By: Frank S. Washington

It’s no secret that big companies often don’t do well when making overtures to small businesses. In many instances, their outreach efforts fail not because big businesses don’t have anything worthwhile to offer but because major marketers aren’t very good at holding the attention of small entrepreneurs.

But a recent, award-winning campaign by Verizon did indeed capture the fancy of many small businesses – and earned some notice from the big boys, too, for both its effectiveness and its simplicity.

In fall 2006, the telecom giant began sending out a test mailing of direct mail pieces that bore a striking resemblance to an all-too-familiar office-supply staple – the interoffice envelope. Verizon targeted 11,851 small businesses with the envelopes, which featured the words “INTERNET NOTICE” stripped across the top and the crossed-out names of fictitious previous recipients. A final “name” – “Cable User” – was unobscured, a cue for business owners to “cross out” their cable provider and switch to a high-speed digital subscriber line (DSL) provided by Verizon.

The envelope was accompanied by a cover letter – with the heading “For Speed, For Features, For Price … Verizon Business DSL” – that was signed by Verizon small business marketing director Marquita Carter.

In an interview, Carter explains that Verizon officials settled on the three-month “Interoffice Envelope” campaign after tests suggested its simple familiarity stood a strong chance of cutting through the promotional clutter that confronts many small businesses.

“The iconic look of an interoffice envelope – who’s going to just toss that out?” asks Carter rhetorically. “We tested this approach and got some really strong results. It bettered our control number by 30 percent.”

Carter says a test is part of every direct mail campaign at Verizon. The company sends out two or more different pieces of direct mail and measures which one generates the most calls and conversions to sales. The responses are benchmarked against the control campaign, which is the best campaign from the last direct mail cycle.