A simple social experiment, IGotAnEnvelope.com, demonstrates that not all social-networking needs to begin on-line and how to successfully integrate traditional marketing with new media.

“Igotanenvelope is a continuous art project where people leave empty self-addressed stamped envelopes in public places to be picked up and filled by others, who then send them back.”

Once an envelope is returned the contents are displayed at IGotAnEnvelope.com. So what’s the point? I’m not sure what the developers of the site had in mind, but I see the potential to inspire the marketing efforts of small businesses everywhere:

1.) Merger of Traditional and New Media – By using new media, a blog, they’re recruiting others to market through a traditional outlet, the mail. They then reverse the process by using the mail to submit content back to the new media site. This is a successful merger of new and traditional marketing that every small business can benefit from.

2.) Measurable Results – A campaign of this type creates measurable responses on many levels and such an array of stats could provide a true picture of how well your marketing campaigns are actually working.

This is possibly one of the most creative and interesting examples of coupling traditional and new media marketing I’ve seen. I hope it ignites your creativity when marketing your small business in the future.

About The Guest Author: Justan Brandt, “The Best Damn Consultant” for marketing your small business, brings real world marketing tools, strategies, experiences and results down to Main Street.