The Revival of Direct Mail in B2B Marketing

WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.540 --> 00:00:02.740 Yeah. 2 00:00:05.140 --> 00:00:08.000 Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of GDP Growth. I'm your host, 3 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:11.310 timmy Bauer, the content strategist here at Sweet Fish and today I am 4 00:00:11.310 --> 00:00:15.770 talking with Carrie straits, she is the director of growth at sure payroll. 5 00:00:15.770 --> 00:00:19.990 Carrie, welcome to the show. Hey, thanks for having me, I'm excited to 6 00:00:19.990 --> 00:00:24.410 talk to you. The topic that we're talking about is direct mail. Now, the 7 00:00:24.410 --> 00:00:28.420 last time we were talking I asked you, you know, what does everybody think of 8 00:00:28.430 --> 00:00:32.259 when they think of direct mail and how have you seen it done really 9 00:00:32.259 --> 00:00:36.100 successfully or how have you used it really successfully? So, first question 10 00:00:36.100 --> 00:00:40.050 for you carry is how do most people think about it? I think most people 11 00:00:40.050 --> 00:00:43.820 think about direct mail in terms of like those big value pack fires that 12 00:00:43.820 --> 00:00:48.500 you get once a week with the coupons for your local car wash or your local 13 00:00:48.510 --> 00:00:52.990 vent cleaning place or like a big oversized postcard with bright colors 14 00:00:52.990 --> 00:00:56.950 for the local car dealership. But it's become so much more than that. It's 15 00:00:56.950 --> 00:01:02.090 become such an interesting channel to me that you can automate the sense to 16 00:01:02.100 --> 00:01:06.180 um, meet a person's needs or wherever they're at in their funnel. Um, with 17 00:01:06.180 --> 00:01:11.520 personalized, highly personalized sends, um, with your company logo, you can do 18 00:01:11.520 --> 00:01:15.690 gifting, um, you can do gift cards. It's become such a much more 19 00:01:15.690 --> 00:01:20.080 interesting channel than it used to be. Yeah. What initially made you sort of 20 00:01:20.080 --> 00:01:24.210 latch onto it as a channel that you wanted to invest in? I started noticing 21 00:01:24.210 --> 00:01:27.770 it a couple of years ago when I was working with some tech companies 22 00:01:27.770 --> 00:01:31.490 looking at building on my text back and I started to get really cool stuff in 23 00:01:31.490 --> 00:01:36.310 the mail from them, like branded cupcakes. I had a peer who was pregnant 24 00:01:36.320 --> 00:01:40.270 had mentioned she was going out on mat leave. She got a branded one Z from her 25 00:01:40.270 --> 00:01:44.850 salesperson and I was like this is different, this is up in the game, this 26 00:01:44.850 --> 00:01:49.310 is personalized. It is definitely in the moment and it worked for some of 27 00:01:49.310 --> 00:01:52.750 our really long sales cycles that we were going through. But also as a 28 00:01:52.750 --> 00:01:56.310 marketer I find it being really effective as a sales enablement tool 29 00:01:56.310 --> 00:02:01.340 for my sales team. Yeah, so you said something interesting the last time we 30 00:02:01.340 --> 00:02:06.870 talked, you said that you would never recommend a standalone direct mail. But 31 00:02:06.870 --> 00:02:10.660 as a holistic strategy, it's very powerful. So what do you mean by that? 32 00:02:11.140 --> 00:02:16.110 I would never, in my life send a stand alone postcard or standalone gift box. 33 00:02:16.120 --> 00:02:19.900 It has to be part of an overarching strategy and it's got to be like a 34 00:02:19.900 --> 00:02:24.380 multi touch strategy. So I've used it in my A. B and prospecting strategy 35 00:02:24.380 --> 00:02:28.330 where I'm surrounding my prospects with all of these digital messages. But I 36 00:02:28.330 --> 00:02:32.130 also get a really tactile physical way to get my message in front of them as 37 00:02:32.130 --> 00:02:36.310 well. So I'm reaching them in a variety of different channels and that's how I 38 00:02:36.310 --> 00:02:40.880 would recommend using direct mail or automated sons. Yeah. Why do you think 39 00:02:40.890 --> 00:02:45.890 a lot of BB marketers are not using direct mail in their strategy? I think 40 00:02:45.890 --> 00:02:49.040 a lot of people still think it's a dinosaur and if you're sending a 41 00:02:49.040 --> 00:02:52.360 postcard or all letter than it is a dinosaur, you're doing it like a 42 00:02:52.360 --> 00:02:56.510 dinosaur. But if you take advantage of all the tech that's out there to enable 43 00:02:56.510 --> 00:03:00.190 your sales team with gifting and direct mail when they need it, I think it's 44 00:03:00.190 --> 00:03:03.150 really, it's interesting. It's powerful and it's new because it hasn't been 45 00:03:03.150 --> 00:03:07.560 done this way before. Yeah. So I want to dig into how you recommend a 46 00:03:07.560 --> 00:03:12.000 strategy is created or followed. So what do you think? Step one is to 47 00:03:12.010 --> 00:03:16.230 incorporating direct mail into your strategy? I think step one is 48 00:03:16.230 --> 00:03:19.230 understanding your audience and understanding what the thing is that 49 00:03:19.230 --> 00:03:23.610 you send them, that's going to resonate with them if it's the holidays, Is it 50 00:03:23.610 --> 00:03:26.510 something holiday themed? If it's valentine's day? Is that something is a 51 00:03:26.510 --> 00:03:32.330 valentine's day? Candy? It gets down to knowing your audience. Yeah. So how do 52 00:03:32.330 --> 00:03:36.080 you guys use it? We use it in a couple of different ways. We're using it in 53 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:40.640 sales enablement. So for some of our bigger dollar deals, we definitely 54 00:03:40.640 --> 00:03:45.070 opened up sort of the free wheel and let our sales team send whatever they 55 00:03:45.070 --> 00:03:48.570 feel they need to to move the deal along. Yeah, we definitely use it for 56 00:03:48.570 --> 00:03:52.960 sales enablement. But again, we also use it and strategies for different 57 00:03:52.970 --> 00:03:58.220 audiences in an A. B. M. Strategy. Yeah, Something we're going to start using in 58 00:03:58.220 --> 00:04:02.570 our A. B. M. Strategy is so we have somebody on the podcast and then 59 00:04:02.580 --> 00:04:05.470 they're going to say something really awesome. So we're going to make a 60 00:04:05.470 --> 00:04:08.280 canvas. I should probably shouldn't say this. But yeah, we're gonna make a 61 00:04:08.280 --> 00:04:12.120 canvas print out of whatever awesome thing that they said and said, I love 62 00:04:12.120 --> 00:04:17.040 it because if I'm on a podcast and I end up, you know, a couple of weeks 63 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:21.060 later I've got a canvas print of something that the host thought I said 64 00:04:21.070 --> 00:04:25.280 awesome. Like I'm framing, I'm putting that up on my wall that's going to be 65 00:04:25.290 --> 00:04:30.330 in my office forever. Yeah, you are. That's awesome. I'm I'm stealing that 66 00:04:30.340 --> 00:04:36.450 because we have a podcast to love it. So when you think about, oh there's 67 00:04:36.450 --> 00:04:41.370 something that you said, you said there are a ton of creative ways to do it. So 68 00:04:41.370 --> 00:04:44.740 why don't you just hit me with a few? What are some of the most creative but 69 00:04:44.740 --> 00:04:50.850 still very strategic ways that you've either seen direct mail used or done it 70 00:04:50.850 --> 00:04:57.010 yourself. Sure. Um one of the two things stick out in my head, one was a 71 00:04:57.010 --> 00:05:00.770 sort of swag bag from marquette, oh that I got two years ago. And what 72 00:05:00.770 --> 00:05:04.320 stuck out to me is that it wasn't a typical swag bay. These were a quality 73 00:05:04.320 --> 00:05:09.380 items. These were quality hoodie that I still wear. It's not in here to two 74 00:05:09.380 --> 00:05:13.560 years later, I still wear to this day daily. Um I got a pair of Ray Bans son 75 00:05:13.640 --> 00:05:18.450 sunglasses, like they were quality. The other piece that sticks out is a box I 76 00:05:18.450 --> 00:05:23.210 got from google over the summer and it was mixed tape themed and it had my 77 00:05:23.210 --> 00:05:29.360 name on it and it was incredibly detailed down to um including recycling 78 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:33.830 instructions for the packaging. So the level of attention and detail and 79 00:05:33.830 --> 00:05:38.850 personalization that those two boxes had was just amazing and incredibly 80 00:05:38.850 --> 00:05:44.690 memorable. Hey everybody Logan with Sweet fish here. If you're a regular 81 00:05:44.690 --> 00:05:48.600 listener of GDP growth, you know that I'm one of the co hosts of the show, 82 00:05:48.610 --> 00:05:52.490 but you may not know that. I also head up the sales team here at Sweet Fish. 83 00:05:52.500 --> 00:05:56.950 So for those of you in sales or sales ops, I wanted to take a second to share 84 00:05:56.950 --> 00:06:01.090 something that's made us insanely more efficient lately. Our team has been 85 00:06:01.090 --> 00:06:04.910 using lead I. Q. For the past few months. And what used to take us four 86 00:06:04.920 --> 00:06:10.770 hours gathering contact data now takes us only one where 75 more efficient 87 00:06:10.780 --> 00:06:14.620 were able to move faster with outbound prospecting and organizing our 88 00:06:14.620 --> 00:06:19.440 campaigns is so much easier than before. I'd highly suggest you guys check out 89 00:06:19.450 --> 00:06:25.040 lead I. Q. As well. You can check them out at lead I. Q. Dot com. That's L E A 90 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:33.630 D I Q dot com. All right. Let's get back to the show. I love that. So for 91 00:06:33.630 --> 00:06:38.060 anyone listening who wants to get in the game and start incorporating this, 92 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:40.950 they want to honestly follow your advice. How do you think they could 93 00:06:40.950 --> 00:06:48.890 screw it up? Well you send the wrong thing to the wrong person or you don't 94 00:06:48.890 --> 00:06:54.430 make a serious investment in it. Like sending something on the cheaper end is 95 00:06:54.430 --> 00:06:59.310 probably not a good idea. Not sending it as part of a strategy. If you send a 96 00:06:59.310 --> 00:07:03.550 box and don't include any SDR activity around it or digital activity, then 97 00:07:03.550 --> 00:07:06.700 you're just basically burning money. So you've got to add it as a bunch of 98 00:07:06.700 --> 00:07:10.930 different touchpoints and you've got to add money. It's got to be personalized 99 00:07:10.930 --> 00:07:15.820 and it's got to be quality. Yeah. When we think about giving gifts, um we're 100 00:07:15.820 --> 00:07:20.140 really inspired by a book called gift Ology and I actually need to read it. I 101 00:07:20.140 --> 00:07:24.250 talk about this book so often because I've gotten so much of it secondhand 102 00:07:24.250 --> 00:07:29.570 from my, from my best friend James, that I don't need to actually just read 103 00:07:29.570 --> 00:07:33.340 the book. I'm sorry john, but one of the central ideas in the book is that 104 00:07:33.340 --> 00:07:38.940 so often when companies give gifts, quote unquote, it's not something that 105 00:07:38.940 --> 00:07:43.910 the other person would love to receive its, you know? Yeah, it's like cheap 106 00:07:43.910 --> 00:07:48.660 swag, but real good gift giving is when you can figure out what that other 107 00:07:48.660 --> 00:07:52.310 person loves and give them something that, you know, is going to be 108 00:07:52.310 --> 00:07:56.880 impactful given what they're interested in. So we've actually incorporated 109 00:07:56.890 --> 00:08:01.860 again this is like we're trying to develop a really killer strategy for 110 00:08:02.040 --> 00:08:08.350 just building real friendships with the types of people that we want to have, 111 00:08:08.360 --> 00:08:12.190 you know in our network. And so one of the things that we do is we do a pre 112 00:08:12.190 --> 00:08:15.370 interview for every call and in the pre interview I hit you with a bunch of 113 00:08:15.370 --> 00:08:19.080 questions. But one of my sneaky goals in the pre interview is to figure out 114 00:08:19.080 --> 00:08:23.970 what you like because uh we haven't built out the strategy carry so I can't 115 00:08:23.970 --> 00:08:28.470 promise that you're gonna get anything in the mail. But yeah one of my sneaky 116 00:08:28.470 --> 00:08:32.330 goals is to figure out what you like. So we we actually recommend that folks 117 00:08:32.330 --> 00:08:36.280 who do podcasts, they should have a pre interview where they ask original 118 00:08:36.280 --> 00:08:40.120 research questions and topic discovery questions which we call P. O. V. 119 00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:44.220 Questions but also questions that are going to lend themselves well to 120 00:08:44.220 --> 00:08:47.880 figuring out what the other person likes so that you can do really good 121 00:08:47.880 --> 00:08:51.720 gift ology. So if you want to steal that one for your podcast as well carry 122 00:08:51.720 --> 00:08:56.650 well. Well that's a good one. I like that we do pre interviews but we don't 123 00:08:56.650 --> 00:08:59.780 really use them in that manner but I think that I'll give you a really good 124 00:08:59.780 --> 00:09:04.430 question. This is a fun one. You ask what is the current and you ask it 125 00:09:04.430 --> 00:09:07.930 right in that you're just doing the pre interview, you're just talking to them 126 00:09:07.930 --> 00:09:11.110 about you know potential topics and then you're like yeah so my next 127 00:09:11.110 --> 00:09:16.780 question for you is what is the current background wallpaper of your phone and 128 00:09:16.790 --> 00:09:20.880 uh you know whatever they answer, chances are it's going to be very 129 00:09:20.880 --> 00:09:24.890 personal and it's going to give you a sense of who they are and what they're 130 00:09:24.890 --> 00:09:29.600 like and what they like and uh minus a picture of my girlfriend. So then you 131 00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:34.070 might start asking me about her and you know, we just got engaged and now 132 00:09:34.070 --> 00:09:38.940 there's all kinds of potential for things that you could do. I'm still in 133 00:09:38.940 --> 00:09:45.950 that in general, like I'm real socially awkward with covid stealing that. Yeah, 134 00:09:45.960 --> 00:09:49.020 well, you know, as long as we're just jamming on pre interviews, another 135 00:09:49.020 --> 00:09:54.010 great one is to start your call with, you know, so hey Carrie, how's your 136 00:09:54.020 --> 00:09:57.800 Tuesday going? So today's Tuesday? So I'm not going to say how's it going? 137 00:09:57.800 --> 00:10:00.130 I'm going to say how's your Tuesday going now? You're thinking about 138 00:10:00.130 --> 00:10:04.370 Tuesday and then I say what's been the highlight and lowlight of your day? And 139 00:10:04.370 --> 00:10:09.230 I have been shocked at how intimate and personal people will get with me when 140 00:10:09.230 --> 00:10:12.550 they tell me what their highlight and lowlight are. And they will straight up 141 00:10:12.550 --> 00:10:16.050 say what they're low light is. It's like, you know, we have to take our dog 142 00:10:16.050 --> 00:10:19.920 to the vet and you know, or whatever, like whatever the low light is and 143 00:10:19.920 --> 00:10:23.260 they'll get very personal with me and the highlight, you know, and the 144 00:10:23.260 --> 00:10:27.200 highlight could have nothing to do with work. And uh it's just another clever 145 00:10:27.200 --> 00:10:31.820 strategy to building like a human relationship with that person. Do you 146 00:10:31.820 --> 00:10:35.120 get more highlights and lowlights? Everybody wants to start with the 147 00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:39.340 highlight. And also it kind of depends on what time of day it is. So if it's 148 00:10:39.340 --> 00:10:42.400 in the morning, I typically don't get any low lights. But if it's like the 149 00:10:42.400 --> 00:10:47.460 end of the day, they're getting ready to like leave and hit up, you know, go 150 00:10:47.460 --> 00:10:52.090 out and get a drink or something. Like relax from the day. Well, it's covid a 151 00:10:52.090 --> 00:10:54.710 lot of people aren't going out, but if you're in florida, it's like the 152 00:10:54.710 --> 00:11:00.460 disease doesn't exist here. Yeah, So they're going out. So you get them at 153 00:11:00.460 --> 00:11:04.890 that time, they will tell you what the love light is. I think I opened with my 154 00:11:04.890 --> 00:11:10.150 low light was a three hour zoom meeting today. Yeah, exactly. So if I wanted to 155 00:11:10.150 --> 00:11:14.080 do gift ology on you, I could, I could get on Pinterest and start looking for 156 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:19.730 some inspiration for good gifts that are related to long, unnecessary zoom 157 00:11:19.730 --> 00:11:27.310 calls. Amen to that gift ology. That's really interesting. Well, I'm happy to 158 00:11:27.310 --> 00:11:30.690 advertise it because I've heard such good things about it and I need to read 159 00:11:30.690 --> 00:11:36.200 it. You know what? You don't, you pull it off like you did. Anyways carry. 160 00:11:36.200 --> 00:11:39.670 This has been a super fun conversation. I'm really glad that we got to jam on 161 00:11:39.670 --> 00:11:42.800 this. How would you like listeners to connect with you? You can find me on 162 00:11:42.800 --> 00:11:47.270 linkedin. Just search up carry straits. I'm also on twitter, Same first name, 163 00:11:47.270 --> 00:11:50.930 last name Carrie straits. Thank you so much for being on the podcast. Thanks 164 00:11:50.930 --> 00:11:52.060 for having me. This is great. 165 00:11:53.140 --> 00:11:57.560 Is the decision maker for your product or service Abebe marketer. Are you 166 00:11:57.560 --> 00:12:01.760 looking to reach those buyers through the medium of podcasting? Considered 167 00:12:01.760 --> 00:12:06.980 becoming a co host of GDP Growth. This show is consistently ranked as a top 168 00:12:06.980 --> 00:12:11.130 100 podcast in the marketing category of apple podcasts and the show gets 169 00:12:11.130 --> 00:12:16.360 more than 100 and 30,000 downloads each month. We've already done the work of 170 00:12:16.370 --> 00:12:20.740 building the audience so you can focus on delivering incredible content to our 171 00:12:20.740 --> 00:12:26.460 listeners if you're interested, email Logan at sweet fish Media dot com.