That’s right, I said amazing. But not everyone would agree with me. In fact, there are several schools of thought out there that think direct mail is dead, old fashioned or that they’ve been there, done that—with little success. We proudly [and quite defiantly] don’t attend or subscribe to any of those schools and instead would like to tell you that it isn’t dead. In fact, when you combine a targeted, direct mail outbound strategy with powerful inbound marketing, the results can be quite magnificent. We should know,we’ve experienced them firsthand.
Let me explain a bit. In 2010, on the heels of some pretty tough economic years and in a region littered with agencies and other marketing firms, we knew we needed a differentiator, a unique offering that would position North Star as a thought leader and introduce us to companies who had never heard of this boutique firm in Rhode Island. We also knew there was [and still is] a rift between many marketing and sales departments in the B2B world. So we put together an outbound marketing strategy that brought marketing and sales together. How? Simply put, the process queues up highly qualified sales leads, which puts smiles on sales teams and makes marketing look like a hero. And within this strategy, direct mail is center stage.
How do we do it?
Well first let me ask you this, when targeting the C-suite, who is the one individual that we as marketers know is perhaps the biggest obstacle? Here’s a hint—it’s the same person who prevents you from getting that target on the phone, or who has offered you “their voicemail” more times than you can count. Yup, that darn gatekeeper.
So how do we get around them? Well, frankly by sending a big flippin’ box to their boss. One that is too big to fit in the standard-issue trash bin next to their desks. One whose contents and messaging are so clever they become viral, with people from other floors coming to check it out. We also recognize that we were not the first agency to think up high impact, 3-dimensional mailers. However, we incorporated the high impact concept within an overall strategy that is busting down the doors for our clients.
Our process is all about introducing your company to new prospects, ones that aren’t finding you through your inbound efforts. The “big flippin’ boxes” cut through the clutter and precede a follow-up phone call from our telesales team. Both the mailer and the phone calls have the same goal, to get the recipient to attend a 15- 25-minute, educational call that begins to position your company as a thought leader and trusted partner in their eyes.
The results?
We have done dozens of campaigns for companies of all sizes in the B2B space and we have seen results as high as a 100% response rate, but the average tends to be between 20-35%. That in today’s world of marketing is AMAZING.
Believe me, there’s A LOT more to this story, and we’d love to share it with you. So give us a call, leave a comment or shoot me an email. If you don’t, I can’t promise a big flippin’ box won’t show up in your office in the near future.
