Law firm mailers – avoid plastic grenades

John Browning posts in “Dallas Blog” about Quinn Emmanuel’s mailer introducing the firm to Silicon Valley tech companies in the shape of a plastic grenade.  Unfortunately, many recipients didn’t get the “plastic” part and reported the suspicious items to authorities.  Not quite what the law firm had in mind.

This reminded me of a mailer a law firm developed in the shape of a mountain peak that folded into a long, unusually shaped envelope.  Nothing wrong with that.  This was a flyer that was to stand out and get the law firm much needed attention.  Yes, the envelope size upped the postage and required extra costs but that’s part of the cost of getting more visible.  

The problem was no one looked at the mailing list before sending it out.  Firm personnel received the flyer at their office address, or at their homes, it went to their ex-wives, to competitors, to defunct companies, and finally to folks the postal service couldn’t find.  The firm had sent out thousands of these envelopes and sadly many of these envelopes were returned.  Because of their shape, it was highly visible to everyone that someone had spent a lot of money designing and mailing these flyers and as the stacks accumulated in the mail room and in the marketing center it became equally clear that no one had thought about who would receive these expensive introductions to the firm. 

Lesson?  Think about your mailing list first.

Tags: law firm marketing, Linkedin, mailers