First, direct mail was dead. Now email is dead. Apparently the only channel that’s alive is social media.

At least that’s the POV presented by Jessica Vascellaro in a Wall Street Journal article, Why Email No Longer Rules, published last month. She begins: "Email has had a good run as king of communications. But its reign is over."

The article has kicked up a storm of controversy in marketing circles, with most commentators saying Ms Vascellaro is simply flat wrong (see Fast Company, TechBlog). Various studies indicate email usage is in fact rising, especially among heavy users of social media and young people, precisely the groups she cites as the vanguard of email leavers. One ingredient in the mix — smartphones with internet connectivity … they seem to move users back to email.

Here is an article by Morgan Stewart of Exact Target (granted, an email marketing outfit) that provides a good rebuttal of Vascellaro’s piece, with links to relevant bits of research.

Bottomline: if you’re raising money via email appeals, keep right on truckin’! And mail some letters too.

Tom

P.S. If you really want to get ahead of the technology curve, skip online media altogether and jump right into fundraising by telepathy.
 

 

This article was posted in: direct marketing, Don't Miss these Posts, email marketing, fundraising, media usage, new media, online activism, online advocacy, online fundraising, social networking.
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