Be authentic, genuine and always walk the talk. It’s probably the best advice for any brand. Or, as McCANN Erickson would say, be sure it’s the truth well told. People will easily spot if you’re not true to yourself. Just as I did with these two sales letters sent to my home address.
Direct mail is still a great medium, especially in today’s cluttered online world. You can achieve cut through and pinpoint your target audience. But, get it wrong and all you achieve is junk mail status. In this case, a ‘personal letter from the desk of the author’ was anything but personal.
Postage paid impressions, laser printed signatures, a chatty tone to ‘Nicholas’ and a handful of obvious giveaways ensured this ‘personal’ introduction fell flat on its face. It’s a shame, because the underlying proposition is likely to appeal to the target audience.
Looking at the website of the sender, its likely the ‘investment’ offered is in exchange for assets – most probably land or buildings. So, why not just address that proposition head-on? The end result for the target audience is still the same, unlocking cash for the business or owner by leveraging assets.
It could be argued that no publicity is bad publicity, afterall, the failings of the approach made me investigate more. However, in the online world with so much information at our fingertips, we form our own opinions more readily. Which means our propositions have to be crystal clear and transparent in order to establish trust with our audience.
NICKMELVIN 