I am sitting here in sunny, but very cold, Hilton Head, SC and thinking about small businesses.  Not just because I'm here to speak at a the USASBE conference on small business and entrepreneurship, but also because I just finished driving around the island with a colleague and had the opportunity to talk to some small business owners.  The primary economic driver in Hilton Head is tourism, so lots of retail and food services. Like many other small business people, these entrepreneurs have really taken advantage of the Internet to promote what they have to offer because it's where we all look for information and because relative to other forms of promotion, it's inexpensive.  Makes sense, because with just an iPhone and a car, we were able to find the best that Hilton Head has to offer.  However, some people still believe that direct mail (what we all refer to affectionately as junk mail) is the most effective marketing channel--and Paul Vogel, the U.S. Postal Service's chief marketing person, is one of those people.

It seems that the post office wants to make it easier for businesses to spam us with direct mail.  Just last week, the post office relaxed the rules on so-called "simplified addressing" that lets marketers bulk mail to everyone in a neighborhood.  Now you too can enjoy the same benefit the government has to send mail and small packages without a a specific name to everyone on a particular route.  Vogel firmly believes that direct mail is the most effective channel there is.  “Simplified addressing will help local small and midsize businesses as well as large businesses drive more traffic and attract new customers.This can help strengthen the U.S. economy as well as our organization, the U.S. Postal Service, which is doing everything it can to drive revenue growth.”  Of course, he has to believe that because, frankly, the post office is losing business at an increasing rate. Vogel argues that under the new rules, small businesses will no longer have to purchase mailing lists and that will save money. Right. Just spam everyone see what sticks!  Sorry, bad strategy, even if it appears to be cheap.

Give your customers what they want, when they want it, and in the way they want it.

In other words, make it easy for customers to find you and buy.  Before you leave your Internet marketing strategy to take up a direct mail campaign, make sure you're reaching your customers in the way they want to be reached.  KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER!  Your marketing channel has to match their needs, not yours, and, with all due respect to Mr. Vogel, not the post office's needs.

And now I think I'll check back with Google to see if there's a place I can buy some clothes until my luggage arrives!