I got a postcard in my mailbox last week…nothing unusual about that. Since I’ve been in the direct marketing business for a little more than a decade, I tend to pay attention to anything my family gets in the mail. Actually, my wife Wendi typically manages that process and leaves the most interesting items next to my car keys so I can take them to the office.
This particular mail piece stood out more than the rest, though. It was very personal in tone and directed to me with a nice Texan “howdy neighbor” welcome. It began with an introduction from Josh Sowers (the sender) and a touching picture of him, his wife and baby boy. The postcard goes on to mention Josh’s lawn care business. You see, Josh, recently back from military service in Iraq, had settled in our community, started his business and is now looking for customers.
This simple postcard got me thinking about the wonderful benefits of direct marketing. When done right, it can be very personal, local and fit any budget. Josh’s emotional hook was directed at those of us in his community…the consumers most likely to identify with him and his business.
As our economy searches for a bottom, effective direct marketing can be used as a great equalizer between the small community-grown start-ups and established businesses and those giant “big box” operations with enormous advertising budgets and jingle-enhanced broadcast media buys. That ability to help folks like Josh compete on par with much larger companies has a distinct green component as well.
You see, using direct marketing to effectively promote and grow local, small business helps a once thriving segment of our economy regain vitality. Statistics show that companies with less than 500 employees account for the vast majority of businesses in the US and employ roughly 50 percent of our workforce. And, most importantly, they possess an inherent interest in safeguarding the environmental health of our communities.
As Ann Bartz, with the The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) said in a recent article on GreenBiz.com, “What a small business is able to do that a large business is not, is they have a much closer connection with the community. They are a lot more flexible in the steps they are able to take. They are able to make their own decisions about what types of lighting they want to put in or what types of relations they want to have with other businesses in the community.”
If it is true that all politics is local, as Tip O’Neill, longtime Speaker of the House used to say, then I think it also rings true that strong direct marketing is local, provides a personal connection and is inherently community-centric. (See Dude’s post on personal marketing versus mass media).
Not bad for a simple postcard!
