In the June 2009 issue of The Well-Fed E-PUB, I ran a piece summarizing copywriting guru Marcia Yudkin’s take on direct mail marketing vs. email marketing. Marcia came down on the side of using direct mail marketing to promote a commercial freelancing business, and for these reasons:
1) If you irritate a client with your email, or they change providers without notifying you, or just try to reduce their volume, you’ve lost them forever. Mail? As she points out: “Way fewer people request no postal mailings.”?
2) Many folks filter and file incoming email without looking at it. Mail? “Hardly anyone discards a postcard, though, without at least glancing at both sides.”?
3) Finally, and perhaps most compelling, she observes: Email volume is rising while postal volume is dropping. Guess which medium it’s easier to stand out in”?
Right after the issue ran, I heard a counterpoint from LA FLCW Andrew Hindes, “The In-House Writer,” who’s had some good success with email marketing for promoting his commercial writing business. They are both right, which just underscores that there’s no ONE right way to do things. Andrew wrote:
1) People tend to respond to email immediately. Sure, they may delete it, but they might also reply with, “We’ll keep you in mind,” “Can you send me some samples?” “What are your rates?” or “We never us outside writers.”? This is useful in determining whether a prospect is worth pursuing in the future. With a post card, unless the recipient needs help right away—or knows they will in the near future—they’re not likely to respond.
2) An email can link to your website. True, a postcard can include your site’s URL, but clicking on a link is a lot easier – and hence more likely – than typing the URL into a browser. Once a prospect visits your site, there are numerous ways you can further engage them, including newsletters, special offers, etc.
3) Emails can easily be forwarded. If your message doesn’t reach the correct contact at the company, the recipient can pass it on to the right person with a few keystrokes. Or they may forward it later to someone they know is looking for a writer. This has happened to me on numerous occasions.
4) It’s easier for the client to cut and paste your contact info from an email into Outlook or another address book program than to type it from a post card.
5) Unless your postcard is incredibly beautiful or compelling, an executive is not likely to keep it around for long. Most people go through their mail within tossing distance of the recycling bin (I know I do). And even if they do keep you card, it’s likely to be buried under a pile the next time they’re looking for a writer. On the other hand, most people are bad at deleting old emails unless they do it right away. So if your email is still in their inbox, they can pull it up using sort or search functions.
6) Email is cheaper. I usually hire a graphic designer and use custom printing in an effort to create cards I hope will really stand out. But even using the online service you mention at $300 for 1,000 post cards, once you add the 28 cents for postage you’re up to $580 total for the mailing (or 44 cents for an oversized card, for a $740 total mailing cost). 1,000 emails? Priceless (and costless!).
7) Because email messages are cheaper and you can easily create them yourself, it’s very convenient and cost-effective to test different copy and headlines. I typically create three or four different emails and try each one on 25 prospects. If one gets a significantly higher response rate, I use that one on the rest of my list – including those who didn’t respond to the previous message. After all, I’ve got nothing to lose – and it’s free.
What’s been your experience with both?
Has one worked better than the other, and if so, why do you think that’s so?
Have you used any other related strategy to good effect?
Funny we should have this conversation right after the Twitter thread. I’m meeting more and more people who are using Twitter, LinkedIn or some other site and finding far more success landing clients than either e-mail or snail-mail. But first, let me tackle the original point.
I don’t think either method is as effective as it could be unless you follow-up. While it’s been said that postcards have a 100% open rate, unless the recipient calls you or you call him, you don’t know if he got it or read it. E-mail may be a bit better in that it’s easier for someone to shoot you a quick response. But again, unless you’re in contact with them to follow-up, you don’t know if it got caught in a spam filter, whether they read it, or trashed it unread.
So I don’t think either method is good unless you’re calling to follow-up. And if you are calling, it’s technically no longer a cold call, it’s a warm call. “Hi! This is Mike Klassen of Klassen Communications and I wanted to follow-up on an e-mail/letter I sent you last week…”
Another point in all this… are you actually sending these e-mails or postcards to a person you’ve tracked down as the one who might be hiring freelancers? Or are you just sending it to some generic department like “marketing”? That’s going to affect your success rate.
For me, the effectiveness of either method depends on taking the time to target the right people and then follow-up. If you don’t do that, I don’t think either method is as effective as it could be. With e-mail, you might not be wasting money, but you might be wasting your time which should be just as valuable to you. It’s a nice thought that you can shoot out 1,000 e-mails and see what sticks, but perhaps it’s better to do some deeper research into the companies that you really feel would be a good fit and target them more specifically with a message that resonates with them in particular. (I used to give this advice to resume clients who felt one resume was good enough for any job they wanted to apply for. Big mistake. People know “generic” when they see it.)
Related to that, I tend to believe copywriters should send full letters. That does a better job of showing off the talent that you’re wanting people to hire you for. Yes, it does take talent to craft a postcard message since it’s much shorter. But you have more space to show off your skills in a letter. (Plus you can include a sample or two in the envelope.) You can write longer messages in an e-mail, but I guess that’s considered bad form. Plus it increase the chances that some word or phrase may drop you into the spam folder.
What if the letter doesn’t get opened? Well, this takes us back to, first, making sure you’re targeting the right person at a company. Second, you’ll know whether they read the letter because you’ll ask when you call, right? 😉
Personally, I did some e-mail marketing early on. It was nice to get some immediate responses in some cases, but I never followed through on the ones where I didn’t get a response. So that was a wasted effort. I was a rookie and I bought into the idea that I didn’t have to put in much effort because everyone would like to use a professional copywriter, right? Well, here I am!! Experience finally taught me that it often takes time to build a relationship with a client and takes more than a one-time generic e-mail (or postcard).
For postcards, I once sent out 30 postcards including one sent to someone I had worked for a while back. She didn’t need me but gave my name to someone else and that led to about $8,000 in work. Not bad for about $30 invested in the postcards and postage. Other than that, not much success because I never followed-up.
OK, back to Twitter and those sites…
One of the rare times I found a Chamber networking meeting useful was when someone passed along this classic nugget: People like to do business with people they know.
Let that statement sink in a bit.
We are now at a point where it’s far easier to get to know potential clients because of these social networking sites. And if you’re posting your thoughts on a regular basis, it’s easy for them to know you. I am far from an expert at this because I’m just getting into it. But in talking with some folks who are having success, they’re “following” and contributing to the people they want to reach, or at least presenting themselves as an expert in their field.
So not only is that method free, your comments and your business image is open to far more people than the one person you’re targeting with your e-mail or postcard.
That’s not just Twitter. I spend some of my time answering questions on LinkedIn where you have more space to address an issue and better show off your expertise.
At least right now, I think business people are on these sites because they want to be. It’s new, it’s kind of fun, they don’t want to feel “left out”. So if that’s where your potential clients are and that’s where they’re wanting to be, maybe that’s the best place to reach them rather than e-mail and snail-mail.
But if we’re just sticking to e-mail or direct mail, craft a targeted one or two page letter, send it to the right person, then follow-up. Just sending something – e-mail or snail – and not following up is passive marketing. It may work at times, but it’s not as effective as active marketing where you’re breaking through whatever fears you have and calling someone to talk to them directly.
I like postal…But Mike is right. You need to call. This is where I fall down. Over the decades that call has produced either, “No, I didn’t see it, want to send it again?” or “Oh, yes, I have it if I need you.” This eventually led me to call first, then send. At the moment I am not involved in either.
I think the speed and zing of email has allure. BUT I would think carefully before emailing someone I don’t know, let alone 25 of them. THink Seth Godin, permission-based marketing and all that good jazz. I admire and respect Yudkin and think she sees the finer points before the rest of us; yes, hooray, snail mail may now be more of an attention-getter because it’s become the unique. (Everything old is new!) And Mike is right — however you market, the follow-up is key.
Lots of good points in these comments — thanks!
Definitely postal mail, carefully targeted by name and job function, with a soft offer. Email for follow up and keeping in touch with warm contacts.
Actually I think you should use both them at the same time. I have thousands of full color branded post cards printed up with one side having nice graphics and the other side blank. I have a template on my laptop in Word that lets me write up quick messages that I then have Kinko’s go print on the blank side in small batches as I need them. I drop these in the mail to existing clients, prospects, etc. on a regular basis and typically in small batches. It works great and presents a very professional image.
I also use email marketing to people on my list, but that is actually the problem with email marketing…the list. You can’t just go sending anyone an email without potentially being called a spammer, blacklisted, or prosecuted under the CAN-SPAM 2003 laws unless people are actually on your list and have opted in to be there. Sometimes the first two can still happen even if they are on your list AND opted in! Talk about land mines. The list is the issue. First, you must build a list, which is both time consuming and potentially expensive. Supposedly you can rent email lists, but I am not convinced that rented lists are always clean and 100% opt-in and even if they are the response can be dismal for a cold list where nobody knows who you are. Actually I think it can be much worse than direct mail at times. Spammers need to send out campaigns of 3 million messages for a reason.
I know it looks like I am raining down on email marketing, but I am not really that down on it. In fact, I love using it and think it can work very well, but you must overcome the inherit weaknesses of the medium to be able to cash in on its obvious strengths. That is why I advocate a strategy where you use both at the same time. I think effective marketing involves hitting your clients and prospects in multiple mediums with multiple messages and offers to maximize your return or at least that has been my experience.
I use both. Postcards are my follow-up to initial contacts. I do a postcard mailing about every three months to remind people I’m still around.
Email is certainly easier, especially with international clients.
But I find using both works well for me.
Thanks to all for the comments. I’m absolutely in the “Follow Up!” camp as well. There will always be X # of people who get your postcard or email and ARE interested, and DO intend on following up at some point, and never get around to it. And if you do, you’ll move the project cycle along that much faster.
And Mike’s absolutely right about the fact that people like to work with those they know. In fact, that’s really what the whole follow-up thing is all about. It might take you months of communicating with a prospect until they hire you, and in that period, as you contact them again and again, they’re getting to know you, getting a sense for your skills, your personality, how you’d be to work with (i.e., are you reliable in following up when you said you would, or sending that sample you said you would, for instance?), etc.
Interesting to hear the reflections on the impact of social media. And it’s no surprise that many people are finding SM to be the way that now yields the biggest return in terms of clients. At the risk of sounding UN-profound, when you get past the hype (both positive and negative) and fears about the Time Drain, what social media is in essence doing is accelerating that getting-to-know-you process that will likely take longer with direct mail or email marketing.
Assuming you’re reasonably active on several SM sites, the network is being built constantly and somewhat organically, and people are able to learn more about different aspects of you. And because outright promotion is frowned on (as opposed to being the whole point of most marketing efforts) in SM venues, it gives the world a chance to “take your measure” in a non-threatening setting, and get a sense of your expertise (i.e., in the case, say, of LinkedIn’s forums, where you can weigh in on industry-related questions), which is always a better way to have someone get to know you and build up that comfort level that can eventually lead to a hire.
You might recall this truism of our business (and I’d daresay, most every other one as well) that I’ve said over and over: people don’t want to spend a lot of time hunting for a writer when they need one. So, if you’ve been a visible, knowledgeable presence through your marketing efforts – direct mail, email and/or social media – you make it easier for that prospect to pick you.
PB
I know that this post is about the virtues of postcards vs. email, and my comments have to do with either medium:
Before my reincarnation as a FLCW, I was a freelance cold-caller for several businesses, including the insurance industry — a particularly saturated marketplace. Over the course of 20 years I’ve tested just about every combination of sending “pre-approach” letters –whether via snail mail or email — prior to making a call. Or calling first, really finding the decision maker or influencer, so that the mailing/info/materials went directly to (and were OK’d by) that contact.
Those results over the years have convinced me that your energies are best spent compiling your target market lists, getting on the phone, finding the right person, speaking to them, and, as a function of your conversation with them, sending something that they have (at least on some level) have requested. That then gives you the opportunity to follow up with them by phone. By then you’re a somewhat “known” quantity.
For many people its much harder, I know, to get on the phone and call a stranger than just hit “Send” and kick out an email or mail a postcard. But you multiply your hit ratio and “depth of conversation” many times over.
I like postcards for staying in touch — just another point of contact that’s somewhat different from email. If they already know you via your initial conversation, the follow-up email you’ve sent with a link to your URL, then your postcard — even if they only give it a cursory glance — will remind them of you. It’s especially effective if you have “new news”, announcing some big campaign you’ve been part of, or name client you’ve worked with, or whatever.
I’ve also used this mindset in my other occupation — doing Voiceover here in LA. Whether doing radio or TV commercials, books on tape, documentary narration, animation, etc — keeping in touch with casting directors, agents and media buyers is imperative. None of the above like to get much unsolicited stuff, but if you make an initial call, get “permission” to send something, and then keep them in the loop via postcards, its very effective. Even if the postcard has one line like: “Hear Chuck’s as Rush Limbaugh in the latest episode of “The Simpsons”, next Sunday on Channel 11.” Or “Chuck just voiced three characters in the new Pixar film, ‘Up.'” Again, “new news” to generate a bit of buzz and excitement.
I think a similar approach can be used with copywriting as a part of the overall marketing mix.
Hope this is helpful.
Denis
Thanks Denis,
It’s actually very helpful. Course, I’m going to say that as it’s the way I built my business! 😉 But seriously, folks, what Denis says makes sense. It plays into earlier discussions about people wanting to work with those people they know, and when you send someone something they’ve requested (or, at the very least, agreed to receive from you), once they get your info, they’re one step closer to “knowing” you. Thanks for the input!
PB
I am just starting out and my budget is low. This was helpful in deciding which method I should use. Email is cheaper if you have an email list to draw from, which I do not. However, I have a yellow pages full of businesses and their addresses. I have decided to use a sales letter with two business cards and send it to every ad agency I can find in the area.
Like to watch Stargate Atlantis episodes and also Lost. I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
This blog and follow-up comments have been REALLY helpful! It’s so great to be able to learn via the experiences of more established commercial writers. Thanks!
I launched and built my freelance business in 1991 through direct mail using an approach a little like what Charles mentioned in comment 11 above. Except that instead of sending a letter to ad agencies, I sent them over-sized postcards creatively addressing my solution to a common problem. And rather than pulling agencies from the Yellow Pages (where there were way too many listed) I used the local AdClub membership directory as well as the directory of the local Art Directors Club. My first mailing yielded a prospect who subsequently became my biggest and steadiest client for the first 10 years of my business. Referrals and word of mouth have always been larger generators of work from direct business prospects than mail.
As others have mentioned, I find it far easier to build a good mailing list than an email list. And I’m not certain how to mass-email unknown prospects within the limits of the law. To rerun an update of my original postcard campaign this year, I copied names and addresses of ad agenceis and design studios off one of the online Yellow Pages and then spent several days searching each company on the Web. If they had a site, I found the name of the Creative Director. If they had no site or I could not otherwise verify their existence, I deleted them. I have also written letters to small lists of direct prospects in fields where I have good experience.
My only e-marketing is my Web site, which ranks high in some specific searches but not for “freelance copywriter” in general. Still, prospects manage to find me.
Very timely and informative on life insurance. Thanks for sharing this.
As a relatively new full-time FLCW who is still trying to grow my client base, I found this article and all of the comments very helpful. Thank you all for sharing your experiences. I really appreciate it.