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Race & Marketing

by Kenneth Stone
10 replies
Hello All

I need your help, I just ran a 1000 piece direct mail test for services in a Highly Targeted section of the corporate Market. I received 1 response and it's very likely this company will become a client which will more then pay for the campaign and lots of other fun stuff and heres is my question.

How does RACE play in a direct mail campaign? I'm asking because I included my picture as part of the direct mail piece and I'm finding it hard to believe that only 1 person responded to the offer. Either the post office threw the mail away or the offer sucked or other factors are in play like RACE.

I'm a Black male targeting the corporate market for some specialized services. I'm not trying to start any trouble I just need to know if I need to adjust my math for future campaigns.

Any advice stories examples would be helpful, thank you in advance

Kenneth
#marketing #race
  • Profile picture of the author myob
    The response rate would be considered about normal, especially in such low volume. Race of course is an undeniable factor, but I think your "disadvantage" is largely an unwarranted perception. I do personally know many minorities who are quite successful. The race factor is minimized when expertise and service are emphasized. Adding some testimonials will dramatically increase response rate, but I'd say it was successful.
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  • Profile picture of the author drmani
    Originally Posted by Kenneth Stone View Post

    I'm a Black male ...

    Kenneth
    Y'mean like President Barack Obama?

    All success
    Dr.Mani

    P.S. - re Direct mail marketing, ANYTHING can be a variable. Needs testing.
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  • Profile picture of the author KenThompson
    Hello Kenneth,

    I agree with what has been said above. I'm also a minority, Native American,
    and have experienced things over the years. But in all my experience in
    business, I have never had any hint of that element from all the people I've
    dealt with.

    People in business want results. If a purple elephant wrote a sales letter that
    converted at 50% in DM, there would be clients waiting for months to get a
    letter written.

    Seriously, I would put that out of your mind and focus on business. Don't worry
    about it.

    But, we all know the bottom line - test. You can do another 1000 pc mailing
    without your pic and see what happens. Of course you'll need to mail to different
    businesses, etc.


    Ken
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  • Profile picture of the author V Michael Santoro
    Kenneth,
    1/10 of 1% is the standard return for a direct mail piece so your return is in the ballpark. Unfortunately many get thrown out. However, they do have some shelf life and may provide a return later.

    As far as the concern about race. The best way to see if its an issue is to send out another card without your picture and measure the return. Your stats seem to be in line though.

    Thanks,
    Vito
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  • Profile picture of the author pmbrent
    Direct mail isn't as popular as it used to be, your response rate will be low whether its a corporate mailing or residential. You also have to consider the other amounts of mail the corporations receive, it could have simply got lost amongst the other materials.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bradley J Anderson
    Originally Posted by Kenneth Stone View Post

    I'm a Black male...
    You mean like Willie Crawford? He's one of the most successful people on the entire internet!

    Obviously there are racist people, but I don't think that's the problem here. 1,000 direct mailings isn't really all that much. You need at least 10x that to see any kind of real results. If your budget is small, you might want to find a different way to market your services.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bradley J Anderson
    Just another suggestion, although I don't know if it would be a viable one in your particular field or situation: Have you tried targeting black-owned corporations? That might increase your response rate considerably.
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