Google paying companies to send you junk mail

Long ago the direct marketing people lost a crucial battle with the public. Direct marketing – where you send people marketing messages to their house – is known by most people as junk mail.

It’s an old fashioned style of marketing but people still do it. My local takeaways have had great success with me by sending me discounts. Credit card companies earn my hatred by sending me annoying junk mail. You can see how this was always going to be a tough PR battle for the DM people but why companies still engage in it.




Google’s got into the act. They’re now giving you money to spend on AdWords if you start to send junk mail.

As it happens this may be brilliant news for SMEs. It’s certainly something I’d encourage local businesses to look at despite the poor reputation that direct marketing has with some people.

Google’s teamed up with the Royal Mail. You get £30 of free advertising from Google and %10 off every order of the Royal Mail’s offline marketing program called “Mailshots in Minutes”.

Mailshots in Minutes lets businesses send postcards (or A4 letters) to target demographics - ie, lists of addresses bought from the Royal Mail.

What do you think? Clever idea from Google and the Royal Mail or not? Do you think Search or Social agencies may also face a PR battle with the public in order to avoid their techniques being associated with 'junk'?

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