By Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk

by Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk, president (zombie on the left)

Many of you should have received our Halloween mailing by now and I’m happy to say it’s getting a pretty strong and positive response. I’ve also received quite a few questions about it, which I’ll do my best to answer below. And if you want your very own copy, feel free to email me your mailing address and I’ll pop one in the mail for you so you can bask in the glory that is our zombie selves!

Why Halloween? There are a few reasons we did this. First, it’s a fun holiday and we like to think we’re a fun group. You can often do much more interesting stuff around Halloween than the more traditional end-of-year holidays. Additionally, this is the time of year when many of our clients and prospects are planning for next year or ramping up their marketing efforts before busy season hits. It’s a fantastic time of year to remind them that we are out here and ready to help. Finally, some of you may remember that we sent a Halloween mailer last year as well, so we decided this might just become our “thing.” Now the pressure is really on for 2013!

Why spend the money on direct mail rather than send an email? This question came up at the recent Thriving Firm Conference too. It’s fairly simple if you think about it. Everyone sends emails, and they can be a fantastic way to communicate your message. Email is inexpensive, immediate and easy, right? But I’d be willing to bet that you already get plenty of emails every day. With all of our busy schedules, we simply have to delete those that aren’t pertinent or don’t stand out. Since few people are sending direct mail pieces anymore, those that are unique truly stand out and have a much higher open rate than email. And if it’s really fun, it has a higher likelihood of staying around for a while too. I’m not delusional enough to think that each and every one of you has our mini-poster hanging on your bulletin board, but I am willing to bet you noticed it, remembered who we were, noted the creativity and hopefully got a good laugh. That’s a win in my book.

You’ve certainly looked better. Were you concerned about looking “bad” in your mailer? We look pretty awful, don’t we? But that’s the point. We aren’t afraid to poke a bit of fun at ourselves. We aren’t nearly as worried about appearances as communicating that we have a sincere passion for what we do. What better way to show it than through a very creative and self-deprecating Halloween mailer, right? I think we proved that we don’t take ourselves too seriously, but we do take our work very seriously, which is exactly the message we wanted to communicate.

Were you worried about offending those who don’t celebrate Halloween or think it’s evil? You can’t please all of the people all of the time, and I sincerely hope no one was offended. If someone is bothered by our attempt at humor, there’s little I can do about it. Besides, we like to think that our clients are a gracious group who appreciate the effort even if they don’t enjoy the holiday. But based on the reaction I’ve received, those who received it truly LOVED it and appreciated the uniqueness of it.

What did you think? Have you discovered a unique way to stand out or seen success from a recent mailer? We would love to hear your thoughts!