Latest / Beyond Fulfillment Podcast / Overcoming Digital Noise: the Power and Future of Direct Mail with Travis Lee

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Overcoming Digital Noise: the Power and Future of Direct Mail with Travis Lee · Beyond Fulfillment Podcast

0:05
And the biggest issue we have with any kind of marketing, I don't care if you're online, offline, billboards, television, radio, direct mail.
0:13
The biggest challenge we have as a marketer is to get our message listened to, read and looked at right?
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If we don't have it, attention is the currency.
0:21
If we don't have attention, we can't do it.
0:24
Today's guest is Travis Lee, the founder of 3D Mail Results, a company that's completely transformed the world of direct mail marketing.
0:33
With a career built on creativity and data driven results, Travis helped his family's wholesale business stand out by sending unconventional items like boomerangs and magic eight balls straight to customers mailboxes.
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That out of the box approach eventually became its own thriving business, helping other entrepreneurs drive growth within with innovative three dimensional mail campaigns.
0:59
In this episode, Travis shares the aha moment that sparked 3D mail, the real life ups and downs of pivoting from product distribution to full service fulfillment, and how direct mail is still a game changer even in our digital
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first world.
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Whether you're curious about scaling a service business, facing challenges like rising postage rates, or you just want fresh ideas to cut through the noise, this episode is packed with wisdom that you won't want to miss.
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As always, if you found value from this content, please like and subscribe.
1:34
All right, Travis Lee, welcome to Beyond Fulfillment.
1:37
Hey Dave, thanks for inviting me.
1:39
Excited to have a conversation with you about marketing and direct mail and how it fits in today's business world.
1:45
Yes, sir.
1:46
We appreciate you taking the time to be here.
1:48
Yeah.
1:49
So Travis, you are the founder of 3D Mail Results, and we'll get into what that is and what you do.
1:56
But going back to the beginning, was there like an aha moment where you realized that this company is something I have to build?
2:04
You know, it was interesting.
2:07
We were a member of a mastermind group and I'm assuming you're familiar with those, but those who aren't mastermind groups, you get together with 8, 10, 12, 15 other business owners and it's kind of your board of directors.
2:18
You know, you talk about things, you work on things, you have ideas, you hash them out.
2:23
Think of like, like a hot seat on on steroids.
2:27
And it was interesting.
2:28
So we were a member of Bill Glazier, who was a mentor of mine.
2:33
We were a member of his mastermind group.
2:36
And when I say we, I'm talking about my dad and I because we started this business together.
2:40
This would have been in 2006, 2007.
2:42
Ish.
2:44
And my dad at the time, had grown a business.
2:48
It was a wholesale distribution business.
2:50
Not important to what it is to this conversation.
2:52
But he had built that business using direct mail.
2:57
And it was in an industry that was very much, you know, sales team driven.
3:04
You had guys on the ground, working shoe leather, walking up and down the street, knocking on doors, selling things, right?
3:09
And he thought there had to be a better leveraged way to do that, right.
3:13
Than having salespeople scattered all over.
3:15
And not necessarily a better way, but.
3:17
But a complimentary way to do it, right?
3:20
So we have this and this.
3:22
And so he had grown that business using direct mail in an industry, like I said, where it just wasn't done.
3:29
And we were in this mastermind group.
3:31
And he had used all kinds of creative things to grow that business.
3:36
So we had spent.
3:37
We had sent, like, real dollar bills in the mail.
3:40
We'd sent fake money, monopoly money in the mail.
3:42
We had sent.
3:44
Remember Those little Magic 8 balls you used to shake up, and they would, you know, give the answer inside.
3:48
We.
3:48
We had sent things like, so all kinds of crazy things we had sent in the mail to grow this business.
3:54
Now, this was at the time before I had started working with them.
3:58
Well, we had kind of started to get a name in that industry and others for, like, fun, unique direct mail in a world where it wasn't used.
4:07
And so people would come to us and ask us, hey, are you doing that?
4:11
How are you doing this?
4:12
Where you're getting these ideas?
4:15
And we would just kind of refer it out.
4:16
We would tell people, like, well, we go to the dollar store, and we get inspiration for, like, little Magic 8 balls and things like that.
4:23
And after a while, it was, why are we referring this out?
4:28
Do we.
4:29
Is there another business here?
4:31
Right?
4:31
And so looping back to being in Bill Glazier's mastermind group, we go to the mastermind group, we get around the table with about 10 or 12 other business owners.
4:40
And of course, they had seen, because this is like a quarterly thing.
4:43
So they knew what we were doing.
4:44
They knew the things that we were up to.
4:46
And we told them, hey, we've got this idea where we're like, we'll do this fund direct mail for other businesses.
4:53
Because, like I said, we were a wholesale distribution business.
4:56
So we would bring bulk in, break it, and sell it, right?
4:59
I mean, your typical wholesale big warehouse full of stuff, right?
5:02
Well, this business that we could do with this unique direct mail, you know, kind of fit into that mold where we didn't have to recreate the wheel.
5:09
We could use all the infrastructure.
5:11
And by the time we presented that to the Mastermind group and they had gone around the table, we could have taken order, like pre orders right then and there for our services.
5:20
Right.
5:21
So it really goes to show, you know, the power of, like listening to podcasts like this, the power of being in a Mastermind group where, you know, it kind of just started as an idea, hey, can we do
5:33
this to.
5:36
I mean, like I said, we could have taken orders right there on the spot.
5:38
So it was a kind of an interesting trajectory, kind of like a hockey stick.
5:42
Like, should we do it?
5:43
Should we do it?
5:43
Okay, we're doing it.
5:44
So, yeah, it was, it was an interesting start to our, our company.
5:48
Okay, so you have success with direct mail, doing unique things and grow your dad's wholesale business.
5:55
You're at the Mastermind and you have this thought to pitch this, this idea to them, because you could outsource this and scale a different business, giving this service to others.
6:04
Everyone seems to love it.
6:05
And that seems like validation that says, okay, we're going to do this thing.
6:10
I mean, so what happens next?
6:13
I mean, so really what we did is we, like I said, we were a wholesale distribution business.
6:18
So we went to new buyers, new manufacturers and said, hey, here are the things we want.
6:23
So we created like a stable of products.
6:27
So one of them, I've got a boomerang.
6:29
So one of the things that we do when we send direct mail is if you've got a list of past customers, right?
6:35
So it all comes back to a database.
6:36
We can talk about that if you want.
6:38
But you got a list of past customers, right?
6:40
Think of a dentist.
6:41
Every dentist, you're supposed to show up every six months.
6:44
If you don't show up in month seven, we send them a boomerang because we want you back, right?
6:49
And so that's the kind of creative stuff we're talking about.
6:51
It's like the anti junk mail.
6:53
And so we went and found some new manufacturers for these things and we started bringing them in to our business, right?
7:01
Because again, big warehouse full of stuff.
7:03
As long as it has a SKU number, doesn't matter where it is, right?
7:06
So we're kind of using our core competencies of that business.
7:10
And so we went and found these different vendors.
7:13
And then like the very first thing we did is again, we were in Bill Glazer's Mastermind group.
7:18
He had a big conference every year for his members, right?
7:22
So big conference, four or 500 people.
7:24
And so we set a launch date that Corresponded with that event because again, this was a kind of a group that knew us.
7:31
And so we, we got a sponsorship deal with them.
7:34
We had a big booth.
7:35
So picture like not a big trade show, but kind of a small trade show with speakers and events and that kind of stuff.
7:42
So not like these big things where you got 20,000 people running around, but a little more intimate.
7:46
500 or so people paid the money to sponsor it, paid the money for a booth spot.
7:50
And we launched the then and there.
7:53
I believe that would have been, that would have been spring of 2007 or 2008.
7:58
They get a little fuzzy after a while.
8:00
But basically we set that launch date, said we're gonna be boots on the ground, plan our flag in this arena on that date.
8:08
And so by then I think we had something like 15 or 18 core products that we were, that we were using and selling.
8:16
We weren't really recreating the wheel.
8:18
If you're a student of direct mail, you, you've kind of seen these, what we call grabbers and inserts.
8:23
And now we used to call it lumpy mail or dimensional mail.
8:26
Our brand is 3D mail, three dimensional mail.
8:29
And so that was kind of the next big step was where can we plan our flag?
8:34
Where can we do this?
8:36
Where's an audience that kind of already accepts direct mail?
8:39
Kind of as a, as a, as a, as a feasible marketing channel, it was a lot easier in 2008 than it is now.
8:47
Right, but, but that's kind of how we started.
8:50
We got the idea, we brainchild it, we set a launch date that corresponded with this event.
8:56
And boy, we did tens of thousands of dollars in business at that first weekend event.
9:01
So it was, it was kind of a verification that all this work, you know, been about as eight month, you know, rollout to get to that launch date.
9:09
And so it was verification that, all right, we're going the right direction.
9:12
We have something, we have something and an audience that we think we can sell this to.
9:18
Okay, so you get the idea, you get validation, you decide to launch, you have the lead up until the launch at the trade show.
9:28
You get a lot of orders right away, right?
9:32
So you kind of hit the ground running with the business.
9:35
And as you go through the process of scaling and growing the business, I mean, how did that go?
9:41
You know what we found?
9:43
And if you're selling a product or a service to other businesses where they kind of have to implement things right, you're not like holding their hand all the way through the implementation.
9:54
We found that people would buy, like I said, a hundred boomerangs or a ,ousand boomerangs or ten thousand boomerangs or whatever it may be, any of these fun little products.
10:02
And again, I've got a little show and tell.
10:03
I can show them if you want.
10:05
We found that we would send them this stuff and then they'd never do anything with it, right?
10:11
So it was great for like those first few months where we're new and we're selling a lot of stuff and the momentum is rising.
10:17
And then you get down the line, you go and check in with these clients, and it's like, well, I haven't done anything with it yet.
10:23
I haven't implemented the idea.
10:26
All right, so how can we help them implement the ideas?
10:29
So next came after.
10:30
Shortly after that, we then kind of pivoted because we always kind of saw ourselves as a distributor.
10:36
We'll distribute this stuff because again, that was our core competency.
10:39
That's what my dad had done at that point for 25 years, was own and manage this business that was a distribution business.
10:47
And so again, after a few months, it's like, all right, you bought X amount of these things and I'd love to sell you more of these things, but you still got them sitting in your office somewhere.
10:57
So that's when we kind of pivoted and started moving towards this direction of, okay, we can be a male fulfillment house for you.
11:06
So we can print these letters, we can put them in the envelopes, we can put postage on them.
11:10
And at the time, 2008, 2009, we were very primitive, right?
11:13
I mean, we were very, very primitive compared to what we are now.
11:17
But it's like, okay, if we put these things in the mail for them and they get results, then they're more likely to buy more of the thing from us, right?
11:24
I mean, that's just, you know, you know, Implementation Agency 101.
11:28
How can we get them a quick result and a quick win?
11:31
And so that was the first real pivot, was, can we just kind of do this for them?
11:36
Can we?
11:37
You know, now these things never leave our office.
11:39
They order 100 boomerangs, and we send 100 boomerangs to inactive patients, they get five reactivated patients back, and now they've got an ROI of maybe 3, 4, 5, 6 to 1, just on a little tiny investment up front.
11:54
Okay, now can we duplicate that?
11:56
How many times a year can we do that for them?
11:59
And so that was kind of the first iteration that we.
12:02
We're going to have to do this for folks because the people are moving away from the kind of learn how to do it to will you just do it for me kind of business model.
12:11
If you're in those business services type of industries, okay.
12:16
And after the pivot, where you realize that, you know, people weren't going to take all the action and see it through on their own, so you'd be a lot better off doing it for them.
12:26
How did that, how did things change for the business once you implemented that pivot?
12:30
Oh boy.
12:31
So, I mean, really, it was a big mental change as much as anything.
12:38
Like, okay, now we're, now we're in a service industry, right?
12:41
Before we were in, before we were in a products industry, we held product.
12:46
So we were worried about, like most wholesale companies, a cost of goods sold, what's our cost in, what's our cost out.
12:51
And we're still, you know, that's still important, but not as important when you're in a service based industry.
12:56
What are, what are our inventory?
12:58
Turns, turns, turns, turns.
12:59
That's all you ever hear about in a wholesale distribution business.
13:03
Well, those, those other things kind of, they're good numbers.
13:07
We still have to know them.
13:08
But more shifting towards, okay, how can we implement this thing?
13:11
So we invested in a very nice big commercial printer.
13:15
Not, you know, kind of like earlier than maybe we should have, right?
13:19
So we got this big commercial printer that's, you know, several thousand dollars a month that we're on a lease now.
13:24
So we had to get that and put room in for that and then really change our mindset from selling a thing to selling an outcome.
13:33
Right?
13:34
So if you do this thing with us and we do it properly, your outcome should be this.
13:40
So for us, it's all about roi, return on investment.
13:43
If you spend X amount of dollars, we should get some kind of multiple of X for you.
13:49
And so that was really more of an internal change for us.
13:53
And then of course, we had to communicate that with our clients, right, who are used to just buying things and us shipping it to them.
13:59
Now we had to have that conversation.
14:02
Okay, you're ready to do this?
14:04
Maybe instead of us sending it to you, we now just do it for you, right?
14:08
So there was kind of a sales process shift.
14:11
So it actually put more of a tail on the end of a sale, right?
14:14
It's whole, you know, I shouldn't say it's easier.
14:16
It's a quicker sale to say, hey, you want a hundred thingamajigs, we'll just ship them to you.
14:20
Hey, you want a hundred thingamajigs?
14:21
And us to send them out for you.
14:23
All right, now, now we're adding a little bit more.
14:25
So it, again, mental change for us and then communicating that to our clients and then, you know, adding a little bit of a tail to the end of that sale before it's actually done.
14:37
It's.
14:37
If that makes sense.
14:39
Okay.
14:40
All right.
14:40
And so through the process of scaling thereafter, what was the trajectory of the business like?
14:48
It actually grew fairly quickly.
14:50
We had a, I want to say in 2014, 15, 16.
14:54
In that range, we grew.
14:56
We almost doubled every year after that, and a lot of that was in now, the fulfillment side of the business.
15:04
So now, you know, I can sell a boomerang for 25, 30, 40 cents, but a whole package now costs three bucks to send out.
15:12
So I was instantly increasing a lot of our sales.
15:15
You know, I think our average order went up two or three times.
15:19
Right.
15:20
So we, I think we were like under $100 before that.
15:22
And then almost immediately flipping that switch, we went to like three or four times that.
15:28
So that, you know, the trajectory went up quick.
15:31
So we were able to increase the average order size, able to increase the average transaction for each client.
15:38
Our, our, our profit margins took a hit because now we're doing some things.
15:44
So I mentioned that tail, some of that tail didn't really have the high margin stuff that the front end had.
15:50
So while our profit margin as a percentage shrunk, they continued to grow along with sales.
15:57
So we kind of had to adjust the math with that.
15:59
You know, as a wholesale distribution business, we were like, okay, cost of goods sold, if we're at a 40 to 45 to 55% profit margin, we're going to be good.
16:09
Well, now, when you add that tail, okay, maybe we're only at a 30% or 25% profit margin on a job, but we've also increased, like I said, a 3 or 4x in the actual transaction size.
16:22
Having that profit margin shrink, but having that sales volume keep growing.
16:27
So it was kind of an adjustment in how we thought about each customer and, and how we thought about each transaction.
16:33
Okay, and what, what type throughout that whole time, as you're figuring this out and making these adjustments and continuing to refine the approach, I mean, what was the biggest challenge that you encountered?
16:47
Well, still today, our biggest challenge is, is postage.
16:53
Postage rates keep going up.
16:54
I have no control over them.
16:56
So a client that started a direct mail job five years ago was paying 61 cents, 58 cents for a postage stamp, is now paying 73, 74, 75 cents.
17:08
Right.
17:08
So that's a, you know, 20, 20, 20, 25% increase in postage and I don't make any money off of that.
17:15
So that's kind of an external factor that I can't control that we're always fighting with.
17:21
So some of the remedies to that is to like.
17:24
So we've brought on additional stuff that we can do with their direct mail.
17:28
So now we can do things like send them direct mail and then also target that same list on Facebook and Instagram.
17:35
Right.
17:36
So we can have kind of a multichannel approach.
17:39
So now, yeah, their price goes up, but now I've got a better margin thing to sell rather than, I mean, don't make any margin on a postage stamp.
17:47
And now hopefully, right, not all cases, but many cases, the, the, your costs rise, but your response rate rise, your return on investment rise.
17:57
And so as long as we can kind of keep ahead of those, those increases, that was a big deal.
18:03
And then frankly as, so I'm in my mid-40s now.
18:06
When I started this business with my dad almost 20 years ago, direct mail was one of the big heavyweights for a marketer to use.
18:16
And as we're now, now kind of, there's a younger generation than me coming in now, they are so hyper focused.
18:23
Hyper focus may be hyperbole.
18:25
They're so focused on social and direct and social media and Internet marketing just as a whole right there.
18:34
They think of themselves not necessarily as a business owner that does X, they think of themselves as an Internet marketer who does X.
18:44
You know what I mean?
18:45
So now everything is digital based.
18:47
And so now we're having to maybe in a harder, more aggressive way convince these new entrepreneurs who are maybe in their 20s and early 30s and even some up into their 40s now, that direct mail is a, is
19:02
a positive and integral way, a tool in your toolbox to use.
19:07
And shifting that mindset from I'm an Internet based business to I am an owner of X business and the Internet is just one of the ways I get clients.
19:20
So because again, so many of them have only done it online that they think of themselves as only a Internet marketing company when they could be using all the other things they have available to them.
19:31
Okay, I'm glad you brought that up too because as social media has been introduced and the digitization of business has continued to proliferate.
19:42
Right.
19:43
The common perception of direct mail is that it's, it's old school, it's kind of not relevant.
19:49
You know, we've heard about all the issues the post office has had, you know, on top of that lately.
19:54
So why even today in 2025, like why is direct mail still a viable option for, for a business, for their marketing?
20:04
Let me see if I can find my little cheat sheet here.
20:06
I typically leave.
20:07
Oh, here it is.
20:08
So I got a little cheat sheet here.
20:10
I'll answer that question for you.
20:11
I won't bore you with numbers, but I'm going to go over a couple different numbers.
20:15
So this is all from a channel study done by the US Postal Service.
20:18
So of course it's self serving.
20:20
The postal service wants you to use the mail, of course, but the findings aren't right.
20:24
So they find 80% of people say they look forward to seeing what's in their mailbox.
20:29
80%.
20:30
Now this is US based, so if we got international users, listeners, sorry, but 80% of people look forward to what they see in their mailbox.
20:37
I don't know of anybody at an 80% clip who says, boy, I can't wait to see the next ad as I scroll through Facebook.
20:43
Right.
20:45
73% of US consumers prefer direct mail for brand communication because it allows them to read the information at their own convenience.
20:53
So again, it has that stick around effect.
20:56
When was the last time?
20:58
Maybe in 2007, 8, 9.
21:00
When was the last time you like got an email, printed it out, put it somewhere to hold onto to read for later?
21:05
Nobody does that, right?
21:06
I mean, in fact, if I see something online that I know I won't remember to like look at it, I like have to email it to myself.
21:13
So it's in my inbox, so I like look at it later.
21:16
Right.
21:17
So 73% prefer communication via direct mail has a stick around effect.
21:21
It's going to sit on the coffee table, it's going to sit on the, on the desk.
21:25
It's going to sit around and be effective for hours or days or even weeks.
21:30
Which brings me to my next one.
21:32
The average shelf life for direct mail is 17 days.
21:36
So on average that direct mail shows up, it's going to sit there for 17 days.
21:40
Email is just 2 seconds.
21:43
Brand recall for direct mail is 70% higher than digital ads.
21:47
It's tactical.
21:48
Even though people are living online, they still, I mean the psychology of the human brain has not changed that much.
21:54
We want to touch and feel and smell and do all that stuff.
21:57
And if we can only see, we're not going to retain it.
21:59
Right, you're just not going to.
22:02
So that's just some of the reasons why you would want to use direct mail.
22:05
Today and frankly we're almost seeing even like.
22:11
So like my son who's 15, you're seeing like some of his friends like carry around real cameras now again, instead of just doing everything on their phone, you're starting to see him carry around things that maybe for 10
22:22
or 12 years in between that hasn't happened.
22:24
So we're almost a tactile revolution, I think a little mini one.
22:29
I don't think we're maybe quite to revolution yet, but people like to touch and hold and smell and sniff and get stuff on their hands.
22:36
And human psychology just doesn't change that fast.
22:39
Right.
22:39
We're maybe 15 years into this social media experiment at its as we know it now.
22:46
And so there's just a ton of reasons to put something in somebody's hands, especially with the way that we can do mailing lists and segment.
22:55
I mean you could make a ton of money with direct mail, never mailing anybody other than your existing and past clients, customers and patients.
23:04
And I mean, do all the, do all the social media stuff to get them, but a great way to sell them more stuff is through the mail and never even send in mail to people who don't know you.
23:15
Okay, all right.
23:16
And in terms of your approach as well, right, Because I'm sure we can all relate to junk mail and just that, that type of thing.
23:25
So you have a very unique approach with like these items like the boomerang and other, I guess you call it 3D mail.
23:32
Let's just go into what, what is 3D mail and why is that so effective?
23:36
That's a great question.
23:37
So it goes back a little bit to what we just spoke about, which is people love to touch and feel and hold, right.
23:42
With just the human anatomy, human psychology, we like to pick up and hold and touch things by and large, why it works.
23:49
Imagine you get, and we've all experienced this, you get 10 pieces of mail and they all pretty much look and act the same, right?
23:57
So like the one that everyone can relate to are credit card offers, right?
24:02
Everyone gets credit card offers or bank offers.
24:04
And they all pretty much look the same.
24:06
They're a number 10 window envelope, your address, those through the window, if they get really creative, they might put something on the outside.
24:14
But there's like, we've become, we've put blinders onto those things because we know exactly what they are as soon as we see them, right.
24:24
And it's like if you're going back and watching TV and you turn on an episode, it's like, oh, this is A rerun.
24:29
I've seen this, right?
24:29
It's kind of like that same idea.
24:31
Well, when you put.
24:33
I mean, we're recording this in late July.
24:34
Don't know when it'll come out.
24:36
But we just had the Fourth of July, Independence Day here in the U.S.
24:39
so we send out these little pocket constitutions.
24:43
Little, little thing has the constitution written in it.
24:46
And so we'll send these things out like as think.
24:48
So I had a chiropractor client of mine send this out just as a thank you gift to all of his patients.
24:54
Hey, we're celebrating the fourth of July.
24:55
It's always nice to remember where we came from.
24:57
And here's the little pocket constitution, right?
25:00
So it arouses curiosity.
25:03
So when you get that thing in the mail, we'll keep using the boomerang because it's great and everyone has lost clients.
25:09
Lost clients is usually the first campaign I tell people to implement here.
25:12
But like, so now that envelope shows up, and you can instantly feel something inside, right?
25:18
You can touch, like, you feel that envelope.
25:20
You know, there's something in there that isn't usually in a direct mail piece.
25:24
So now that curiosity factor kicks in.
25:26
What's in here?
25:27
Why am I getting this?
25:28
Who is sending this to me?
25:30
And now they've got, you know, the whole curiosity killed the cat thing.
25:33
We've got to know what's inside.
25:34
And the biggest issue we have with any kind of marketing, I don't care if you're online, offline, billboards, television, radio, direct mail.
25:42
The biggest challenge we have as a marketer is, is to get our message listened to, read, and looked at, right?
25:49
If we don't have it, attention is the currency.
25:51
If we don't have attention, we can't do it.
25:53
So now if that curiosity kicks off, what's in here?
25:56
This feels funny.
25:58
I'm not used to getting something in an envelope that's shaped like this.
26:01
Now I've got to open it.
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Oh, it's a boomerang.
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Who sent me a boomerang?
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Why am I getting a boomerang?
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Now I've got to at least read the first part of that letter to figure out why is there a boomerang?
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And.
26:11
And who sent it to me.
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And so now you've at least got minimum table stakes to have your message read and listened to.
26:19
Because again, that's our number one currency's attention.
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If we don't get it, doesn't matter.
26:23
So that's why we do it.
26:25
I wish we could send little tiny postcards that cost nothing and still get the same response rate, but we very rarely do.
26:32
We've got to do something that commands attention.
26:34
It's why super bowl ads are so expensive.
26:36
They demand attention.
26:38
You know, half the audience of any super bowl is only watching to watch the ads, right?
26:44
And so they're very expensive because they have a great, you know, great audience, great saturation, great recall.
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All the things we need as marketers.
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That's what they get.
26:55
Now, most of us can't afford an $8 million ad spot, so we've got to do other things to get that attention.
27:01
Okay, all right.
27:03
And given how far you've come with this business and you continue to grow into 2025, I mean, what's next for 3D mail boy?
27:12
So I think, and I think this is as a whole, for businesses.
27:15
Well, let's give it a two part answer.
27:17
First off is we want to try to automate as much marketing for our clients as possible.
27:23
So I'll give you an example of what I mean by that.
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We have a couple clients right now who are in the home services business.
27:29
Window washers, gutter replacement, window replacement, things like that.
27:33
Right?
27:33
So kind of exterior home care stuff.
27:36
One of the things that we do for them is every month there's new movers, right?
27:41
So every.
27:41
Every month there's new homeowners, new movers moving into their service area.
27:45
Can we, as much as possible, automate the task of getting that list for them, printing it out for them, putting it into the envelope for them, sending it for them so that all they have to do is answer
27:58
the phone?
27:58
Right.
27:59
So that's like one little example of what we do.
28:01
But can we.
28:03
And that's what our most successful clients do is can we find an audience?
28:08
And can we?
28:09
Well, it's three things.
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Can we find an audience?
28:12
Do we have an offer, and can we get that offer in front of them?
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And then can we automate that as much as possible so that all they have to do is answer the phone?
28:21
So.
28:21
So that's kind of number one.
28:22
I'll give you one more example.
28:25
We work with a lot of attorneys.
28:27
So like now let's say you're a bankruptcy attorney.
28:30
We work with probably two dozen bankruptcy attorneys.
28:33
When you get sued by your bank or a medical center or whatever for not paying your bills, that's a public record thing.
28:41
When the lawsuit hits, well, can we get that list?
28:44
And in many cases we can.
28:46
So we know that, you know, XYZ Medical center is suing Joe Blow because he didn't pay his medical Bill.
28:53
Well, that's a prime candidate for a bankruptcy attorney, right?
28:57
So we could go get lists of everybody around us and say, hey, we're a bankruptcy attorney.
29:02
Let us help you.
29:03
Without knowing if they have any financial issues at all.
29:06
Well, if they're being sued for $8,500 for skipping out on a medical bill, well, we know they have the problem now, right?
29:12
I mean, we know it's just a question of are they going to choose us as the solution to fix it.
29:17
So automating that whole process, getting the list, putting it in the mail, making sure that everything's working, even tracking it for them.
29:24
So that leads me to my second thing, which is integrating new technologies into direct mail, where direct mail has kind of been kind of stodgy for a while, which I admit it's taken us some time to catch up.
29:36
But can we track it for them?
29:38
Can we put ads on social media for them?
29:42
Can we, you know, track it all the way down?
29:45
You spent $100, you made $212.
29:47
Right.
29:48
And the ability to track that as much as possible for them.
29:50
So it really is becoming what we kind of call an omnichannel campaign, an omnichannel marketing presence where they see you online, they see you in their newsfeed, they see you when you show up in your direct mail in
30:02
their mailbox.
30:03
So that those are kind of the two things.
30:05
They really kind of go hand in hand.
30:06
Because as much as we can use technology to automate those things, we, we can then use technology to track it and show it to them that, hey, this is working.
30:15
You're getting, you're getting the end result that you want.
30:19
Ah, okay.
30:20
All right.
30:21
And Travis, if, if companies out there want to learn more about what you do and how you can help them, what's the best way that they can reach out to you?
30:27
Oh, that's great, Dave.
30:28
Thanks for asking.
30:29
So I'll give you two websites.
30:31
They can go to My, my main website, which will show you boomerangs and, and constitutions.
30:36
And we send bank, we send all kinds of fun things.
30:39
That's 3D mail results.com.
30:42
so the number three, the letter D, M, A, I, L, R E, S U, L, T S dot com.
30:48
That's just our general website.
30:50
You can get to know us.
30:51
You can request some free information there.
30:53
We actually, you know, we do lead generation marketing.
30:55
So give us a name and address, we'll send you a catalog for free.
30:59
I think I have one of those here.
31:00
If not, I'll show you this and then if you want a book.
31:03
So we also have my book.
31:05
It's called the simple three step process that ensures direct mail success.
31:09
You can go to my name.
31:11
So that's travisali.com costs you about three bucks.
31:17
So just cover the postage for us.
31:19
This is a great primer.
31:21
If you're new to direct mail and you don't really know what to do, you don't even like, know where to start.
31:26
This is a great example of that.
31:28
We talk about the three step process and list offer media.
31:33
Those are the only three things that matter in direct mail.
31:35
List offer media.
31:37
So it's only a three chapter book, but it's like 125 pages on those three things.
31:42
And if you re.
31:43
If you read the book, get those three things, you will be miles ahead of where you are right now when it comes to thinking where and when I can use direct mail in my business.
31:54
All right, well, we'll link those websites in the show.
31:57
Notes for everyone.
31:59
And Travis, thank you so much for taking the time to be here and sharing all this valuable wisdom from your journey with our audience.
32:05
We greatly appreciate it.
32:06
Thanks, Dave.
32:07
I appreciate it.
32:07
It was a great.