The ’round file’ – yep, with barely any notice, that’s where a lot of marketing ends up.
Why?
Well, for one reason, it all looks the same.
While every brochure or ad tries to scream ‘Look at me!’ very view actually succeed
It’s true, few get opened and even fewer get read.
Colorful, slick, or glossy, doesn’t much matter, they’re still about as likely to get tossed as the no-color, no gloss ones.
So, what can you do to avoid seeing your marketing pieces suffer the same fate?
Well, of course, we don’t send want to simply send ‘ads’ listing our basic company info, meaning ‘name, logo and web address’ kind of stuff.
Hope not, we know that ‘name, rank and seriel number’ approach is boring and weak.
We know better, right?
Right – we know to send compelling marketing pieces directed at our at our niched, target business list and addressed to the actual name of the person in charge of hiring the contract cleaning company…right? Right.
And, we know to emphasize the unique set of differences between us and our competition in powerfully worded marketing messages in our ‘ads’, right? Right.
And, our strategy to avoid getting our marketing pieces tossed includes steps designed to make prospects WANT to read our ‘ad’, right? Right.
Like what?
Well, remember how we explained in an earlier e-mail how we want to send our marketing message to a specific person, in a standard business envelope, preferably hand-addressed, with actual postage stamps used?
We took these steps to position our marketing piece to ‘force’, OK, compel our prospects to open and begin to read our direct marketing sales letter!
Think about it, if you got a letter hand addressed specifically to you, but you couldn’t tell what it was or who it was from just from looking at it the outside… would you pitch it or tear it open to take a look?
Remember, it’s personally addressed to you~
Well, a lot of folks WILL feel compelled to take a second to open it up and take a look before pitching it…
And THAT’s a big step in the direct mail part of our strategy – to get their attention, keep it and ultimately earn their business.
But, there’s another way to improve the odds of your marketing message getting read, and it’s this:
Use ‘weird’ marketing or at least ‘weird’ marketing methods. That’s right, sometimes ‘weird’ gets it read.
For example, you could send your message in a way that’s a little bulky, a little awkward, a little different!
I once got a little plastic garbage about the size of my fist in the mail. The ‘trash can’ was addressed to me and had postage on it.
It worked – I opened it.
And, even if it looked a little silly or cheap, I bet a high percentage of people opened it just like me.
It had a direct marketing sales letter inside – and I read it completely. Mission accomplished.
And the reason I would give is ‘I was curious’ or ‘I simply couldn’t throw it away, it was too unusual!’.
They got me. They got my attention. You can do the same thing. Come up with your own creative marketing pieces.
NOTE: If it’s an unusual size or shape, before you get too far with your idea, make sure the post office will accept it.
But think about it. Consider having some fun with one or more of the step in your marketing sequence.
It’s ok to be different.
Discover the Guru in YOU,
Dan
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