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The One B2B Direct Mail Tip Guaranteed to Generate Leads

How b2b marketing works

by Lynne Saarte

July 03, 2008

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Business-to-business (B2B) marketing differs greatly from business-to-consumer marketing. Generally, services and products sold to businesses are multifaceted and cost more than services and products sold to consumers. The buying and selling process usually includes many more steps and involves more than one person.

For these reasons, you should expect your direct mail marketing pieces to generate leads, not close sales. Businesses don’t make impulse purchases like consumers do, so you can’t rely on that aspect of marketing. Because you don’t know where buyers are in their buying cycle, your direct mail pieces need to generate interest no matter where they are in the cycle. And how do you get the buyers to pay attention to your marketing materials?

There’s one answer:

Give them a great offer. Your offer is the reward that you give prospects for responding to your direct mail piece. Offer something tangible, like a free item for visiting your store, or a discount for visiting your Web site and registering. Give prospects a benefit – whether it’s a time saver or a money saver, or information that they couldn’t get otherwise.

Read on for examples of direct mail offers that have produced leads for B2b marketers in the past:

Article. Send an article written by a third party about your business that highlights your great qualities. Or include an article with your direct mail package that talks about your prospect's business challenges. Paperclip a brochure, catalog, or some kind of marketing piece that can help solve this business challenge. Highlight or circle what you want the prospect to see in your marketing piece to draw direct attention to your solution.

Book. This works especially well if someone in your company has written a book about the industry. This also gives your company credibility. You can also send a book that is about your industry that is not written by your company that you think the buyer would appreciate. Fully use your business card printing budget, and stick a few business cards into the book.

Booklet. Send a booklet that tells your prospects about their industry trends and how you can help them be the leader of these trends.

Newsletter. Mail or email prospects a newsletter that is full of useful information. Include news and advice that pertains to your industry and try to tie that into other prospects’ industries. Newsletters work well in B2B marketing because they let other businesses check out your company without committing to buying from you. It’s a good idea to feature a case study or success story in the newsletter that boasts something your company did well.

Report. Many companies send reports that deal with the current hot-button issues for your prospect's industry. You can buy reprint rights from an industry trade publication or sponsor your own report. Again, include a few business cards to let them know where the report came from. Sending a report can show that you are up to date with industry news.

Your product catalog. Mailing a free product catalog is the best way for business prospects to learn about all of your products. If you have a large catalog, use Post-It notes to direct attention to items you think would be of most interest to the prospect.

Keep in mind that with B2B marketing, the more information you can send the better. This doesn’t mean to clutter your brochures, flyers and other materials with information, but to send out multiple marketing materials that show off all your great qualities. Send a few of these items every month to buyers to produce leads.


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