Business-to-business (B2B) marketing differs greatly from business-to-consumer marketing. Generally, services and products sold to businesses are multifaceted and cost more than services and products sold to consumers. The buying and selling process usually includes many more steps and involves more than one person.
For these reasons, you should expect your direct mail marketing pieces to generate leads, not close sales. Businesses don’t make impulse purchases like consumers do, so you can’t rely on that aspect of marketing. Because you don’t know where buyers are in their buying cycle, your direct mail pieces need to generate interest no matter where they are in the cycle. And how do you get the buyers to pay attention to your marketing materials?
There’s one answer:
Give them a great offer. Your offer is the reward that you give prospects for responding to your direct mail piece. Offer something tangible, like a free item for visiting your store, or a discount for visiting your Web site and registering. Give prospects a benefit - whether it’s a time saver or a money saver, or information that they couldn’t get otherwise.
Read on for examples of direct mail offers that have produced leads for B2b marketers in the past:
Article. Send an article written by a third party about your business that highlights your great qualities. Or include an article with your direct mail package that talks about your prospect’s business challenges. Paperclip a brochure, catalog, or some kind of marketing piece that can help solve this business challenge. Highlight or circle what you want the prospect to see in your marketing piece to draw direct attention to your solution.
Book. This works especially well if someone in your company has written a book about the industry. This also gives your company credibility. You can also send a bo (more…)
