How does it work?
The key is for the letter to
be sincere and to strike a nerve.
That means the first sentence or two must refer to something specific that will
catch not only the attention of the target but also the attention of the
gatekeepers. And, remember, low key is better than keyed up.
Not: ‘Wow! The recent award you received shows that you
and your company really are the greatest! It didn’t get anywhere near the news
coverage it should have.’
What’s wrong with this
approach? Essentially, it doesn’t deliver any value to the recipient and
doesn’t include anything to spark a response.
Instead: ‘You were recently quoted in the Tribune as saying about your company that “global expansion
is important but growing our key domestic markets is essential.” Just this past
quarter our local distributors in your key markets of Illinois and Indiana have
found that face-to-face interaction is becoming more and more effective in
several, perhaps surprising, locations for your products.’
This approach is much better
because it’s specific and delivers value to the recipient. Face-to-face selling
is working in specific markets.
This kind of micro-marketing
letter should contain a subject line at the top that itself delivers value and,
if possible, sparks immediate interest. For example, ‘Re: Illinois and Indiana
see surprising growth.’ And the letter should always be signed personally in
blue ink. (Black is too serious and ‘legal’ in nature.)
E-mails can be used in a similar way, but
individual letters have worked well for us. Busy executives too often delete
e-mails whose senders they don’t recognize, and high-level e-mail addresses can
be tough to get. In most companies, at least, a human being has to actually touch
a letter before throwing it away — or pausing to second-guess that decision and
just sending it up the ladder to where we want it to go.
So, when I see a potential
major opportunity that truly interests me, and that our services can support
effectively, I often write a letter and drop it in the mail. It’s
micro-marketing that can deliver macro results.
Naturally, we also use direct
mail in many other ways, often in combination with calling campaigns to set
appointments for our clients. If you’d like more of our thinking on
micro-marketing, or other business-building topics, just give us a call. We’d
love to talk with you one on one and, eventually, maybe even face to face.
Philip S. Krone is the
founder and president of Productive Strategies, Inc., a 17-year-old Northfield,
Illinois-based management and marketing consulting firm. Productive Strategies
provides clients with particular expertise in sales process development, lead
generation and appointment setting, marketing and marketing communications.
Phil can be reached at (847) 446-0008 ext.1 or [email protected].
