I love sharing examples of successful direct mail pieces with you. Over the next week or two, I’m going to share a few examples using our Message in a bottle self-mailer. This comes from a manufacturing shop in Bend, OR, Superior Display. This is a great example of follow-up marketing by Zack. But first, a little background. Each year Zack and his team display their high-end, museum quality cases at Global Shop, a trade show in their industry
They meet with hundreds of buyers and purchasing agents all over the country. Their top two goals are #1, seeing their current clients and show them what’s new and different, and, #2, build their list. Here’s a link to see a copy of Zack’s letter.
Trade show attendees are often bombarded with pre and post show advertising. It comes from the show organizers themselves, your company, and your competitors. It can get downright overwhelming for some prospects. This is a time when you have to be out-of-the-box, unique and be willing to stand out from the crowd. A simple, standard size postcard probably won’t cut it. Be daring and stand out.
There’s lots I like about the letter. First, it’s short, sweet, and to the point. I am a big fan of long form sales letters. However, I’m not a fan of long form just for the sake of being long. Zack could have added dozens of testimonials, images, case studies, additional copy, etc. However, the only goal of this entire piece was to get the distributor to get Zack’s product on their website and into their catalogs… that’s it. It’s the biggest first hurdle Zack must overcome in selling through distributors.
The purchasing agent is happy they found a new vendor at a show, and gung-ho to sell the new line when they leave. Then they get back to the office and normalcy sets in, the excitement wanes, and pretty soon they don’t do anything. This is Zack’s way of giving them a swift kick in the ass. People are lazy, and they ALL need a swift kick.
Included in the original package (but not in your sample) is a flash drive with all the images and information they need to get the products on the web and in catalogs. I absolutely love this line:
I thought since you probably get dozens of mailings each day that we would send ours in a unique package that matches our unique displays and customer service.
One of the biggest mistakes we see is not properly tying in the 3D Mail object with your letter. You must connect the dots for your reader whenever you use unique pieces like this. This letter is far from perfect. There are at least six things that could have been done differently that could have increased response (a deadline being the #1 thing, which I even missed when I reviewed it the first time). But the bottom line is Zack got it down at out the door. No money was ever made sitting on your butt.
Readers Only Special
Get the Message in a Bottle Self-Mailer for 20% when you use Promo Code bottle20. The bottom of the plastic bottle comes off for easy access. Simply remove the bottom, roll up your letter and insert it! Put the bottom back on, slap the address label on, add postage and drop it in the mail. It’s that simple. Or, we can do it all for you! Just give me a call about complete implementation for you.
Here are just a few samples of letters you can use to get you started using the message-in-a bottle:
Get Them Now For 20% when you use promo code bottle20. Check out the message-in-a-bottle here, and be sure to check out the video on that page for more tips on using the message in a bottle for maximum success.
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