Some of the best marketing ideas are "so crazy, they just might work." We want to know what jaw-dropping ingenuity your small business is bringing to the table. Share your most effective small business marketing solutions involving direct mail, or read on — and get inspired.
Robert Smith | Champion Media Worldwide, Loves Park, Ill.
Entrepreneur Robert Smith hoped that sending an event invitation via a well-known international shipping brand would help his seminar stand out. Instead, the marketing effort for his two-day “Next Level” seminar in suburban Chicago fizzled. Smith quickly shifted to postcards and began working with the U.S. Postal Service.® The more cost-effective format allowed for a larger mailing of 1,600 pieces and generated a much-improved 2-percent response. “Direct mail lets you pick a niche and test your offer without spending a lot of money,” Smith says.
Kristy Hemp | Experimental Aircraft Association, Oshkosh, Wis.
In addition to changing the look and content of the Experimental Aircraft Association’s fundraising mailing this year, Hemp and her team worked to test a new affinity group list. Shifting away from past lists for individuals interested in military aviation, EAA used a list from an organization that shared its cause: World War II education and artifact preservation. The mailing generated a 361-percent response increase over the previous year’s numbers, and the number of donors from the test list was nearly equal to the number of total past donors.
John Schulte | National Mail Order Association, Minneapolis, Minn.
Schulte’s organization sets an example for mail-order marketers by using direct mail to solicit members, sending prospects a postcard with a crossword puzzle. To get the answers, recipients must visit the group’s website, where they are invited to join or sign up for a free e-newsletter. In a twist that might also inspire, the NMOA receives free postcard printing in exchange for a text-only printer ad positioned as a sponsor announcement alongside the recipient’s address.
Elliott Schwartz | EmptyLegMarket, Pinehurst, N.C.
The launch of EmptyLegMarket, an online clearinghouse for unsold segments on private jets, captured the industry’s attention with a unique direct mail campaign. Schwartz’s group purchased hollow mannequin legs, decorated them with small jets and the company’s URL, and mailed them to 30 private jet operators. The legs kicked doors open. “Recipients told me they couldn’t stop laughing,” Schwartz says. Forty percent of the list registered on the site after receiving the empty legs. The mailing generated trade media publicity, too.
Vito Curcuru | Pilz Automation Safety L.P., Canton, Mich.
Curcuru’s series of three variable data postcards not only generated leads from 4 percent of the companies on Pilz’s mailing list, they also landed the company one of its top-10 customers. Prospects received one of three offers — a free screwdriver or pen, a special report, or a product sample — when they called their sales representative, whose contact information was added with variable printing.
Steve Picha | Rivercity Autowerks, Hudson, Wis.
Picha generated $8,000 in sales and 40 leads simply by targeting a mailer to 3,500 Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche owners within a 20-mile radius of his foreign auto repair shop. The postcard, which promoted the shop’s services as costing less than dealer repairs, yielded a 400-percent ROI — making it Picha’s most successful marketing campaign to date.
