Praxis Communications, Inc.

USING TRADITIONAL DIRECT MAIL TO DRIVE RESPONSE
Challenge:
In spite of all the emphasis on search engine marketing, optimization, on-line directories, and other internet marketing tools, you're still not able to reach certain niche audiences. This often happens because the normal terms people use to find the known solution don't describe your unique approach to it. This is a case in which your product or service offering can't be described in the familiar space of that market. For example, material handling specialists understand a structural mezzanine as a well-known concept for facilitating inventory flow in a distribution center, but a real estate developer has no idea that a mezzanine can double the useable floorspace in an existing vacant building without the cost of new construction, making the whole property much more versatile and saleable. How can you promote this concept to someone who isn't even looking for it?

Solution:
Let's say you have a product or service that is very well understood in a relatively mature market. Everyone who needs your product knows how to search for it. This reduces your product or service to a commodity, more or less, until you can get the prospect to your web site to convince him of the relevant differentiated benefits of your brand. Now, perhaps your product has application in some less mature niche markets, and folks in that space don't know they need your product yet. Direct mail becomes an “interest generator” in this case, telling a very quick story about how your product is the perfect solution to an as-yet unidentified problem. It's the ideal way to promote the concept of your product in terms they understand, written directly about their concerns and issues. And if you want to track response to your web site, you can use a unique URL to track clickthroughs from the new address to your official site.

Getting it done:
  1. Make a list of all the markets and applications for which your product or service is perfectly suited, but is not well known or understood. Define the top two or three to get started.
  2. Describe the benefits of your product to these new markets. Consult some existing research or conduct a quick study to this audience to confirm your suspicions.
  3. Develop some new web content on your main site that adequately fulfills your prospects' interests. At the same time, secure additional unique URLs for each market to track response to your web site, then set up a single page of content that addresses this market. Check with your hosting firm to make sure they will forward (and track) the clicks to your main site.
  4. Create a direct mail campaign that is not overly complex or slick – something you can test with some digitally printed output. Use the unique URL as a fulfillment address. Mail to a small percentage of your market and monitor the response. Adjust as needed and re-launch.
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