As direct marketers cut back, mailboxes are less crowded

After years of increasing, the volume of direct mail is expected to decrease this year, according to a survey by Direct magazine: Survey Shows Mail Volume Slowdown.

(The survey only looked at consumer and business-to-business direct mail, not nonprofit.)

Basically, the survey finds that fewer businesses plan to increase direct mail, and more plan to decrease it. That's something that happens in recessionary times.

And, if you're smart, it's very good news for you.

It means your mail sits in a less-packed mailbox, so it gets more mind-share. Unless you make the same mistake and cut back too.

Recession is not time for business-as-usual for fundraisers; it does have a negative impact on fundraising. But the last thing you should do is cut back. Doing that will only deepen and prolong your own down-turn.

Technorati Tags: direct mail, recession

Comments

[John Lepp]

And hopefully if you are a fundraiser, give yourself an extra leg up by not mailing a plain, white #10... use colored stock, use a bigger/smaller envelope - anything that will further separate you from the rest of the crowd!