Creative Direct Mail is Effective

At Gossett Marketing we discourage direct mail if you are just going to stuff information into a plain white envelope and send it out willy-nilly. No one takes the time to read that stuff, so you are just wasting paper. What we do like is a targeted campaign that catches the eye of the intended recipient and moves them to action.

Let’s say you’re a hotel on beautiful Miami Beach and you want to attract conference groups to your property. What I would recommend is sending several mailings to people like event planners at major firms and travel agencies that specialize in group travel. In this scenario, the first mail out would be a brightly colored post card showing the beautiful beach on one side and giving information about conference facilities on the other. In a few weeks I might follow up by sending out a small package with a pair of imprinted sunglasses along with an information pamphlet. My last mailing would be a custom printed box (perhaps that looks like a suitcase) filled with beach and business items: maybe a pair of flip-flops, an embroidered cap, margarita mix, a notebook, pen, and a mouse pad. The mix would make it memorable – the fun-in-the-sun pieces show the venue’s allure (the beach, obviously!), but the business products would be useful to the recipient and remind them of your meeting facilities. At this point I would also include detailed information about the hotel, reception rooms, and any other relevant details.

Someone on the receiving end of that kind of campaign is definitely going to take notice. Plus, he or she will probably keep the logoed promotional products, which gives the hotel extra brand exposure. So when that hotel calls to follow up on the mailings, the recipient will have developed a level of familiarity with the brand and be more likely to discuss the prospect of working together.

My hotel mailing is just one example of a creative campaign – they can be done on a smaller or larger budget and still be effective. The rule is that they need to entice the recipient. And who has ever been enticed by a plain white envelope?! So get those creative juices flowing, target your audience, and get mailing!