On the 25th of February this year, 2016, the Flying Scotsman left Kings Cross station in London for the first journey it had taken in many years.
The Flying Scotsman was one the most famous, if not the most famous, railway steam engine of its day. For years, steam-driven railway engines were the mainstay of rail travel and some people look back to those days with nostalgia and rue the day electric trains replaced the steam engines. Steam had become old fashioned and electricity was the way forward.
There are many people involved in marketing who relate letterbox forms of marketing to steam driven trains and view it as old fashioned. They look to digital marketing as the equivalent of the electrification of the railways as the modern way to sell goods and services.
However, unlike the electrification of the rail system which has proved to be more efficient than steam, digital marketing has not proved to be the success as many people claim it to be.
There is a belief among some marketing people that no one actually reads the leaflets and direct mail shots that come through their door. They put their faith in banners pop-ups and e-mails to deliver customers and sales to their businesses despite the fact that direct mail and door drop leaflets have proved to be a better ROI than digital marketing.
One of the reasons for this is that people cannot delete a door drop leaflet.
It is impossible for someone to ignore a leaflet.
People have to touch your leaflet.
Even if they plan to throw it into the recycle bin, they will spend a couple of seconds looking at it: and this is where the importance of making sure your leaflet carries a well-crafted sales message.
If your leaflet has been professionally designed, printed on good paper, carries a well-written eye-catching headline, and has been targeted to the right people it is sure to be one of the leaflets that are kept for 38 days and not consigned to the recycle bin.
E-mail messages are far easier to dispose of than printed ones; they can be made to disappear by the click of a switch before they have been glanced at and read.
So, although the flying Scotsman is now part of the history of rail travel having been superseded by electronic power, letterbox marketing is still beating its electronic rival when it comes to ROI.
So what are you waiting for, get a quote today to see how we can help your business grow.
