Devoted to lead generation, lead generators, and successful lead gen campaigns

More great direct mail ideas from author and consultant Dan Kennedy on the subject of creativity in your next sales lead campaign:

"How about swizzle sticks? Those little red and white striped plastic things you stir coffee with. Can't get any cheaper than that. Throw in a few or tape one to the letter. Message could be:

"I'm here to stir things up" ... or ... "I'd like to buy you a cup of coffee and take just 11 minutes of your time."

Or what about those table reservation cards that say something like "John Roberts - You Are Seated at Table #4." Your message might be:

"Dear John - As you can see, I've attached a reserved seating card in your name. Why? To invite you to sit at 'the big people's table' at the most sumptuous banquet you can imagine. That's where my other clients sit. At the feast. Enjoying stable, secure, but little-understood investments yielding 8 percent to 22 percent a year - while everyone else fights for scraps."

Or one of those "HELLO - MY NAME IS" sticker-badges with your first name scrawled on it. Stuck to the letter, or maybe even stuck to the outside of the envelope. And with this message:

"Dear John - If we'd met in person at the recent XYZ EXPO, I'd have had this badge on. But I missed meeting you. A shame, because I had inside information that could have ..."

Or maybe a big pirate flag with a skull and crossbones that unfurls to reveal this:

"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life you'll lead - Using my marketing system is like STEALING MONEY LEGALLY ... and soon you'll be burying treasure all over the place ... Your competitors'll call you a damned pirate ..."

Need I go on?

This is the way I think.

When I get ANY catalog, when I prowl through ANY store or mall, read ANY magazine or newspaper, my antennae are up for ideas that can translate into profits. But I think most people go through life with their antennae down.

You need to remember that a direct-mail sales letter is like a salmon swimming upstream to spawn. It must survive obstacles and challenges along the way. It must be delivered. It must then survive the recipient's A-pile, B-pile, C-pile sort. It must be opened. It must be read.

And then it must capture interest and imagination. It must entertain - not to distraction, not so the "fun" overwhelms, but enough that the recipient/reader is engaged and feels good about the experience of handling it, reading it, and considering what you have to say.

Getting, opening, and going through a direct-mail piece can be a good, rewarding, physical experience.

And, as I said, this is an advantage you have with direct mail that does not exist with any other advertising media. By all means, capitalize on it."

Thanks, Dan. 

You know what made me think when I read this?  The fact that I get so much bad direct mail, that it almost never gets opened.  And I know I'm not alone...you can look at all of the direct mail you get and don't open simply because it "looks" like direct mail. 

The article hits the nail on the head: You HAVE to be creative in any direct mail campaign.  Otherwise, you're wasting your money.