Internet an Option as Direct Mail Changes Threaten Charities Reach?
February 27th, 2007 by pamela
While direct mail has seen a decline in revenue in the past six months, the online channel continues to grow, contributing an additional £284 million to UK advertising revenues.
Many businesses are seeing the benefits, and with Environment Minister David Miliband threatening to enforce direct mail opt in, the increased use of online marketing is becoming more and more critical, especially in the charity sector if Miliband has his way.
Lloyds TSB has attributed a rise in retail profits to its increasing use of online marketing following a major cut in direct mail usage.
The bank has reported a 11 per cent increase in pre-tax profits, with product sales via the internet and phone increasing by 33 per cent.
But while banks have the finances to plough millions into investigating various marketing options, the charity sector could find itself badly hit.
Megan Pacey, director of policy and campaigns at the Institute of Fundraising is concerned about the impact opt-in might have.
“This will mean that another avenue is shut down and charities won’t be able to communicate in order to recruit or retain the supporters they have.”
Although the government has not announced plans of how the policy might be operated, with such changes being advocated, shouldn’t charities be looking to move their promotional activities online in order to ensure that visibility is retained without breaking the budget?
With careful planning and a clear strategy online marketing can place a charity’s message exactly where the same direct mailing message would – in the home. Smaller charities need to pro-actively target those 29 million adults in Britain (63%) who accessed the internet in the three months before February 2006. [Office for National Statistics, 2006]
With the internet becoming one of the main forms of communication, isn’t it time more charities harnessed it’s power in order to connect with the people they need to support the people who need it the most.
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March 5th, 2007 at 11:17 am
The harnessing of new marketing channels for charities is an issue that needs to be taken seriously. For one of our clients a leading UK charity, they not only realised the power of Search for recruiting supporters, but also reaching those that needed their help. They have also not been complacent and have opened up to other marketing channels now available to them. They are using social networking as a way to not only interact with those that need their support, but also to raise awareness within their target audience. I think it is time that other charities followed their example and embraced all these new channels open to them.