The answer is a resounding ?no,? according to Target Marketing columnist Denny Hatch, who writes: ?With the Can Spam Act and do-not-call laws, snail mail is once again the workhorse of direct marketing. And all direct marketers better learn how to write it, design it, and find precisely the right people to send it to, or they will wind up in the same career ash heap as the smarty-pants, dot-com wizards of the late 1990s.?

Is Denny right? Is direct mail ?hot? again? Does it work and make money? Or does it cause needless tree deaths, as people throw it away without a second glance?

You are the marketing director for a nonprofit. Today in the mail you receive a $50 donation from a first-time donor. When should you send him a letter asking for more money ? and why?

A. Tomorrow.

B. Next week.

C. Next month.

D. Next year.

E. Never.

I’ll post the correct answer in a few days….

My good friend Rich Armstrong, one of the top freelance DM copywriters in the country, is no fan of big ad agencies and their creative approaches to direct marketing.

?I don?t think I?ve seen anything quite as frightening as the article in Direct, ?Hot Creatives,? in which a group of big agency creative directors were invited to sit around and talk about the state of the direct marketing business.?

Richard says that what made him tremble was:

1. Many of the folks just switched from general advertising a few years ago.

2. Direct response is a word-driven business, and a lot of the panelists were primarily art directors.

3. Only one of them seemed to know who the late, great Bill Jayme was.

4. Another of the panelists seriously talked about their plan to ?phase out the letter from direct mail packages.?

Richard concludes: ?Thank God most of the real direct marketing in this country continues to be done in-house by clients who have products to sell and the top freelance copywriters and artists they hire to help.?

Who knows more about marketing ? big marketers or small marketers?

The answer may surprise you, but in direct marketing, it?s the big clients, more often that not.

The simple reason: they mail millions of pieces of mail, compared to a SoHo that might mail only a few thousand pieces of mail a year.

Therefore, the large marketer is able to do more testing ? testing of mailing formats, teasers, copy, sales themes, lists, premiums, offers, terms, guarantees, and pricing.

These variables make a huge difference. For instance, the same DM piece sent to the best mailing list can generate up to 10 times the response you?d get mailing it to the worst list.

But here?s the thing ? you don?t know which is the best or worst list until you test.

The more testing you do, the more you learn about what works in the marketplace ? and the better your chances of lasting success.

How can a small marketer regain the edge?

I tell everyone who asks me for marketing advice, ?Look at what the major direct marketers are doing, and do what they do. They know more because they test more.?

Do more testing. Many small marketers don?t test, and they should.

Joseph Sugarman, famous for BluBlocker sunglasses, once said that he would typically test 10 new ads at a time.

Nine would be failures, but one would be a hit ? and that hit more than paid the cost of the other 9 test ads.

Testing is easier and faster online, which takes away your excuse for not doing it.

Did you know that in e-mail marketing A/B split tests, just changing the subject line has increased response 25% to 100% or more?

Or that in direct mail, you can double response by changing the outer envelope teaser and lead ? or even the format and design?

So what are you waiting for? Test it for yourself.

In this blog, I want to provide the blogosphere with a view from my side of the fence as a member of another ?sphere? ? old-fashioned direct marketers who still believe the main purpose of marketing is to get the cash register ringing and not just have ?conversations.?

To start off, let me share with you what I believe is the ?mindset? of direct marketing, based on my quarter of a century in the business:

1. Direct marketers are only concerned with one thing ? ROI (return on investment). That is, if you spend a dollar on a mailing, do you get two or three dollars back in sales?

2. Direct marketers don?t care if other marketing experts find their promotions loud, unappealing, too hard sell, or behind the times. We only care if those promotions work.

3. Direct marketers know that often ugly and crude outperforms beautiful and sophisticated. Not always, but often.

4. Direct marketers know that subjective opinion about copy and creative count for squat. The only way to determine whether my copy is better or worse than your copy is in an A/B split test ? not subjective judgment.

5. Non-direct marketers get very excited about new media and methods early, despite the fact that they have not proven their ability to generate positive ROI ? and largely, it seems to me, because they are new. They are very eager to spend time and money on new vehicles that have not proven themselves in the marketplace.

6. Direct marketers, on the other hand, are cautious and conservative. We want to know something works before we spend money on it. And even then, we conduct small tests to make sure it will work for us before rolling out with it on a larger scale.

7. Non-direct marketers are obsessed with branding, awareness, and image. Direct marketers consider ROI the primary objective, and we resist having our promotions being controlled by any branding requirements that might interfere with achieving it.

8. Direct marketers are increasingly finding that what works in offline (print) ? direct mail, space ads ? works online. Yes, there are some differences. But strong selling copy is needed to secure the order whether from a DM package or a landing page.

9. Direct marketers expect to see immediate ROI from their marketing efforts. Non-direct marketers hope to see their efforts change behavior or attitude in the market over a much longer horizon.

10. Non-direct marketers take extra pride in campaigns that are creative, clever, edgy, funny, or splashy. Direct marketers couldn?t care less about such things and some of us even look down our noses at them.

If there are folks in the blogosphere who find the above guidelines foolish, unwise, or outdated, I?d love to read a post from you stating your position. And thanks for visiting my blog!