Disruptive Direct Mail is created by innovating the traditional direct mail technology or method of gaining immediate call to action. The direct mail industry has not changed much in the past 50+ years. Direct mail has evolved from simple letters to sophisticated scripted brochures with colourful graphics, to impressive digital printing mailers, using target databases. Direct mail has changed from sending out mass mailings to specific niche markets using Variable Data Printing (VDP), mail merging targeted databases whose offers are customized to the recipients interested. Direct mail has also continued to grow with the way distribution has been handled, including labelling, printing and reducing management. On March 15, 2016, direct mail took a dramatic step forward with the patent entitled Electronic digital direct-mail collateral - Patent No: 9,286,614 by Mr. Matthew Soroka and Mr. Joseph Abrams.
Contents
Disruptive innovation, a phenomenon analyzed by Clayton M. Christensen beginning in 1995, states that disruptive innovation is an innovation that creates a new market and value network and eventually disrupts an existing market and value network, displacing established market leaders and alliances.
Overview
The traditional direct mail industry has not seen much in its development over the years. Even with outside influences on the internet, email marketing, and with social media marketing, the direct mail business has not changed much in the past decades. Marketers must have several components for the mailer: the mailed material must be designed and printed; a mailing list must be prepared, either through and in-house source or through purchasing a database; the mailer must be mailed out. Once it is sent, there is only one way to actually track the results, and that is if the receiver purchases the promotion or product being promoted. A direct marketer can get some other information on the purchaser, if there is a call to action to call a toll free number, to the promotion's website, or mailing back a Business Reply Envelope (BRE) or Business Reply Card (BRC) or using a code (QR Code). On the internet, a marketer can gain knowledge through google analytics, adwords, and social networking, including the click-through rates on email marketing campaigns, deep programming scripts on the banner, and search listings. Unfortunately, the direct mail industry does not have these in its possession to harness the information, and gain insight on the receiver, nor the direct mail campaign.
Technology
This patent helped to revolutionize the direct mail industry by allowing marketers the ability to track their direct mail campaigns with a central dashboard. Imagine sending out a direct mail campaign and instantly know the marketing metrics or analytics about the campaign.
Current Iterations
1) Touchscreen interface incorporated in a mailer/brochure to enable the recipient to press a button(s) to connect to a call center
2) Simple one button or multi press to call button(s) to call a pre-programmed number(s)
3) Video screen incorporated into a direct mailer (brochure) to play a commercial or series of commercials
4) Video screen and simple one button or multi button direct to call button(s)
All iterations can be married to a central dashboard to capture information about the direct marketing campaign. Each device contained in the package would have a unique identifier to track to the main dashboard. This new technology has revolutionized the multi-billion dollar direct mail industry.