At the recent Direct Marketing Association conference in Las Vegas, I had the pleasure of delivering the opening keynote presentation. In my presentation, I issued a challenge and call to action to the direct marketing industry, and now I’d like to extend it to you as well.

Increasingly, marketers are being asked to evolve to keep pace with technological change, to jump full force aboard the digital bandwagon.

And yes, admittedly, I am among the foremost digital boosters. I’ve written extensively about how the 30-second spot is either dead, dying or has outlived its usefulness. And in its place is rising a bold mix of alternatives to traditional above- or below-the-line marketing.

You might expect me to sit back and smile proudly at the ongoing rush to digital. You would be wrong.

I’m constantly disappointed by our lame attempts to replicate our low “offline” standards in the digital arena. Indeed, the term “traditional interactive” seems to be used with increasing regularity and comfort.

Normally, I would take this opportunity to caution you against lowering digital’s bar to the same underperforming standards that our analog profession seems to subscribe to. Normally, I would advise you to avoid replicating “traditional” methodology in an unmistakably “non-traditional” arena.

However, in this case, I’m going to make a case for the incumbent — the traditional world of direct mail — instead of recommending you head to the Web like a lemming to the abyss. I suggest that we focus on lifting the bar for traditional channels to meet the same measurability standards the Internet lives by.

Nothing is going to replace face-to-face contact and communication. Word of mouth will continue to dominate in the physical world — although it’s viral resonance and explosive infectious distribution will no doubt owe its half-life to digital.

Direct mail will be the same.

So instead of looking to digital to save us from our current challenges, let’s focus on elevating our established game. We don’t always have to “think digital” to move forward. We just have to think smarter.

Joseph Jaffe is president and chief interruptor of crayon, an advisory group.