A while back I received a great campaign from a company called Executive Offices. Whilst their service is not something I actually need, I really admired how this company has gone about marketing itself – my own ‘marketing hat’ rarely comes off and I’d love to know how successful this campaign has been for them.
So what was so special about what Executive Offices did?
Interesting format with eye catching outer design to grab my attention
First of all, they sent out a great piece of direct mail. It’s well branded and well thought out with great messaging – the overall tone says confidence, assurance, professional, right down to the choice of paper stock. There wasn’t even a sniff of the ‘this is our business and this is what we do’ approach that is so often apparent in direct mail. Nope, this piece is firmly focused on the needs of the target audience. This company has obviously stepped well and truly into the shoes of the potential customer and has a real understanding of their potential needs and pain points.
Two days after this direct mail came through my letterbox I received an email. It was branded and the tone and content was consistent with the DM pack – an excellent follow up and reinforcement of the original message.
In my opinion, there was just one thing that let them down – there was no personal phone call as the final follow-up and I think they missed a valuable trick. They had my address, they had my email details, they were pretty likely to therefore have my phone number. They had worked hard to make sure I’d discover their company and brand, they’d given me a concise and compelling introduction to their services – they had done everything to make me receptive to a sales call. It would have been the icing on the cake (even if I would have had to politely decline as I don’t need a London address right now!).
Executive Offices showed just how well direct mail and email marketing can work together if a campaign is planned well and the various channels are used in the right sequence – it’s a case of getting your audience a bit warmer with every step. And it’s certainly not rocket science.
It also shows that direct mail still has an important role to play and can still be a valuable marketing tool for any company. Research by PwC in 2013 predicted that letter volumes will fall by just 4% over the decade and indicated that direct mail is still an effective channel for sales. And Royal Mail provides some very compelling statistics for any business wondering how to effectively reach a wider audience – 48% of UK adults responded to direct mail last year. That’s pretty impressive!
Have you had success with a marketing campaign that combines traditional and digital approaches?