These days, when our lives are stored on our mobile phones, when our inboxes are clogged with email, and when we are more likely to stay in touch with friends and family on social media than by phone, how can you stay connected with your customers and ensure that your message gets seen? Multi-channel marketing. By connecting with consumers across multiple channels (such as print, email, and mobile), you provide continued exposure that increases brand awareness, deepens consumer trust, and furthers opportunities to make a sale. The key is to optimize the message for each channel and maximize the benefits of each. According to the DMA, 44% of marketers are currently using three or more channels for their marketing efforts. While the glamour these days goes to digital marketing, true multichannel marketing includes print. Why? Because it’s the bedrock of so many other marketing efforts. For example, did you know that one of the most powerful drivers of online activity is print? According to the United States Postal Service, 93% of online responses are driven by direct mail. Similarly, InfoTrends found that 62% of consumers who receive catalogs had made a purchase influenced by a catalog within the prior three months.¹ In its own internal study, Nordstrom found that:

• • customers who have a multi-channel relationship with the brand spend four times as much as those who do not;
• • 20% of first-time customers place their orders after having received a catalog; and
• • these customers spend one and a half times as much as new shoppers who didn’t receive a catalog first.²

These are part of a groundswell of data showing that multichannel marketing works. Multi-Channel Includes Print Multi-channel marketing often uses digital channels, but for maximum results, the mix should include print. This is because print breaks through the ubiquity of digital messaging and provides a tangible message that resonates differently with consumers than email. According to the USPS Household Diary Study, 81% of American households say they either read or scan the advertising mail sent to their homes. (One would be hard pressed to say that about email!) More than half (54%) say they “usually” read their marketing and advertising mail, while 27% scan the mail they receive. Not only does direct mail get read, but its response rates vastly outweigh those of digital channels. According to the Direct Marketing Association’s 2015 “Response Rate Report,” response rates for direct mail average 3.7% for letter-sized direct mail to a house list compared to .1% for email. All digital channels combined only reached .62%. In other words, average response rates for print outweigh those of digital channels by 600%. Print also offers tremendous value in overall campaign costs. For any marketing campaign, ROI includes the cost of generating and maintaining your list. Email and mobile phone numbers have very high list churn. It’s not unusual for 33% of an email list to bounce in less than one year. Gathering, updating, and maintaining email and mobile lists is time-consuming and costly. By contrast, business and home addresses remain far more stable. Perhaps this is why, in today’s world of “e,” traditional print remains strong. In its “2016 Media Usage Survey,” Target Marketing found that 69% of its respondents plan to hold steady or even increase their direct mail marketing budgets in 2016. The preceding was an excerpt from the Darwill white paper, “Does Print Still Work in a World of Digital Media?” For a complete copy of the free white paper, click here to sign up and download.