Lumber company finds unique way to get the word out

Sometimes the answer to your marketing problem just hits you upside the head like a 2-by-4.

Take the case of 84 Lumber Co., a Pennsylvania-based lumber yard chain with more than 500 stores. The company wanted to revamp its store opening strategy for 2005 and knew it needed a way to break through and make a big impact.

Since most of its new stores opened in markets where there was no market recognition, 84 Lumber needed a way to establish itself with the professional builders it wanted to attract.

The solution was a product sample: an 11-inch long piece of 2-by-4 board that would be delivered to prospective customers right before the store opening. On one side was an invitation to the event that also mentioned prizes to be given out, such as tickets to a college football game or a golf tournament.

On the other side was a handwritten address, penned by one of the 32-member marketing staff, to give it that personal touch. “We felt that hand-addressing would show more customer service, and any edge we could get was critical for a mailer this important,” explains Jeff Kmiec, vice president of marketing at 84 Lumber.

One of the most time-intensive parts of the campaign was penning the labels by hand, which occasionally slowed delivery due to errors. So 84 Lumber tried doing one batch with typewritten labels.

“It resulted in a 10 percent lower response rate, so we went back to handwriting each address,” says Kmiec. The response to the mailing, which cost about $14,000, was outstanding, says Kmiec. “We had been getting a 20 percent turnout up to that time, but this one generated a 50 percent response rate,” he says.

Some customers turned up at the grand openings carrying their plank, raving about how it caught their attention. One said he was putting it on his desk
permanently to remind him – for his own business – about how simple and clever mailers can help keep marketing pieces from being treated like irrelevant junk mail. The company did six more smaller mailings from August through October and had similar results.

MAKING IT POSSIBLE TO SEND UNUSUAL MAILERS

The 2-by-4 plank was proof that you don’t always have to rely on a No. 10 envelope to get the word out.

Across all industries, marketers are finding unusual ways to break through and get their messages noticed, sending such unusual packages as clear plastic bottles through the mailstream.

A recent report on response rates found that “dimensional mail” drew a response rate of 3.67 percent on average, making it one of the most effective ways to reach customers.

In the case of 84 Lumber, the marketing team made sure to consult with local United States Postal Service® contacts as they prepared the announcements. That helped smooth the process for the mailing and ensured that the planks would arrive as needed for the announcements.

In the future, as more organizations embrace creativity with their direct mail, there may be even more unusual packages making their way through the mail. In a marketing environment that makes it increasingly difficult to capture the attention of consumers, sending them something out of the ordinary, such as a 2-by-4, is one way to make sure your message cuts through the clutter and gets noticed.