Here’s some interesting data that I thought would spark ideas with you:
With Apple’s recent data privacy measures making it harder for DTC brands to target shoppers on platforms like Google and Facebook, more and more brands are moving to more traditional marketing methods gain.
Catalogues, postcards, and brochures are all growing fast.
The recent EU ruling, which is effectively forcing META and others to ask consumers to opt in to receive personalized ads, is bound to accelerate this trend.
Direct mail, which had been losing market share for years, has been slowly gaining popularity in recent years, but interest in it has really taken off since Apple implemented its App Tracking Transparency framework in April 2021.
This has made it harder for platforms like Facebook and Instagram to track consumer data, which has made them less attractive to brands looking to advertise.
Many DTC brands are taking their automatic focus off Facebook and Instagram, cutting their advertising budgets on these platforms by around 8% between January 2021 and January 2022.
Some brands have redirected their spending to other digital channels, but others have also started investing in traditional marketing tactics like direct mail and other offline channels.
Offline marketing has grown from making up about 12% of DTC brands’ ad budgets in early 2021 to over 15% at the start of 2022.
This holiday season has been a culmination of the shift away from Facebook and Instagram, with many cutting their Meta budgets by an average of over 20% since last holiday season and 10% to 15% switching to more traditional marketing methods.
Consumers tend to like offline marketing and view it as more authentic and less ephemeral than online efforts.
What can you do for your business to take advantage of this movement?