Direct Mail Spend Expected to Grow 4.6% in 2012
October 2, 2011 – Topline results from The Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) The Power of Direct Marketing, a biennial forecast of direct marketing’s economic impact on the US economy:
Direct Marketing continues to grow at a quicker pace than the overall US economy. Direct marketing driven sales are projected to grow 7.1% this year to nearly $2 trillion, compared with sales overall in the US, which will grow 5.1%. Overall, 8.7% of US GDP comes from direct marketing.
• Spending in direct marketing grew 5.6% to $163 billion in 2011 and now accounts for 52.1 % of total advertising spending in the US. This share has increased steadily over the past five years, a trend expected to continue through 2016.
• ROI: An investment of $1 in direct marketing advertising expenditures in 2011 is predicted to return, on average, $12.03 in incremental revenue across all industries, compared with $5.24 for general advertising.
• Much of direct marketing’s growth is driven by online media, which continues to outpace other channels in expenditure growth. DMA expects digital channels to continue to increase their share of the marketing budget from 19% in 2011 to 21% in 2012. The total spend on digital marketing has grown by $14.5 billion since 2006.
• Mobile marketing will lead all channels in 2011, with an annual growth rate exceeding 50%.
• Social network marketing, search engine marketing, and “Internet other” (rich-media ads, advergaming, blogs, etc.) will all increase by more
than 20%.
• The two largest components of Internet advertising — search and display, will both grow at a rate over 18%.
• Although spending on most traditional channels remains below the peak year of 2007, direct mail bounced back strong in 2011. Direct mail expenditures are expected to grow 4.6% to just over $50 billion.