Let’s take three “ingredients” – a mug branded with your company details, a business card and your letterhead paper. On their own, pretty unspectacular, but when blended together to create a targeted and relevant direct mail campaign, they can move mountains. Unconvinced? Have a look at this genuine client case study:
A printing business was having difficulty converting lapsed customers back into paying clients. Opting for the road frequently travelled, they decided on e-mail marketing as their marketing communication tool. Now, I thought this a little strange. If you are a printer, specialising in producing printed communications for businesses to showcase your wares, you are sending out a very mixed message by using e-mail -a tool at the other end of the spectrum from paper-based communication – to try and seduce your wayward customers into using you again. Not unsurprisingly the results from their e-mail marketing campaigns fell into the ‘non-existent’ category.
What did we do to halt the decline and reinstate those lapsed customers?
- We created a letter containing a genuine hype-free message along the lines of “we know that you have gone elsewhere for your printing requirements, but wouldn’t you like to compare what we can offer you with the service that you are receiving now? In the current challenging climate, it’s useful to have a comparison so that you can be reassured you really are getting the best value from your printer.”
- We attached the label from a mug to the letter, together with a business card, and enclosed the contents in a high-quality envelope. The envelope was addressed to a named recipient. [labels addressed to “the purchasing manager” for example scream ‘junk mail!’]
- We also included an offer… we explained that the label belonged to a very attractive Pantone mug. If the recipient booked a meeting with the salesman to discuss their printing requirements, they would receive two of the mugs filled to the brim with organic chocolates.
The mailing went out and the initial flurry of responses was very encouraging. One of the orders was for £11,000. Responses increased further still when the salesman followed up the mail shot with a telephone call.
All in all, £40,000 worth of sales ensued. Not bad for a simple, low cost campaign.
Of course, the mugs could have been used in a very different way. They could simply have been brought to the meeting as a giveaway, with no fanfare of trumpets in the shape of an offer all wrapped up in an attractive and targeted letter. But as this case study shows, it’s amazing what people will do for a thoughtful and attractive gift, especially when organic chocolates are added to make the offer even more delectable!
The moral of this story? Promotional gifts have a crucial part to play in generating warm leads, converting lapsed customers and opening the door to a potential sale – provided they are used appropriately and with consideration.