Integrated One To One Direct Mail Campaign

Cyclone built a six-month multi-phased direct mail marketing campaign with e-communication components for the purpose of qualifying leads and having them register for several CIO round table events. The overall campaign achieved an amazing 48% response rate which gave CA one on one access to major corporate decision makers. These round table events lead to several million dollars in sales for CA’s Enterprise IT Management (EITM) solutions.

Client

Computer Associates (CA) is one of the world's largest IT management software providers with 150 offices in more than 45 countries.

Discovery

Enterprise IT Management (EITM) is CA's vision for managing systems, networks, security, storage, applications and databases securely and dynamically. As such, it involves solutions costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. While the market for EITM software is potentially large, the key decision makers are relatively few and not easily or efficiently reached through conventional media channels.

Analysis

The complexity and cost of CA's solutions requires a very detailed and personalized sales approach. The target market of top IT executives and officers are busy, sophisticated, surrounded by gatekeepers and very protective of their time. For any communication to be effective with this target, it has to offer value.

Strategy

Develop a strategic, multi-phased marketing campaign designed to reach, influence and activate key prospects in medium-to-large enterprises over a six-month period.

• Phase I - An initial targeted e-communication was sent to a database of qualified targets. It included a response mechanism to identify recipients' areas of interest. Respondents received information packages from CA and were recontacted by telephone to gauge their further interest.
• Phase II - Qualified respondents received a hand-delivered, personalized leather-bound diary together with an invitation to a CA-hosted roundtable discussion on IT management issues. To encourage participation and provide maximum value to the attendees, each roundtable event was limited to 15 people.
• Phase III - Participants were contacted by a senior CA representative and requested to schedule a one-on-one meeting to discuss their organizations specific needs.

Outcome

The six direct mail packages used in the campaign generated response rates of 30 to 48%. A total of 58 decision makers attended the CA roundtables and 27 one-on-one meetings were booked resulting in several million dollars in sales.