Getting your Mail OPENED and READ - Being Different and Unexpected

Most people sort their mail over a trash can.???The useless stuff gets dropped and the interesting or necessary stuff gets put on the kitchen table or wherever.???Well, hell in my case I have a long drive way.????I get the mail from the box on the street.???Pull into the drive way, perhaps steering with my knee in the Turbo.???By the time I get out of the car I’ve sorted the mail.???There’s a postal box and a trash can next to the door.???Typically, stuff I need to deal with whatever Bills I still receive or perhaps a personal note, whatever it might be goes in the house usually to my office, anything that I’m not interested in goes to the trash can in the garage, stuff that I may want to look at later (magazines and perhaps ads to keep) go in the postal box.

The late-great Gary Halbert, copywriting legend talked about “A-Pile” and “B-Pile” mail.???The A-pile is the stuff that in my example above gets into the house.??B-Pile is the stuff into the trash.???At the top of the stack would be a personal note from Grandma or something similar.??

Hand address, live stamp.???Personal and clearly a personal communication.???So, he made sure his letters looked hand-written with a live postage stamp, rather than a printed return business label. He wanted it to feel personal and individualized to ensure it didn’t drop into the trash can.???This can be accomplished with “fake handwritten” using handwriting machines that replicate hand writing, hand written fonts, or by using companies that actually hire teams to address envelops.

Beyond the “A-Pile” sneak up approach there are many other approaches that can work effectively, in fact much of the mail you’ll see in your mailbox over and over again – obviously working for them – are not “A-Pile” stuff.?

One standard approach is using “Teaser” copy on the envelop.???You can add photos, testimonials, or a headline to the front and/or back of the envelop.???All designed to get the envelop opened.

For lead generation and for follow-up with prospects I often use oversize color postcards.. While these are not obviously Pile A or Pile B, because you don’t have to open them to see what they’re about, they do give you a chance to present a compelling sales message on both sides. As long as you have a compelling headline, a compelling photograph, and a compelling offer, they can work well. With a postcard, the main pro is that they see your message immediately.?

However, you have to make sure that your postcard is so compelling that it instantly draws the person in, otherwise it will also be dropped straight into the trash. That involves knowing what they like and what they are looking for.??This comes back to Targeting and “Getting Inside the Conversation Already Going on In Their Head.”????Again, it’s ESSENTIAL to have a POWERFUL HEADLINE to get them to pay attention to the rest of the copy and to have them view the offer.

Pay attention – for ALL advertising you MUST ALWAYS have an OFFER with a CALL TO ACTION.???Anytime you see a company essentially advertising we’re here, if you’re ever interested think of us – you know they are wasting their money or have a motive different from creating a new client.???The best direct response marketing tend to have some sort of “Lead Magnet” – a Free Book, Offer, Webinar, Evaluation, White Paper that’s designed to solve their problem.???

One other approach which is again not that “A-Pile” approach but certainly works to gain attention and is likely to get opened is what we would call lumpy mail or 3D mail.??Imagine if you got an actual bank bag in the mail instead of an envelope. It’s weird but that makes it compelling and interesting. You’re going to open that envelope/bank bag every single time.?

There are many options for interesting or??weird stuff you can do with direct mail marketing, and it costs a lot less than you think. I actually did one recently that included an Olympic gold medal in a bag. You can feel the shape and weight before you even open it, so there is no way you are going to throw it away.???Lumpy mail would be having something in the envelop that is “Lumpy” and creates curiosity.??You’ve seen this a lot with the companies that print custom pens.???With that they’ve likely done it too many times to create much curiosity.??However you can put a “hot wheels” car in the envelop, an aspirin or aspirin bottle, or anything else that creates curiosity to open the envelop.

One additional iteration to this type of mail would be including “Grabbers.”??Gary Halbert was again a pioneer at this kind of stuff. He actually sent out direct mail marketing that included a letter and a dollar bill attached – a real dollar bill! That is sure to get the attention of someone opening it.???I’ve seen mailers with a package of aspirin attached to the letter with a letter that started with “Let’s cure your biggest headache.”

If you were chasing a huge CEO, you might even feel bold and attach a $100 bill to a letter sent by overnight FedEx.??That may seem like a big cost, but if you land that huge client, it is a drop in the bucket. What I am saying is get creative and don’t be afraid to invest in unique direct mail marketing, because it’s exactly that, an investment.?

When it comes to big prospects that I really want to get on board, I set up a long-term campaign. If they are super valuable, they qualify for this massive campaign. I might mail them Mrs. Fields cookies and popcorn and a big box of what I call a shock and awe package. After that, I will send a postcard a week for 12 weeks, and then what looks like a personalized letter.?

I never give up on these people either. As soon as you give up, you guarantee they won’t ever become a client. But as long as keep a line of communication open, there is always a chance.?

I have had people tell me in the past that I sent them stuff for seven years before they finally made a decision.?

Learn more about my Complete Fill Your Practice Extraordinary Marketing Program:

https://www.ExtraordinaryAdvisorMarketing.com

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