It’s been so long since I’ve received a direct mail sample that I partially forgot about the practice. But lo and behold one arrived today (see pic). And ironically its from a company that specializes in corporate gifts – that’s what my company does! So they are trying to sell to a seller, which probably isn’t going to work.
I assume they bought my business name from some list service. I did recently join the Promotional Products Professionals of Canada (PPPC) so perhaps that’s the list where my name appeared. But if a Pen Company is buying lists from the PPPC, that’s a waste of their marketing dollars.
To me frankly this is so old fashioned, environmentally insensitive and a huge waste of resources. The letter even includes an insert “From the Office of Mike Adler” which purports to be a personally written letter to me about the virtues of their pen and its signed by Mike (LOL, the fake signature on the note and the Pen ink don’t match). Also amazingly wasteful is the flat gold box enclosed. I guess the theory is I would assemble the box, then put the pen inside, then open the box and say “surprise, nice pen.” Hardly.
I can only assume though that if they take the time to put together this package (see pic) that someone must be responding to these. Please tell us who you are and what you find appealing about this marketing. Also, if you find this kind of direct mail sampling wasteful like I do, please comment below.