and doing it successfully
In many of my marketing lectures, I have spoken about the use of Fear in Marketing and how a business can effectively use fear to their advantage.
I want to provide a great direct mail example by a company called SimpliSafe that leveraged a person’s fear of criminals with the company’s advantages over the competition.
The mailer uses 6”x 9” outer envelope with strong images on both sides. One side shows a happy family outside their house. Instead of sales copy, it includes simply a quote from a review by CNET, a respected authority.
The address side of the envelope leads with a more traditional approach to home security. “Homes without an alarm system are 50% more likely to be targeted by burglars,” it reads. The subhead is more worrying: “But criminals aren’t the only ones with their hands in your pockets.” And we’re not even talking about cyber-fraud.
Who else, you wonder? The prospect needs to go inside to find out. The letter has the answer (prominently boxed): “Don’t get robbed by your home security company.” The letter focuses more on the company’s advantages versus its competition, instead of leveraging fear of criminals. Benefit copy centers on price, convenience, and simplicity. And, a peel-off card makes following a call to action easier. The reverse side includes both testimonials supporting SimpliSafe and complaints about its competitors.
The mailing also included an insert promoting free shipping on a security system starter kit, as well as a remote, also reminding the customer of the 10% discount offer.
Of course, the key component to success is selecting the right mailing list to complement this great creative. In the Security Alarm industry, the top list segments include New Homeowners, Families with Children, Single Females, and New Births. All of these lists can be refined with age, income, home ownership information, modeled credit and ethnicity.
To paraphrase Paul Bobnak, from Who’s Mailing What – when a business is in an industry or niche with a nearly even playing field, marketers need to focus on the benefits that will lift them above their competition. This mailer is a great example of that.