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Personalizing Through Laughter
July 17, 2008

When a company reduces its cost per lead from $1,500 to $100, what does that campaign look like? It looks like a company that uses creativity to make its products and services relevant to the person receiving the pitch and creating a compelling reason to respond to an offer right away.

It’s basic marketing, but it’s much more difficult to do than it sounds. That’s why today’s 1:1 personalization, especially in combination with other lift techniques, is so important to get into the marketing mix.

In one example, the company was trying to reach decision-makers at large corporate companies. Previously, it had been sending out 20,000 traditional mailers at a time and netting only a few responses. Working with Digital Dimensions 3, a direct marketing company specializing in producing 1:1 personalization on three-dimensional mailers, however, it took a completely different approach.

DD3 created 10 three-dimensional mailers that looked like aquariums. Inside were three-dimensional pirhana with the prospect’s name personalized on their backs. The text read, “Let us show you how to take a bite out of the competition!” Inside, the marketing copy invited prospects to “join us for a bite!” with an invitation to a breakfast or lunch meeting. To further personalize the piece, DD3 looked at the websites of the prospects’ companies and tweaked the copy to reflect their products and industries. “If you want to sell more [product], I can show you how to do that in the [marketplace].”

The piece was funny. It was different. It was personalized and showed that the marketer cared enough to look up about the recipient’s business. The piece changed the dynamics of the normal direct mail relationship. Using this approach, the client was able to secure appointments with 100% of the prospects.

This isn’t going to work for everyone, of course, but the point is, for the right campaign, a higher per-piece cost is far less important than the results it generates. Marketers need to stop thinking in terms of per-piece cost and start thinking in terms of impact. 

Have questions? Comments? I'd love to hear from you. You can email me at htollvr@aol.com. For more information on primers for marketers and small businesses on digital, 1:1, and Web-to-print technologies, visit www.digitalprintingreports.com.

Posted by Heidi Tolliver Nigro on July 17, 2008 | Comments (0)