How Online Marketing Can Help in the Fight Against Global WarmingBy Erik Bratt
As time progresses, more people are questioning the effectiveness of traditional means of marketing. You've heard the pitch before - with the rise of on-demand technologies and an increasingly social web environment, the power in the consumer-brand relationship has shifted towards the consumer. But what does that really mean? Well, many things. But for one, direct mail doesn't make a ton of sense. “online campaigns are deployed with a click of the mouse and without killing a single tree.”
From a marketer's perspective, the response rate with direct mail, or “junk mail” as we've come to know it, is nothing to write home about – usually in the 0.05 percent – 3 percent range. By comparison, post-click conversions on SEM (search engine marketing) campaigns can average 3 percent, while responses from email list campaigns range between .25 percent – 1 percent. But these numbers only tell a fraction of the story. Aside from incomparable targeting and tracking abilities, online campaigns are deployed with a click of the mouse and without killing a single tree. Sure, computers consume energy, but it's relatively insignificant, particularly when compared to the impact of direct mail:
Although this slowdown isn't exactly headline news, it does raise hopes for a continued decline of junk mail. So does marketers' growing interest in online marketing and social media. According to Eloqua's 2008 "State of the Marketer" report, 74 percent of marketers are planning to increase direct e-mail spending (with a notable 78 percent bolstering social media budgets). Of course, reading direct e-mail isn't exactly the highlight of everyone's day, but at least there's no massive toll on the environment. Meanwhile, the survey continues, 55 percent of respondents say they are likely to decrease print ad spending in the next three years. “junk mail is clearly more than a daily headache - it's killing more than 100 million trees each year.”
When most people think about global warming and helping the environment, they probably don't draw an immediate association to junk mail they throw out every day. They think about those Hummers and private jets, the factories that emit steady streams of pollutants into the air, and the much-discussed consequences of our country's dependence on foreign oil. And while these are all valid associations, junk mail is clearly more than a daily headache - it's killing more than 100 million trees each year. Consider: those 100 million trees equate to deforesting the entire Rocky Mountain National Park every four monthsv. Meanwhile, a single adult tree can absorb up to 48 pounds of carbon dioxide each yearvi – multiply that number by 100 million, and you'll get a sense of junk mail's overlooked role in global warming. Obviously, the marketing industry is entrenched in tradition, and dramatic change would never occur overnight. However, as the web becomes even more ubiquitous, the economic and environmental logic behind online marketing will only strengthen. In the meantime, you might as well go ahead and tell companies you're sick of getting their junk mail. If nothing else, at least the daily headache will go away. Who knows? We might even speed along the change.
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So what gives? Why is junk mail still so popular? Well, it's hard to say for certain, but environmental concerns on their own aren't going to stop companies from sending out direct mail – CEOs are still driving Hummers and taking private jets on the weekends. Still, the marketing tide seems to be turning, regardless of the motivation. According to the U.S. Postal Service, American companies sent 35 billion pieces of direct postal mail in 1980; 64 billion pieces in 1990; 90 billion pieces in 2000; and only (that's right, only) 100 billion pieces in 2005. The graph to the left reflects this slowed growth.
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