Killer Marketing Letter

My conundrum: how long would it take me to get a meeting with that important decision maker or CEO?

I discovered a killer marketing letter that helped me solve this problem. A few years ago I was introduced to a new technology that had a lot of potential. It was a business solution for newspapers that were stuck with declining fortunes. It helped them increase advertising revenues in an era of shrinking profits. The director of digital ad sales at the San Jose Mercury News had come up with a very innovative idea.

Because newspapers had local sales agents who knew their market very well, he set up a daily deal program much like Groupon, only for his own paper. The program he created, called the Mercury News Daily Deal, gave local businesses a daily deal in the newspaper combined with digital coupons online. This innovation boosted advertising revenues for the paper by over $150,000 per month.

News of his success spread through the industry, and in a matter of months several technology companies in the U.S. sprang up with online platforms that would allow media companies to create their own Daily Deal. My plan was to bring this technology solution to Canada. I contacted the best technology platform out there and made a deal with them to do just that.

My next challenge was one many business owners face: how was I to reach the CEO prospects I needed to get in front of?

For one, I had worked in the technology sector for many years, and did not have any connections in media companies, let alone newspapers. As well, newspapers are old and established industries, making them seem even harder to penetrate with a new idea.

“How was I going to reach the CEO’s in such an old, conservative industry –one where new ideas are perceived as a threat?”

It seems like every day there is another social media, content marketing, or other lead generation strategy for reaching key prospects. But there are three major forces changing the market:

• First, it’s getting more expensive to invest the time necessary to make a lot of these methods worthwhile.
• Second, when someone is looking for a solution to an urgent problem, they may have already searched, but not found, what you have to offer.
• And third, technology is getting in the way of the personal contact that closes deals.

I discovered a simple solution to what seems to be a very tough problem…breaking through and getting a meeting, fast.

I discovered a very effective way to reach out to executives in that industry. It’s a killer marketing letter that has been tested many times, and has produced some great results. It uses something that is very basic to human nature: the power of curiosity, and the allure of having a solution to a very pressing problem in the palm of your hands.

 I created a letter campaign that did three things:

• One, the letter got across the benefit I was offering right away.
• Two, it addressed a problem that was keeping the CEO up at night.
• And three, it facilitated a phone meeting without anyone feeling imposed upon or “sold” to.

I sent a letter to the CEO’s of some of Canada’s largest media companies and news organizations

I delivered my letter to the CEO publishers of Sun Media, Postmedia, CTV, Post Media, and other media companies across Canada, about 10 in all.

Two days later I had the Publisher of Sun Media interested and on the phone, the VP of Sales at the Chronicle Herald taking my call “because my boss told me this was important,” the Digital VP at the Winnipeg Free Press contacting me to set up a meeting, and the CEO of Postmedia Network, personally picking up the phone and calling me directly. All of them wanted another meeting to find out what I was offering, and were eager to talk.

In another venture, I needed to connect with one of Canada’s top “Profit 100” technology companies. We were looking to set up a distribution deal to export technology to the Middle East. I used the same campaign again. Four months later we were in the boardroom of major banks in Dubai and Kuwait with the new technology offering in hand.

“That letter you sent – it really got my attention!” – CEO of Profit 100 Technology Company

You may have heard of having an “unfair advantage”. A simple, direct message might be exactly that.

Start by thinking hard about what pain your service or product solves. That means thinking beyond all the “features and benefits”. You might end up in a few essential CEO/decision-maker meetings – without all the steps between – of your own.

Interested in getting help for your own Killer Marketing Letter campaign? Click here.