Trash Talk...

I have a confession to make. I just rummaged through
Pat's wastebasket to see what direct mail offers didn't
make it to my desk.

(Sometimes you've got to be willing to get your hands
dirty in the name of on-going education. You'd be
surprised what you can learn in the strangest places.)

Part of understanding what works is understanding what
fails and why. It's more cost-effective and less stressful
to learn from someone else's mistakes!

In Pat's circular file, I found many things -- but the most
interesting was an expensive mailer from a well-known
cell phone provider. I appreciate Pat's gate keeping role.
She helps me avoid a lot of time wasters.

In fact, this package was never opened. It's a slick
envelope with two customized die-cut windows and a
special custom side opening tab.

I just opened it and spent a full minute trying to remove
the brochure. It was glued in the envelope. Yes glued.

The brochure is a full-color, tabbed, 5 page booklet. I'd
love to have brokered the printing on this job. This
brochure probably cost twice as much to print as a standard
EIGHT-page brochure. The die cut and the special binding
technique used to create a book with an odd number of
pages is extraordinarily expensive. The last page has a
personalized, variable data map to the dealer nearest me.
More expensive.

I just threw the piece in my wastebasket, again.

It was slick. Expensive. Dramatic. Well-Designed. And
didn't have anything meaningful to say to make me want
to read it, much less respond.

It's not just a failure. It's an expensive failure.

The company spent tons of money on fancy design and
printing and didn't seem to spend any time identifying a
need, developing a strategy and creating a compelling offer.
In fact, I just pulled the brochure back out of my wastebasket
to see what the call to action was ... still looking ... just a
minute ... oh here it is: "Take this card to your local store now.
Get 2 months of unlimited service free..." There is no card! (
By the way, it's not two months of free cell phone service, it's
just two free months of text messaging -- or something like
that. I don't really care to read it all to understand.)

Back to the trash.

Apparently I'm suppose to carry this big brochure with me
everywhere until I get time to go to the store. Or someone
forgot to print the card.

My point? An extra few hours spend developing a solid strategy
could have redeemed this piece from being sent to a recycling
center. The core of a successful direct mail campaign is
developing a strong strategic offer. That's more productive
than buying a new yacht for the printer.

The flip side of the coin, I got a package from Chris Stockwell
with Distinct Advantage. I think his mailing will be much more
productive. He sent a large blue envelope addressed to me with
just his name and return address in the upper left hand corner
and a live first class stamp in the upper right. There was no
teaser copy on the outside. It looked very personal. Pat had to
open it. Inside was a letter with a $1,000,000 bill attached and
another mysterious envelope. Pat couldn't help but open the next
envelope. It was a sample of his new performance automotive card
deck. The package made it to my reading folder. He even included
a call to action, and incentive to act now, and gave the prospect
the option of calling, faxing or emailing a response.

I'm sure the Distinct Advantage mailing wasn't cheap. But it was
much more strategic. The letter was well written. And it looked
like it was prepared personally for me.

Chris told me his response rate. It's more than I'd expect for a
new product to a new list of suspects.

Now, this package is on file as an example of good direct mail.
And next time I have a client that's a fit for his card deck, I can't
help but think of him. And he gets the added exposure of me
mentioning him here.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to do more market
research and rummage through the dumpster out back. (Kidding.
Just kidding!)

- Phil Sasso