How
critical is the timing for direct mail campaigns? Hitting the right window can
make the difference between recipients saying, “That’s me!” and the piece being
rejected out of hand. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in this tale of two
campaigns.
Here
are the similarities between Company A and Company B:
· Both sell snow-clearing
services to businesses, schools, and other professional organizations.
· Both use free ice melt as an
incentive to grab attention and encourage responses to their marketing
messages.
· Both mailed short-run
targeted postcards to facilities directors and operations managers in their
local areas.
· Both used a clean list, with
updated names and addresses.
Here
is where the campaigns differed:
Company
A sent its direct mailer in November. This mailer landed on recipients’ desks
in the start of the snowy season. Company B sent its mailer in July. This
mailer dropped in the heat of the summer months before most people even think
about the first snowflake beginning to fly.
Which
company got the timing right? Company B—the one that sent its mailer in the
summer. Among facilities and operations managers, decisions regarding snow
clearing are made in July and August, well in advance of the cold weather.
To
the average person, a direct mailer sporting ice-covered trees and automobiles
encapsulated in snow drifts might seem out of place and totally ill-timed in
the heat of the summer. But to the target audience, the message was loud and
clear: this company knows my business.
How
well do you know your target audience?
