Michael McCarthy Helps Us Understand the Future of Direct Mail Advertisement
I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael McCarthy, Co-Founder and CEO of Inkit, the dominant direct mail automation platform. His company has grown +120% month over month.
Chris: Thank you so much for doing this with us! What is your “backstory” of how you become involved in the adtech or digital media space?
“Before I met my CoFounder, Abram, I was working as a Senior Marketing Manger at a Fortune 500 company. As someone who was constantly working towards launching a new marketing campaign, I got really frustrated with how inefficient and resource intensive the process was. Our team had had a lot of success with direct mail campaigns in the past, but pushing the campaign from design mode to launch was a laborious process. What I really wanted — and couldn’t find — was a tool that would enable me to send direct mail as quickly & easily as email. I also wanted to test launched campaigns for success.
Inkit was born from the desire to provide a reliable, user friendly tool for marketers to retain their existing customers and win back inactive ones. Direct mail is a personalized touch with a long track record of boosting retention and win-back rates. We simply automated the process. With Inkit, marketers can now send direct mail to their customers within seconds. And that mail arrives in customers’ mailboxes within a few days.”
Chris: What do you think is the most interesting thing that has happened to the industry thus far?
“Marketing is becoming interesting. I don’t mean to sound blindingly obvious. The thousands of ads that are shoved in our face each day are not particularly interesting to us. We are changing marketing and the art of advertising to become interesting content that is worthwhile to read.
I’m excited that we are now prioritizing authenticity of content over efficiency of production. In the past, efficiency was deemed more important than authenticity. The pendulum is swinging back towards authenticity as we become more aware that the value provided in our marketing campaigns is not sustainable. As more advertising opportunities are transacted digitally, individualized targeting that creates unique experiences for each user will reign.”
Chris: What are your “5 things you think will change or should change over the next 5 years in adtech and digital publishing” and why?
“Direct to consumer companies will become more intelligent in their targeting. They used to send everyone the same thing, now they send batches. Tomorrow they will create and distribute unique content to individuals.
AI and aggregation of data will play a role in ensuring the right marketing is shown at the optimal time for a particular use.
Integrations will be key. Companies will choose platforms that specialize, connect platforms that mesh well together, and create broad networks of mutually beneficial partnerships.
Offline channels will go online (e.g. direct mail). Leading B2C enterprise companies will be able to trigger channels that were previously not online, as part of their omnichannel strategy.
There’s going to be a pullback in social media spending. Large enterprises are still trying to go digital, however, we’re noticing that startups (e.g. Oscar, Away Luggage, Casper, etc.) are running increasingly more advertisements on non-social channels, including public transportation, direct mail, radio, newspapers.”
Chris: Tell us something you or your company is doing to stay up to date in adtech (maybe making changes to comply with Better Ads Standards or GDPR, working on your header bidding stack or testing new types of ads)
“Our customers are our number one priority. Period. The best way for us to set the pace of innovation is listening to our customers and partners every day. We’ve gleaned some of our best customers and partners from spotting trends in the market, long before they’re obvious.”
Chris: Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why?
“Gary Vaynerchuk. Hands down!”
