While driving my Dad to Florida in early December, a song came on the radio. The vocalist sang, “She’s just a scene on a cutting room floor.” I thought, “Wow, aren’t we all?” Giving it further thought, however, that doesn’t mean that those scenes left on the floor aren’t important or don’t have something meaningful to say. Can you imagine what kind of movie we’d have if we spliced all those cuttings together to create a whole new movie? It might actually be more interesting than what Hollywood is putting out there now. I gave this quite a bit of thought while driving my snowbird Dad to sunny Ft. Myers, Florida. The song and lyrics reminded me of the clients I love working with the most. The non-profit sector, the small-to-medium sized businesses, and those businesses that are just “hanging out their shingle.” When it comes to marketing, these kinds of clients are often overlooked or simply forgotten. Something that I produced recently was actually a collaborative piece. Two businesses that compliment each other decided to do a direct mail postcard geared toward each other’s mailing list. Because of the “splicing” of the two businesses (services) that could benefit from both of their mailing lists, it became a value-added win/win for both of them. Each business exposed the other’s contacts to services they may not know existed prior to receiving the mail piece. What a wonderful way to split costs, get in front of “new” contacts, and provide a value-added opportunity. And both clients knew that one “touch” wouldn’t be enough exposure, so they opted for a series of three mailings. The great thing about doing a mailing these days is that you don’t have as much competition for your audience’s attention compared to email. And, besides sharing the cost, they actually got a better rate of response! While both businesses were simply “single scenes on a cutting room floor,” together they became a marketing success story.
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