According to a survey from the Direct Marketing Association, five out of the top six shares of direct marketing budgets go to offline media like direct mail, catalog, direct response TV and radio, events and telephone. E-mail was the only digital medium to break into the top five, coming in second with 11.3 percent of the budget.
The survey, entitled The Integrated Marketing Media Mix, found that 75.4 percent of campaigns used direct mail, generating 29 percent of the revenue. The leading medium was e-mail, which was used in 79.1 percent of campaigns and accounted for 21.6 percent of revenue generated.
"Even as marketers are bringing more digital media into their integrated campaigns, traditional media remain a core component of the marketing mix," Yoram Wurmser, a research manager at DMA, said in a statement. "What we see in our research is that digital media ranging from the firmly established e-mail to the nascent mobile marketing channels are complementing, not replacing, direct mail, telephone, events and direct response broadcast advertisements."
When asked about how their media mix had changed over the past three years, 75.8 percent of respondents said they are using more e-mail; 61.1 percent are emphasizing more online video; and 62.9 percent included more search engine marketing into their media buys.
Regarding future media usage, 81 percent projected an increase in e-mail usage. Other digital media forecast to see higher use include: search engine marketing, new media, campaign URL/PURLs, online video, banner/pop-up ads, and mobile. But respondents also predicted a "steady use of offline media" as well.
Discussion Question: Which offline direct marketing media will become more valuable for retail and consumer brands in the future? Which will lose value?