Direct Mail Goes Green

Getting rid of junk mail would save a lot of trees. That's a fact, but marketing departments everywhere cringe at the thought of removing the mailing tradition. The belief that the return on investing in direct mail is to great to remove this marketing scheme from our everyday lives.

A resolution between group of direct-marketing companies, along with some of their corporate clients, are banding together to make an unsustainable practice at least a little greener. 

The Green Marketing Coalition (with members like Kawasaki, Microsoft, Washington Mutual, and OptimalHealth) has agreed on various ways to cut down on non-green actions of direct mailing.

The group has agreed to use chlorine-free, recycled paper to print their mailings on. The Coalition has also agreed to cut down on hard copy proof reading by using Adobe PDF files to make corrections to their marketing plans and ideas. Combined with these efforts the team of companies and direct-marketers hope to take advantage of tax benefits that come with green initiatives.

The Coalition is also adhering to certain guidelines when choosing vendors - - selecting only those companies that are committed to recycling. Also, the Coalition is set to clean up their mailing lists by removing the names of dead people and others who are unlikely to respond.

Hopefully the Green Marketing Coalition can clean up their act and turn things greener in the direct marketing world. 

The Coaliation's complete guidelines can be found at their website (http://greenmarketingcoalition.com).

The complete article on direct mailing can be read at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/23/business/media/23adco.html?ref=envir on...