Recently I got a slick mailer from Standard Finishing Systems, a local company in the graphic arts manufacturing industry. They’re going to exhibit at the print industry’s largest annual trade show, Print 2013. It takes place next month in Chicago (I’ll be there delivering two sessions, BTW).

What interested me about this mailer? Its use of a PURL and a QR code. Most of the time, in my humble opinion, PURLs (Personalized URLs) are lame. They bring you to a page on a web site that gives you nothing more than a bit of info about the firm and why you “must” do business with them. In these instances, a PURL is a waste of money – nothing clever, nothing inspiring, nothing worth seeing.

Ho. Hum.

But I loved what Standard did with this PURL. It brought me to a page that showed pre-generated contact information for me (which I corrected, since they still showed my company as Print Buyers International). The copy asked a few key questions, such as whether I planned on attending the Chicago show and, if so, did I want to stop by their booth for a demo.

This page also linked me to several videos that demonstrated different pieces of their equipment. The videos are high quality and quite zippy, plus they use great music. It’s a terrific use of videos to showcase a manufacturer’s strengths.

While editing the contact form I landed on, I supplied my new email address. Within two minutes I received a thank you email from Standard, for my interest in their upcoming show.

As a writer I pay extreme attention to email content. This one was letter perfect: not a typo or bit of dicey grammar anywhere. Short and to the point, very professional. Two thumbs up from this marcom expert!

On the inside of this mailer I noticed a small QR code, encouraging me to scan it with my smart phone to see video previews of their featured products. So I did. The results were equally impressive – great information, interesting video content, and totally viewable on my iPhone. Much of the time I am not impressed by QR codes I scan. This one was well done.

Using PURLs and/or QR codes to engage your audience in a direct mail campaign is smart marketing if you do it correctly. It worked on this piece because the “payoff” in both cases was brainy. They didn’t lead us to lame landing pages. They offered good quality content, including videos that were professionally done.

For this mailer, it wasn’t the creative or the offer that pulled me in. It was the one-two marketing punch made possible by a PURL and a QR code.

With the PURL and QR code, Standard effectively engaged me, and the campaign was expertly implemented. The combination of offline (direct mail piece) and online (PURL’s customized landing page plus the QR code’s landing page) was very powerful.

I fully expect to hear from Standard again. A company that executes a solid integrated marketing campaign to connect with its audience before a major event will surely keep in touch. Will it be an email message or another direct mail piece? Perhaps a phone call. I’m putting my money on an email. What do you think?

(c) 2013 Margie Dana.