Pondering Direct Mail
Here’s a thoughtful essay from fundraiser Ken Burnett on the "death" of direct mail.
Actually, Ken emphasizes (and The Agitator agrees) that what really matters is the message and how well it’s crafted … whatever the medium used to deliver it.
Here’s an excerpt:
"At its heart direct mail fundraising is not about direct mail. It’s about one individual writing to another to describe an issue or cause they both care passionately about. If it is to work well, that written communication has to be engaging, compelling, urgent and important. Which means it has to be very well crafted. We may use technology and the postal service to convey our message simultaneously to hundreds of thousands, even millions, of people all at the same time. So what? That’s just a technical organisational challenge. Fundraising via the mail is not in essence about stuff like that. It’s about one person writing to another, offering them a chance to change the world …
As long as there is a world that needs changing and as long as people of good will are prepared to put their passion and energy into spreading news of the means to change it, there will be an urgent need for fundraisers to master the art and science of that particular communications paradigm, to communicate their important messages in words and pictures. Via the mail just happens to be one of the most satisfactory and cost effective ways of doing this. It has been so for some time, and remains so still. There’s no sign whatsoever that this is about to change any time soon."
If you need some brain food over the holidays, Ken’s piece is a good place to start.
Tom
One response to “Pondering Direct Mail”
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i agree that direct mail remains the workhorse today. But, the pace of change is accelerating. Seth Godin has some a good post today:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/12/its-not-the-rats-you-need-to-worry-about.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Fsethsmainblog+%28Seth%27s+Blog%29