The Power of Print – One to One Mail

Jefff Ogden, President of Find New Customers, had the pleasure of interviewing marketing guru, Jeffrey Hayzlett, for Mad Marketing TV and one of the things he preaches really struck a nerve with me. He covered this in Chapter 8 of his book, The Mirror Test – The Power of One. He’s talking about print.

“It’s not direct mail that’s dead. Broadcast mailing of any kind is.” Jeffrey says that most he talks to believe that direct mail is dead and they start praising the latest social media site. Jefffrey wrote “I’m a passionate promoter of the power of print.” We at Find New Customers agree and believe B2B marketers should embrace direct mail. We’ve believe it is a powerful and cost-effective channel, if done right.

Look at the pile on this desk. Undoubtedly most are addresses to “Dear Occupant,” “Dear Valued Client” or “Dear Insured.” That’s a disaster.

Here’s my tip of the day for you. If the world is saying to go left, then you need to go right. When the world says “social media,” the mailbox is empty and ripe for you.

But not just any direct mail. Embrace this idea:

The Holy Grail of Marketing is the One to One Relationship

Think about a letter from your mother or a dear friend. It is written to you, for you, and only to you. You always open and read it. That’s the kind of personalization we need to find in our direct mail.

Let’s look at an example from the book. Let’s say you’re the finance arm of a car company and you send monthly statements. You know what kind of car they drive, how old they are, where they live or work and more. What if you put a color picture of a 2010 Dodge Charger in the color the customer owns –  right on the statement? What if you offered accessories for that vehicle right on the statement?

The same is true for mobile phones. Verizon Wireless knows all the phones in my house – my iPhone 4S and my wife and kids’ phones. Why not offer age-appropriate options on the statement, like a Bluetooth headset for dad and cool ringtones for the kids?

Marketers can do highly personalized direct mail campaigns – one to one programs –  right into empty mailboxes! Print is powerful, if done right.

What do you think? We love to read your comments and love it when you share on social networks too. And please check out Find New Customers and our new blog too.