How the Web Makes Direct Mail Better for Fundraising

Cross-channel influence is already the norm
Good — you’ve been putting your Web address on every element in a mail package. But go so far as to assume your audience will actually use it, and more: Recipients may visit your Facebook page, watch your videos on YouTube, perhaps even read your fascinating blog. Consider each touchpoint, and craft your mail accordingly, each with a reasonable level of visual consistency. Note, please: reasonable. Avoid including elements you know will suppress response or outstrip ROI, but otherwise use everything relevant — logo, color, type, photo style, structure — to immediately* assure brand recognition across every channel. Your marketing then becomes part of the Web and isn’t just pointing to it.

Old media has already been changed by new media
You needn’t join the wailing that "Google is making us stupid" to realize that reading — still the most effective means of absorbing complex information — has been profoundly altered by the Web’s use of hyperlinked, encapsulated summary exposition.