The Year of Junk Mail

The recently passed CAN SPAM Act will force businesses to be more creative in order to grab consumers’ attention. “2004 will be the year of junk mail,” says Bill Glazer, marketing consultant and president of BGSmarketing.com.

Between the recently passed “Do Not Call” laws and the CAN SPAM Act, which went into effect Jan. 1, many companies are now hesitant or forbidden to use telemarketing or e-mail marketing to win new business. As a result, many are making increased use of traditional “junk mail” advertising. “You’re going to get so much more junk mail, you will need to buy a bigger trash can,” Glazer says. “And to work, yours will have to be better junk mail than ever.”

Crowded mailboxes mean businesses will need to be much more creative to ensure their mailings stand out from all the clutter. “It is no longer enough to simply send out standard promotional flyers, letters and brochures,” Glazer states. “Ninety-five percent of the mailings most businesses send out do not work because they are just plain boring. You have got to be willing to do fun and outrageous things to get a potential customer’s attention. To make your junk mail work, you have got to make it so engaging people don’t perceive it as junk.”

For example, Randy Hall owns The Bicycle Connection in Cockeysville, Md. Following Glazer’s advice, Hall sent his 500 best customers an invitation inside a water bottle announcing his store’s 30th anniversary. “The store was packed literally from wall-to-wall that day,” Hall says.

Bruce Schindler, the owner of Bob Davidson Ford in Baltimore County, Md., also is using Glazer’s techniques. He sent a targeted letter to 1,000 previous customers who had purchased Ford Explorers, in order to prompt them to upgrade to the new model. His letter said, “Negotiate your best deal. Then after you’re done, whip out this letter, stand on the desk and scream at the top of your lungs ‘I’m a preferred customer, I want my additional $2,000!’” That letter cost less than $800 to send out, and he sold more than $250,000 worth of cars as a result. One customer actually did get on the desk and start shouting.