In the good ol’ days, gatekeepers were living, breathing people who controlled access to senior executives. Today, however, gatekeepers are seldom people, but are more often an e-mail filter or voice mail. And even if your e-mail makes it through, chances are it may get deleted before it’s even opened.

As technology replaces clerical staff as keeper of the gate at many companies, marketers are looking for new ways to breech the fire walls and reach senior executives. The biggest challenge? Getting an executive’s attention.

“Senior-level people are information junkies; they’re always looking to find a way to get an edge over the competition,” says Cyndi Greenglass, president of agency services at Diamond Marketing Solutions Inc., in Chicago, and chair of the DMA Business-to-Business Council. “Offering them information they can’t get elsewhere, such as a white paper or the results of a new survey, is a great way to get their attention.”

But the offer doesn’t have to be something commercial.

Spyro Kourtis, president of The Hacker Group, a direct marketing agency in Bellevue, Wash., has found that third-party survey forms sent from a third party have a tendency to get opened by executives, especially when they offer something of value in exchange, such as a leadership book.

“Multiple-touch pieces also work well,” says Greenglass, where the executive receives one part of a two-way walkie talkie, for example, with the first contact and the promise of the second when they agree to take a phone call or fill out a form.

A full-service direct marketing firm, Diamond Marketing Solutions Inc., has found that, because senior-level executives are more concerned with weeding out uninvited e-mails and voice-mail messages, “direct mail is extremely effective in getting to a c-level individual,” Greenglass reports. This is especially true if the piece provides them with information that is useful, but is not a sales pitch.

Barbara Pellow, CMO of Kodak’s Graphics Communications Group in Rochester, N.Y., confirms that she opens anything that is uniquely packaged or presented, while her secretary opens anything in a No. 10 envelope.

“If it’s in a No. 10 envelope, she assumes it’s not personal and she takes care of it,” Pellow explains.

Personal-looking mail almost always gets by, which may be why CEO-to-CEO communications, such as a personal letter on corporate stationery, is a format Kourtis prefers.

Likewise, priority envelopes are also almost always opened. Many staff assistants and other gatekeepers open priority envelopes first, putting them at the top of an executive’s pile of envelopes. Beyond urgency, they evaluate whether the content being sent is relevant and sort it into several categories.

But if the material has nothing to do with their bosses’ area of interest, it gets tossed.