Finally, A Good Direct Mail Letter

I received an interesting letter in the mail on Friday. 

Here it is: 




So, let's start with the bad: 

For some reason, the date on the letter was typed in as April 11. The postmark on the envelope said May 4. So someone at Key Bank made a mistake.

The second bad thing was the name. You NEVER mail a letter to someone without knowing their name. "ATTN: Manager/Owner" is completely impersonal, and will always get a much worse response then "Dear Dave."

Ok, so let's get into the good:

I thought the message here was really interesting. Mark, the branch manager at the local Key Bank, was offering to do something he felt could really benefit me. Specifically, he offered to distribute my marketing materials to his customers for free.

Importantly, he wasn't asking for anything back in return, although it's implied that if he does this for me, I will reciprocate in some way...probably either by referring him business or becoming a Key Bank client.

I thought this was a really good marketing tactic, and certainly better than the vast majority of direct mail I receive.

The case he made was pretty compelling; offering me something that most business owners crave -- free promotions to potential customers.

A couple of key lessons that I see here are:

1. It's much better to give first then ask first. By giving (in this case, giving was done in the form of offering to promote my business), the bank got me interested, and increased m chances of saying "yes." And once I said "yes" to this, the chance of me becoming a client of there's shot up too.

2. Partnerships work. A partnership is simply a relationship between two firms in which they both hope to benefit. The bank offered me the benefit of customer exposure. And the benefit they would have received in return was my business.

Partnerships are key to the success of many businesses. To identify potential partners, think about other companies who are serving the customers you would like to serve. And then contact them. In the bank's case, it knew that it was serving customers that I wanted to serve.

Importantly, partnerships and direct mail are just two of tons of marketing tactics that are available to you to grow your business. What's critical is having a real marketing plan and identifying the optimal marketing tactics for YOUR business. Watch the video below to learn more: