• The relationship business.

    Posted on September 26th, 2008 by and currently 9 commenting.

    About 5 years ago, after years in the marketing industry, I almost left this business entirely. For those of you out there in blogland who don’t know me personally, here is my view of the world (taken from the ‘about me’ section of my personal blog):

    I am single mother. I have two amazing kids. I live with an equally amazing man I love and adore. In a simple two story pink house. I own my own business. I hate debt. The only personal debt I believe in having is for the home I live in. I like yoga and good wine. I love my life and try really hard to keep it really simple. Some days I am better at that than others.

    Okay. Let me add this to that: I am not really a stuff person. Never have been. I try hard not to create needless piles of paper or purchase things if I don’t need them. When I do buy something, I buy it to last. I bank online. I get very little mail. I don’t use plastic bags. I don’t drive a hybrid, but I am looking into it. So you see, I don’t like to junk up the world. Which brings me back to the main point of this blog.

    I almost walked away from this business because I couldn’t get right with creating pieces of paper trying to convince folks they needed something. From advertising to brochures to direct mail, I’ve have done and seen it all. (Direct marketers actually celebrate 3% response rates. Do that math: If you send out 500,000 TARGETED direct mail pieces that means that 485,000 are totally useless. Trash. WHAT is that really about for goodness sake?) I also hate the terms “target market” or “cost per acquisition”. Your customers are real live human beings, people! People with passion, lives and dreams.

    That is why I love what we are doing these days. Helping companies create meaningful relationships with their customers. Helping them find and celebrate the passions they share with their customers. Yes, we use on-line tools and off-line tools (some of which are made of paper). But we are using them to create relationships that ignite movements. And relationships, if nurtured and handled right, seldom end up the trash can. It is meaningful and worthwhile work in a world where human connection is the one of the main things we all long for and the one thing, money — or ads or direct mail — still can’t buy.

  • http://www.brandidentityguru.com/wordpress BIG Kahuna

    So does BOF not do any direct mail then? Have you taken traditional tactics out of your bag?

  • http://pointoforder.squarespace.com kamran

    After 17 long and tiresome years in the printing business, I had to walk away from it.
    Lack of the ‘Wow’ moment.
    The truth is, there were very few ‘Wow!’ moments. Very, very few.
    In fact, many of my favorite ‘wow’ moments were created by your team, in things far cleverer than direct mail.
    But there were still too few of them to suit me.
    So few one could count them on a hand each year.
    Far more,’Ooops!’ moments, and we had those in spades.
    And we ran direct mail like it was going out of style.
    And, they were.
    Are.
    I was responsible for the mass carpet bombing with slips of paper, almost always to people who had not opted into the database but were rounded up in a demographic survey. Mainly to recipients who were not sophisticated enough to get on the ‘do not mail’ lists.
    The Kahuna has it wrong.
    Direct mail should be put out of it’s misery.
    Like cold calling. Or blast faxes for fake vacations, or spam.
    Icepick and buggywhip ads.
    Patent medicine and lampblack shills.
    Traditional tactics, forsooth!
    Engaging, inspiring, fascinating, rewarding. That is what helps move a movement along. Following the some old tactic matrix does not.
    Fueling a passion by creating a movement.
    Dat’s marketing!

  • http://www.brandidentityguru.com/wordpress BIG Kahuna

    I think anyone that eliminates any single tactic whether it be direct mail, billboard ads or word of mouth marketing is selling a client short. Different things work for different people. Broadly saying direct mail should be elminated is not something I would ever recommend. My company has made millions of dollars on direct mail and even more for our clients over the years and it’s a huge industry. With any tactic some do it right and some don’t.

    Some of my best clients called us from a direct mail piece and are now brand ambassadors for us (you know the whole “movement” thingy). Of course we believe in an integrated branding strategy and don’t rely on a single tactic.

    But to each their own.

  • http://www.unitedlinen.com Scott Townsend

    I get what you are saying. I too believe developing stronger relationships will make other means of communication more effective. Once you know people better, you start to realize the best way to approach them with your message.

  • http://www.catchyourlimit.com Jeff

    Okay…I think you’re right on, mostly. I hate 99.999% of all direct mail and really advertising over all. If you look at the wasted time, money and efforts that go into creating bad strategy and bad executions it is really unfortunate.

    But what if you are really targeting? What if you send out just a few pieces of direct mail, meaning a couple hundred to people who you want to do business with? What if it isn’t a generic letter but something meant to spur a conversation in an attempt to build a relationship over time?

  • http://www.visiondirectmarketing.com/blog1 Erik Deckers

    Jeff,

    As a direct mailer, I’m not real fond of a lot of what I see either. I recycle all the bad mail I get at home and keep the gems as samples for work.

    It’s a very small folder.

    I always recommend targeting personalized mail with well-written letters to improve response. And I’ve hounded readers about carefully selecting their mailing lists. It eliminates the need to send out many thousands of pieces when just a few thousand will achieve the same results.

    Of course, my hope is that the customer will see what a few thousand pieces of a well-done campaign will do, and want to do a lot more as a result.

  • http://thebrandbuilder.worpress.com olivier Blanchard

    Great post, Robbin.

    Guys, this is not a post about the pros and cons of direct mail. It’s about purpose, context and the true spirit of what some of us are trying to do.

    You’re coming to a discussion about philosophy armed with arguments about tactics. Two totally separate conversations.

  • Christy

    *swoon* Olivier has it all in place. I’m in his tribe. And Robbin’s.

  • http://brainsonfire.com Robbin

    Sorry for just now responding to your comments, guys. Wish I could tell you I have been on a quiet deserted island somewhere without internet access, but it’s more like a touch of over committed.

    You are dead on Olivier, this is not a post about the pros and cons on direct mail. Scott, I love this”Once you know people better, you start to realize the best way to approach them…” Spot on. I can’t tell you the difference we have seen when companies start having a real conversation with their customers. It’s life changing.