dmis.co.uk
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