Working as I do with some 25 different b-to-b marketers, I spend a good bit of time
each day discussing lead generation with campaign managers. And not a day goes by
where one of them doesn't wonder aloud, "Why should mail still be part of our
lead-generation mix?"
Their rationale goes something like this: "I get lots of mail at home. I throw out
most of it. So if our company is still using mail as part of our marketing mix,
we must be throwing away a lot of money. Isn't everyone we want to reach online?
Does anyone read printed marketing materials anymore?"
The answers to those two questions may surprise you.
* They can't read your e-mail if they're not online.
It would be nice if every purchase
influencer you wanted to reach were actually online at work, but they're not. Plant
managers, health professionals, field service technicians, contractors and many
other businesspeople are on their feet, out of the office or away from computers
all day.
In addition to being the only way to reach them, mail allows these targets to read
your message on their clock and then respond when and how they want—picking up the
phone or posting your reply card.
It would also be nice if you could get your hands on the names and addresses of
all those targets who are online. Unfortunately, the current state of third-party
opt-in e-mail offers you the potential of reaching only a paltry 30% to 40% of the
total b-to-b audience. With mail, you can reach "em all. What's more, you can slice
and dice your targets any way that suits your marketing whim.
There are mailing lists available for every conceivable industry, product type,
job function, company size and purchase influence you could want. There are compiled
files of every business in the U.S. selected by date founded, employee size, job
title, SIC code, geography. There are even response files containing prospects with
a history of reading and responding to mail solicitations. That's catnip to a b-to-b
direct marketer.
* The target, and nothing but the target.
There are almost two-and-a-half times as many b-to-b prospect mail lists as there
are e-mail lists available for rental. (Which explains why you can reach almost
three times as many prospects with mail.) Due to the way they're compiled, mail
lists allow you to avoid waste by aiming your message at precisely the individuals
you want to reach.
* People like to get mail. Always have; always will.
A lot of the same marketers who claim that mail is “old school” can't resist opening
everything that lands in their inboxes each day and eagerly check their mailboxes
when they get home from the office each night.
They're not alone. Interestingly, both Gen X and Gen Y rate 75% of their mail as
being of immediate value to them; 63% report that they enjoy getting catalogs, and
64% said they'd ordered something online the previous month after receiving a direct
mail offer. DMA research shows that mail is well-received by prospects of all demographic
groups—from Gen Xers to baby boomers. And as marketers shift campaign dollars to
online strategies, every mailbox becomes less cluttered, thereby granting each piece
a clearer shot at getting noticed.
By contrast, how often have you identified a large group of unsolicited e-mails,
highlighted them and hit “delete” without thinking twice.
* Failure isn't an option, so mail should be.
Reaching the entire target market, targeting with precision, getting the attention
of cold prospects, mail continues to be a most effective channel for acquisition
activities.
How effective? Glad you asked. Our campaign data tell us that mail responders are
10% to 20% more likely to convert to a marketing-qualified lead than their online
counterparts. Cost-per-qualified mail lead is 5% to 15% less than online. And field
sales reps report a 7% to 15% higher likelihood of working a mail-based lead.
Russell Kern is founder and CEO of the Kern Organization, a direct marketing agency,
and the author of “S.U.R.E.-Fire Direct Response Marketing: Generating Business-
to-Business Sales Leads for Bottom-line Success” (McGraw-Hill, 2001). He can be
reached at
russell@thekernorg.com.