There was a time when many people predicted email and online marketing would put an end to direct mail.

But the reality of the situation is, all 3 marketing mediums are feeding off each other in what is now referred to as Integrated Marketing.  You combine all 3 into an overall synergistic plan that boosts marketing results.

B-to-B Magazine recently released their Outlook 2008 Survey and here are some spending stats:

• 79% of marketers plan to increase spending on online marketing in 2008
• 70% of marketers plan to increase spending on email marketing in 2008
• 49% of marketers plan to increase spending on direct mail marketing in 2008

So even though the majority of marketers plan on upping the amount they spend on online and email marketing efforts, half of marketers surveyed are still going to increase their direct mail spending.

And of the remaining 51% of marketers, 39% are keeping their direct mail expenditures the same as last year…and only 12% are decreasing their spending.

So according to B-to-B’s survey, the forecast for direct mail in 2008 looks healthy…

And combining it with the increased spending on online and email initiatives should result in some interesting and effective marketing.

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Well, another DMA conference has passed and it was a great show this year.  Over 10,000 marketing professionals under one roof…

Working our booth — number 1915 — was Tom Cote, John Cote, Ryan Cote and Matt Cote…and we all met A LOT of really nice people from a variety of different companies.

If you’re reading this and we met you at the show, thanks for stopping by to chat and we’ll be in touch soon. 

But if we didn’t get a chance to meet, and you’d like us to send you some information including samples, please email Ryan at ryan @ ballantine.com.

I think one of the most noticeable aspects of the conference was the fact that many companies (including ourselves somewhat) are really starting to broaden and expand the services they can offer their clients and prospective clients.

Integrated marketing is a popular topic right now.  And full-service seems to be growing in popularity as more and more companies want to deal with just ONE company that can provide a suite of related services.

Using Ballantine as an example — we recently started offering personal URL services to go hand-in-hand with our direct mail services.

So all in all, the DMA was a great event.  We didn’t get to attend any of the educational marketing sessions, but every attendee we spoke to said they were learning a lot.

Next year the conference is in Las Vegas!

Brian Wolfenden wrote an excellent article in DM News about enhancing print with integrated marketing.

One of the things he mentioned was combining direct mail with personal URLs…and since PURLs are something we now offer, I figured I’d give a client example to illustrate one of the ways it can work.

Our most recent issue of our eNewsletter sums it up best, but here’s the story in a nutshell…

The Blood-Horse used us to send out a direct mail package containing a personal URL.  The PURL directed the recipient to a personalized landing page where the marketing message was continued.

From there, The Blood-Horse used the PURL data to put together some effective follow up campaigns.  Overall, it was a great success for them.

So during your next marketing meeting, bring up the idea of using integrated marketing…specifically, how can your company combine direct mail with online communication for even better campaign results?