There was a really interesting article on Econsultancy recently from a gentleman called Ashley Friedlein, who's been experimenting with the concept of what he calls Multi- or Omni-Marketing. Basically, it's the concept of combining Direct Mail with digital marketing, something we've discussed in great detail on this blog before, but his findings were very interesting all the same.
Friedlein decided to look in more detail at Direct Mail and its relationship with digital after reading about the new Royal Mail MarketReach 'Mail Men' campaign, which we've also discussed previously. One of the best quotes from this campaign is attributed to Nik Roope of the Poke consultancy who said: "On you 100th birthday, you'd be disappointed if the Queen only sent you an email."
Anyway, he decided to conduct a simple experiment, using a letter sent to a mailing list of digital, marketing and eCommerce professionals, asking them to check out his LinkedIn profile and, if they liked what they saw, to follow him. He sent the letters using an online mailshots service and each letter contained a unique URL so that the responses could be tracked.
In total, Friedlein sent over 200 letters and the whole process took him just 2 hours. Although the costs of the experiment was quite high at £1,500, the engagement rate was an impressive 9.4% and 156 new LinkedIn connections, a cost of £9.60 per connection.
Due to the clear novelty value, the success rate from the letter is not what's surprising, but what he hadn't expected was the personal responses received from many recipients. People described it as a 'breath of fresh air', and 'old skool – I liked it', among other things.
The writer has yet to receive any specific new business opportunities, but 33 of his new connections are senior directors and it's quite feasible that he will remain in their minds when new opportunities arise in the future. More importantly from our point of view, his little project has demonstrated once again the enhanced perception of Direct Mail, when done right, over its digital counterparts.
Let us show you how Direct Mail can work for you. Contact Paul Cowell on +44 (0)1624 698404.