← DictionaryDirect Mail
Sending physical marketing material to a targeted address list.
Marketing that arrives in the post.
What It Is
In the BWH map, Direct Mail lives under Marketing — Channels. The working definition is simple: sending physical marketing material to a targeted address list.
It is a route to an audience, so its worth depends entirely on who is actually on the other end of it. Keep it that plain and it will still be true in twelve months.
How It's Used
Direct Mail comes up in campaign planning, channel choices and the reporting that follows them. It is usually discussed together with Outbound Marketing and Campaign. The practical test is whether the right people are reachable there at a cost that makes sense.
Why It Matters
Getting Direct Mail wrong is expensive in a quiet way. When it is unclear, spend keeps moving but nobody can say what it bought. It is worth pinning down before anyone builds on top of it.
Think of a road. Useful only if the people you want are travelling on it. Marketing that arrives in the post.
Termshift™
How the meaning shifts depending on who is using it, and where.
Practitioners use Direct Mail as shorthand and expect no explanation — sending physical marketing material to a targeted address list.
Outside the industry, most people would just say: marketing that arrives in the post.
The Bottom Line
Keep Direct Mail plain: marketing that arrives in the post. That is the version that holds up in a real project.