Dydacomp kicked off a business-to-business direct mail campaign this week to promote its Mail Order Manager version 4.0 to executives across all departments of mail-order companies.
The campaign targets the 26,000 mail-order businesses in the United States, said Rob Coon, vice president of sales and marketing at Dydacomp, though he would not disclose the mailing size or cost. The company also markets its catalog management software to retailers, wholesalers and distributors.
“There are a number of companies in that group that may either be too small or too big to work with us,” he said. “So we are not mailing to each and every one of them.”
He said the company sent the piece to contacts at all 5,000 of its mail-order clients.
Dydacomp, Totowa, NJ, typically sends pieces to multiple employees at the same company since the product can be used by multiple areas of a company and it is often unclear who has purchasing control.
“So the president, owner, vice presidents of marketing and sales, or people on the order entry staff or in the warehouse may all receive the piece,” Coon said. “In the past we have received a minimal amount of negative feedback about doing this.”
M.O.M 4.0 helps companies manage tasks including order entry, contact management, credit card processing, Web commerce, inventory, product pricing control, warehouse operations, shipping and accounting. Pricing starts at $995, but Coon said the average order size is $4,500.
The theme of the piece is designed to convey the product's value by multiple departments of a company. The piece features a picture of the software sitting in a director's chair under a spotlight on a stage. It is intended to show how M.O.M. can manage all operations within a business. This is the company's first campaign using this theme.
“The idea is to show that the user has the power to become the director of their business with the aid of M.O.M,” Coon said. “It's your show and you are in charge of all aspects. And by putting it in a chair, it makes it look as if we are providing them with a tangible product and not just an intangible service.”
Along with a listing of the product's capabilities are an explanation why someone should consider using M.O.M. and a pitch for the trial offer.
The piece prompts recipients to respond by phone or the Web, but the toll-free number is in much larger print.
“It is a complex package, and potential users need to speak to a sales rep to see if it will be a good match for their needs or not,” Coon said.
The goal of the campaign is to get people to request more information or to sign up for the $25 trial kit to see what “exactly M.O.M. can help them do.”
There is a possibility of conducting a more focused campaign touting specific features of the product, Coon said.
The company sent the pieces to all the names in Dydacomp's customer database as well as to prospects, the majority of which were from trade publication subscription lists. All new respondents are being added to the company's database.
Dydacomp worked with Chris Carlucci Design, Glen Ridge, NJ, on developing the campaign.
Along with the direct mail component, Dydacomp is running a print ad similar to the direct mail piece in a number of catalog and direct marketing trade publications.
