Direct mail is probably the oldest trick in the ABM-book. And it works like gangbusters.
Even in the age of digital and the coming (?) metaverse, sending a surprising, personal and thoughtful gift along with a letter printed out on paper, in the mail, will always rock.
…provided, you do it right and put in the work.
Here is our direct mail playbook.
0. warm up the account. That’s right – we don’t send stuff in the mail to cold accounts anymore, and usually don’t recommend our clients to do so… you want at least a little interaction (Linkedin, phone, slack channel, whatever) prior to sending stuff.
1. Get the data – create a spreadsheet of your prospects’ contact data and personal interests (yes, you have to research) that can serve as a basis of the gift.
2. brainstorm gift ideas for each prospect
3. create a personalized letter to go along with the gift
4. call/write to the prospect: “I’m about to send a small package that you’ll like and just want to make sure you’ll get it at XYZ address.” If you don’t have their address, adjust script accordingly.
send it
5. have a follow-up/next steps in place.
This is a direct response play: because the account has been warmed up, you’ll want to get a response from the prospect – keep that in mind.
“But what if it comes across as manipulative?”
If this is a valid concern for most of your prospects, here is what you can do.
– Use it with prospects you know well and can safely assume that they won’t misunderstand your intention.
– Use it as a “thank you gift”: make it part of a podcast play for example. In this case, you send the guest a “thank you gift” for appearing on your podcast/webinar/event or for whatever small favor they did for you.
Have fun with this, get creative, track results, iterate and make it an automated part of your marketing plays.
