Inadvertent Guerrilla Marketing?

Some weeks later it was discovered that the Client had assigned these final steps in their marketing process to a junior member of staff who had “sorted” the names listed in the “company” column but not the corresponding details in the “contacts” and “address” columns. The result was that every one of 500 personalised letters was addressed to a prime corporate candidate, but was then delivered to one of their competitors!

But the response rate was sky high!

Why? It seems that, rather than being discarded unopened, an irresistible urge prevailed – the urge to learn something clandestine about a competitor’s business! It appeared that nearly every one of those letters was opened (for the “wrong reason”) and then read, and having been read, their offer of value was appreciated by many people who would not have learned of it in the normal course of events. Sales were great!

Tip: If you make your important sales messages look like something they can’t afford to ignore – let’s play with mail that look like invoices, for example – your recipient just has to open them.

When they do, and find that it’s not a bill, they are likely to experience a small flush of relief which you can own for the first few moments as they try to comprehend what this letter represents. So, your headline better be good enough to grab their attention and to lead them to read on and discover your offer.