Mailshots are extremely expensive in onlne marketing

I have an interesting marketing question for you;
“if someone invented mailshots or ‘marketing letters’ today, would you or your business actually use them?”

Just imagine the sales pitch for a mailshot


“I’m Bob from the Post Office and I want to tell you all about this new invention – mailshots! You know how you can use email to get yourmarketing messages onto the desk of thousands of people, in minutes, for free? Well, mailshots are unreliable, take days to deliver, are expensive and massively labour intensive!”.
Mailshots are extremely expensive

My newsletter is written on my computer and then I press the send button – that’s it! The only real costs attached are the time it takes to write it, plus the cost of the emailing software; which was £200. To send that same newsletter out to my newsletter subscribers via a mailshot (at maximum bulk mailing discount) would cost me at least £4,000,000 or $8,000,000 a year!

Email marketing

I strongly suggest YOU consider using email to deliver YOUR marketingmessages, rather than letters or ‘printed media’. In fact, I list email marketing as one of my essential “Top 10 Marketing Tips!”

You see, even if we forget the environmental impact of using all that paper and then sending it via road, rail and air – the time and money you will save is enormous.


Moreover, because email marketing is so effective, it has the power, when used correctly, to transform your sales results super-fast!
Email marketing & mailshots ‘head to head’

I know two small recruitment companies; one uses email marketing exclusively and the other uses mailshots. The company using mailshots can only send one mailing, to 1000 people each month – because of the cost attached to preparing and sending each mailshot is so great.

The company using email marketing sends a marketing mailing to their list of 5,000 people. So, they reach five times the number of potential clients! Also, they mail their list twice a month, because there’s no additional cost! By mailing that list every fourteen days, the list stays up-to-date too; further increasing its value! This means they reach five times as many people, twice as often AND it costs close to nothing!

Build your own email marketing database

The recruitment company using email marketing ONLY contact people who actually WANT to be contacted with information on their services. How can they be so sure? Because EVERYONE that they email has subscribed to them via a ‘sign-up box’ on their website – this is important. It means that 100% of the people they email to have a confirmed interest in their business.

It also means their email marketing list didn’t cost them anything! I recommend you always build your own email marketing list, you can read more about email marketing in my Top 10 Marketing Tips article.