My Two Cents: Death of Direct Mail

I just realized this is the second time in as many posts that I've used the word "death". Hm. Mental note: Next post think of something more original.

It seems to be that a lot of people are talking about the impending death of direct mail.

Direct mail donors are old and dying.
The rest - don't respond to it and are tired of the "wasteful" packaging.

If people had been blogging around the time of the invention of the TV - my post would have been called "Death of Radio".

It gets a little tiring, especially as I talk with the new generation of fundraisers who are being told "it's all about online fundraising" and direct mail is increasingly becoming a waste of time and money.

I've said it before - Direct mail is NOT going the way of the dinosaur - but it is changing. If you insist on mailing out the same packages, using the same formats, same ideas that someone came up with 5, 10 years ago - yes... your direct mail program will likely die.

It's like donors - they also are not becoming extinct - but they are changing. You need to rethink what you do and how you say it to reach out to them. Give them a relevant message they can get emotional about and involved with. Give them hope and appreciate them.

It will be like a whole new life...