What got me thinking about today’s topic is, well, everything. It’s official: we are now inundated with too much information.
A coworker and I were chatting and he mentioned how refreshing it was to receive a direct mail piece from a Comcast . . . in his physical, not virtual, mailbox. It caught his attention. Just like it was meant to do in the old days. That’s because it stood out. There’s enough documentation out there underscoring the plethora of information we receive minute-by-minute via our electronic devices, so this blog post won’t waste time making that case.
However, what it will do is raise a question -- should we marketers surprise the “C”s (clients, constituents, customers, consumers) every now and again with a curveball like direct mail, for example?
In baseball, a curveball is aimed at decreasing the chance a batter will actually hit the ball because of its illusive direction. From a marketing perspective, a surprise pitch has potential to result in a direct hit by grabbing attention amidst a bombardment of other ads and information being showered upon us.
Done correctly (you know the drill -- grabbing headline, valuable offer, call-to-action, expiration date), old direct mail can be a nice 7th inning stretch for the eyes. And, now that internet marketing has nearly eliminated our print budgets, we can afford to do it quarterly or so.
I can just hear the pre-Internet marketing folks saying: But what about frequency over reach, and all that consistency stuff? My answer: Don’t forget the dos and don’ts; but remember that every pitcher mixes it up for the element of surprise.
Keep in mind, however, like one pitching coach and baseball blogger puts it: “A true curveball is a beautiful majestic sight -- an aesthetic event that stuns a hitter and inspires awe. But the truth of the matter is -- good curves are common, great are few and rare.”
That’s my two cents for today. Thanks for tuning in.
-Natalie
Resource:
Quote by Dr. John Bagonzi, The Pitching Professor at http://pitchingprofessor.com/article_breaking_ball.html
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