Going Old School On Ya...

There are a lot of reasons that marketing and communications has gone the way of the web, not the least of which is cost. It costs much less to send an email than it does to print and mail a postcard or newsletter. But there are other reasons, too. In some cases, you can more accurately see who is reading -- or, at least, fully opening -- your emails if your system tracks that data. And in many cases, email travels with your customers meaning fewer undelivered items. Not to mention that the multimedia nature of the Internet means you often can do cool things online (like video) that you couldn't do in a print piece.

But this week's blog isn't about e-marketing or social media or the wonders of the web. This week, we're talking about the benefits of sometimes going Old School.

I went Old School at JHU shortly after I arrived. After I'd been here a short time, we started running more events on campus that were open to the public, but that we hoped would be of particular interest to our students. Except, I had no way to reach them because I didn't have a database of their email addresses, and compiling one wouldn't have been easy. (Long story.)

Stumped, right? SOL? Not so...

I quickly realized that the vast majority of our students most likely use the restrooms on campus at some point when they're here. You know what they say: When in Rome... I, too, would "use" the restrooms.

I ordered clear plastic literature holders and stuck them on the back of the stall doors, near the sinks, and over the urinals. I knew that I'd placed my signs in a location where I would have a captive audience.

Not convinced about Old School yet?

Look at your email inbox. If you're anything like me, it's cluttered. Case in point: Between midnight and 3 p.m. today, I received 24 marketing emails. With most of them I read the subject line and hit delete. But when I get a real postcard in the mail, I usually take a few extra seconds to see what it has to say. The same with print newsletters. (As an aside, I also have to say that a number of my friends are also feeling the inbox clutter and many are slowly unsubscribing from newsletters and messages that they don't find particularly enlightening, beneficial, useful, etc.)

I'm not saying you should give up e-marketing or switch back to e-newsletters entirely. What I am saying is that you should look at each marketing situation and determine what is the best medium to accomplish your goal. In many cases these days, e-marketing or social media or some other Internet-based solution is going to be your best choice.

But sometimes... sometimes, you just have to go Old School.

P.S. -- For some reason, as I started typing this post, the song "Gettin' Jiggy wit It" popped into my head and wouldn't leave... Now that's Old School!