SEO vs. Direct Mail: Which Is Right for You?

In the past, many businesses used direct mail to get their message out and offer promotions to their customers. Some still do. Direct mail is usually inserted into a local community newspaper and/or envelopes delivered to a customer’s home. Its main purpose is to alert customers to company discounts and promotions and encourage the purchase of their goods or services.

However, the concept of direct mail has evolved to include Groupon, WagJag, and Flip — online services that provide customers with valuable deals. According to a Report Linker study, 90% of direct mail is discarded without being opened or read. 

As a result, promotional mail sent through the post has become less popular and often undesirable. Many customers now view flyers as a waste of paper, reflecting a shift in consumer preferences toward more sustainable and digitally focused marketing strategies.

Today, most customers search for goods and services through the use of their smartphones, tablets, and laptops. They download apps to easily browse products, and though customers may be interested in the offers they see, they might not be ready to purchase immediately.

SEO is a great marketing tool that helps a business’ information and website appear on the first page of Google search results and stay at the forefront of potential customers’ minds when they go online.

“Today it’s not about ‘get the traffic, it’s about ‘get the targeted and relevant traffic.” – Adam Audette

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) vs. Direct Mail

A company can’t become successful without a strong online presence. Here are a few comparisons between direct mail and SEO to help you choose the right marketing strategy for promoting your business and targeting customers:

• Cost – The strategy and effectiveness of SEO differs from that of direct mail. The first difference is cost. With direct mail, the expense of designing, printing, and delivering physical print ads needs to be considered. 90-95% of homeowners are likely to throw away printed materials without reading; you would be lucky to have a 1% hit rate with this method. Also, these print ads often contain highly discounted offers, which can diminish the value of the business as a whole.

With SEO, there is no need to push your marketing efforts three or four times weekly to deliver your message to target customers. You will find a better ROI (return on investment) using different SEO strategies to land your business at the top of Google’s rankings. This increases your online presence, enabling those interested in your services to call you directly. Target customers easily gain access to all the information they seek more quickly and effectively.

• Online Space – Flip, Groupon, and WagJag are great apps for finding what you want to purchase right away. As an example, weekly grocery shoppers who want special offers and discounts feel in control when choosing a grocery retailer with the best offers. These online apps can be used to price items before leaving the house. For the retailer, discounts can signify a loss of profit. Client acquisition may cost as much as 50% via these online apps. Your ROI must be significantly higher than the money lost for sustainable profit. An effective SEO strategy will help your business get quality leads and the best possible ROI without elevating costs.

“The beauty of SEO is that, instead of pushing a marketing message onto folks who don’t want to hear what you have to say, you can reverse-engineer the process to discover exactly what people are looking for, create the right content for it, and appear before them at exactly the moment they are looking for it. It’s pull vs. push.” – Cyrus Shepard

If you agree that SEO is a better marketing option for your business or would like to create a better online presence, it’s time to hire a professional SEO agency. Local SEO Search specializes in social media marketing, content marketing, blogging, link building, reputation management, and other major SEO components. Call us today at (416) 888-8756 for a free website audit and competitor analysis.