How much is too much with unsolicited promotions?
A client just shared with me a clever promotional package in the mail. It was a small box, no more than three inches square, and it contained nothing but two mini-PayDay bars, a business card and a bright yellow sticker proclaiming:
Pay Day with Precision could not be sweeter
Best in value, Best in personalized service, Fair & flexible
Call [rep's name] at [phone number] for a seamless setup!
Why do I like this so much? Well, OK, maybe because the client gave me one of the PayDay mini-bars, and my stomach was grumbling because it was close to lunch.
But also for three reasons:
- The obvious tie-in between the candy and the payroll service
- The simplicity of the approach--no long sales letters
- The unobtrusiveness of the packaging
That is, I like it primarly because it's small. It was easy to open and digest (pun intended). Last week, the client showed me another promotional package that wasn't nearly as effective: a large box, about the size of a sheet of notebook paper and about three inches deep, that in the end only contained an elaborately-packaged model truck and a long sales letter. The letter was thrown away without being read, and the truck... no idea where it ended up.
Sometimes a big promotion is in order, of course, but with initial solicitations, I vote for the KISS method: Keep It Simple, Sweetheart. Simple to open, simple to tie in, simple message, simple text to skim.