I grabbed a sandwich at our neighborhood Burger King recently, and with my sandwich, brown bag and two napkins came a (really quite lovely) piece of collateral for a current vampire movie. So that started me thinking.
The issue with b-to-b direct mail is not effectiveness. Everyone knows direct mail works. The problem is the cost. But, what if two non-competitive companies that sell to the same marketplace could collaborate on a mailing program? Not a shared-mail program (like a b-to-b Val-Pak), but a program where the mailing pieces were specifically designed to promote both companies.
For example, let’s take a company that makes high-precision, exotic metal machined parts and a company that makes lubricants for high-precision, exotic metal operating equipment. By figuring out how to create, for instance, a direct mail piece that promotes both companies equally, the cost of every direct mail component – creative, printing, postage, list rental – becomes ½ of what it would be for each company putting out its own mailer.
In addition, if both companies are perceived as high-quality companies, a certain synergism comes into play. In our roles as ad agencies and marketers, we may be called upon to develop the relationships and concepts necessary for this sophisticated form of collaborative marketing. But why wait to be “called upon”? I suggest we proactively look to our existing clients, find suitable collaborators, and set up the meetings to begin the collaborating discussion. Everyone wins.