Marketing services Salmat has released a survey showing offline comms channels such as catalogues, letterbox drops and magazine advertising are in a renaissance, with mid-sized companies to increase their spend this year.
Salmat asked mid-tier businesses a number of questions about marketing and their business, and when asked what channels they plan to use in the next 12 months they do not already, letterbox drops, print catalogue and magazine advertising came out on top as the new channels.
For those asked, 14.9 per cent said they will use letterbox drops, 12.4 per cent will use print catalogues and 12.4 per cent will advertise in magazines.
Benjamin Hillman, head of marketing, Salmat says, “It is not surprising to see mid-tier marketers turning to letterbox drops and catalogues, considering how popular these channels are with Australians. Catalogues reach around 21.8 million Australians every week, and 58 per cent of readers do end up buying afterwards.
“Letterbox campaigns are now more cost-effective and relevant to consumers than ever, thanks to the invention of online platforms that allow for granular targeting based on target market location and demographics. However, the best results happen when letterbox is linked to digital and vice versa.”
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Kellie Northwood, executive director, Two Sides Australia says, “I think all retailers are working hard, whether they are big companies or mid-tier companies, and catalogues and letterbox drops are proving time and time again in being effective in driving sales.
“Mid-tier companies in marketing with letterbox drops can enter the catalogue and letterbox market affordable, driving customers to online and street front stores.”
Northwood says companies working with distributors helps boost their marketing.
“The greatest success of letterbox marketing we have seen is when mid-tier retailers use distributor data to really target what print pieces they are putting into the letter boxes. Using appealing photography and incentives by working with distributors, delivering good results.
“I think the catalogue is a success story for print and paper with 8.2 billion units being delivered to households every year. There are 500 million catalogues going to newspaper inserts. This print sector has remained strong because they are effective. It’s a good lesson for the rest of our print cousins to learn about effectiveness.”
However, Hillman says email marketing is still number one with 61.8 per cent of companies using this form of marketing, but notes customers are still wary of spam and too many emails.
“However, even though lots of effort has been made in the last decade to protect customers from spam and foster trust, consumers remain sensitive to email marketing. One or two badly targeted campaigns are enough to make customers unsubscribe, and damage a company’s reputation,” he says.
Last year, Salmat transformed its letterbox marketing tools with the upgrade of its campaign planner SwiftPlan to an enhanced version called, SwiftPlan 2.
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