Another example of people’s response to handwritten notes, marketing, or any personal connection in today’s world.

Detroit Free Press: Help revive a long-lost art — Write a letter

I used to write letters, lots of them.

Back in high school, the boy who would become my husband wrote letters to me, too. The real deal. Ink on paper, unique handwriting, his a mix of print and script, lean and leaning to the right; mine with the straight, fat letters. We’d leave letters for one another at our lockers and devour the written words in class, when we should have been listening to our teachers.

We were young and blissful, unaware that we were engaged in art — now, sadly, the dying art of writing letters.

Think about it. When was the last time you put pen to paper or found a handwritten envelope amid the junk that comes through the postal system disguised as important?

My answer is rarely to never, a shameful admission that occurred to me recently as I heard about the multimillion-dollar campaign HBO has cooked up with the U.S. Postal Service to get America writing letters again — and to promote its latest miniseries “John Adams.”

Adams was a proud man of letters, exchanging them faithfully, including more than 1,100 with his wife Abigail, from their dating years throughout his presidency, the nation’s second (1797-1801).

Adams probably would not think kindly of how letter-writing has disappeared from American life. The man who once wrote: “Let us dare to read, think, speak and write,” would probably argue passionately in voice and verse that letters live for lifetimes, though they’re born of single moments in time.

Let’s face it: E-mail is just not the same. It’s faster, but far less personal, no matter how fancy the font. And once you’ve run it through a printer, it feels more like evidence than heartfelt correspondence. And text messages? These days, once sent, you hope they disappear.

We recently joined the Seattle Direct Marketing Association (SDMA) and have been very impressed with the organization and events.

It’s really great to see the local energy and interest in Direct Marketing. If you’re in the area and interested in Direct Marketing I encourage you to attend one of the monthly meetings.

Just don’t ask them if they are a part of the national Direct Marketing Association (DMA).

Here’s a tip for you direct marketers out there when your clients say, “Handwritten marketing? Really?” The more people email, IM, SMS, and now “Facebook” with each other the more an old-fashioned handwritten letter stands out and gets results. It’s so true!

I’ve had a few people recently ask me variations of, “Well, with all this technology today don’t you think handwritten letters are a little old-fashioned for marketing?” My answer is absolutely. That’s the point!

We welcome the growth of online marketing because our approach contrasts so well with what is frequently considered “cheap and annoying.” Online, people now have to wade through spam, ad-blockers, spoofing, viruses, phishing, and new threats every day. There is a lot of clutter and fear out there precisely because it’s so cheap to produce this type of “marketing.”

On the other hand, our handwritten notes convey the comfortable old-fashioned qualities of caring and a personal touch. This human emotional connection between our clients and their customers simply creates better results and it stands in stark contrast to the alternatives today.

So, while everyone else tries optimized email marketing campaigns, targeted search ads, Facebook ads, and whatever comes next, handwritten marketing will only increase its effectiveness. We firmly believe this and think you and your clients should as well.

According to Bob Rosner and Sherrie Campbell over at Workmash AKA the Working Wounded, Ikea has been using handwritten marketing in some interesting and creative ways:

Ikea recently tested an innovative approach for finding great employees. They put hand-written job announcements on bathroom walls at upscale restaurants in Malmo, Sweden. According to the company, the bathroom ads generated four times the response they get from classifieds.

Kim T. Gordon has penned an interesting article for Entrepreneur.com regarding personalized marketing. I’d say we agree that in today’s world, personalized and authentic marketing really stands out and gets people’s attention. Small businesses have an opportunity that big corporations often don’t, and that’s the power of the personal message. Kim says it best,

As a small-business owner, you’re in the enviable position of interacting with customers you know on a first-name basis. You can more easily maintain a database with in-depth customer information than larger businesses. The key is to use this important data to ensure your communications strike a personal chord with customers.

Handwritten Results is ideally suited to help small-business owners achieve this personalization. And of her three suggestions, number three certainly hits home.

3. Put it in writing.
What better way to make your message stand out than to express it in a handwritten note? After all, with fast online and mobile communications the norm, a handwritten note emphasizes that you’ve taken the time and thought to communicate something in a special way.

Entrepreneurs nationwide swear by the effectiveness of personal, handwritten notes for making a strong, positive impression. …

If you’re in an industry where it’s critical to build one-on-one relationships with prospects, it’s a good idea to print fold-over notecards with your company logo to follow up with customers. Hand address the envelopes and apply real stamps–rather than run your cards through a postage meter–for a personal look that will get past screeners. If the first task of effective marketing is to get noticed and stand out from the clamor of competing advertisers, then handwritten notecards and other personalized messages will achieve the goal.

As everyone races toward email, blackberries, and 24/7 connections, handwritten mail only gets more valuable. Yesterday’s San Jose Mercury News had a quick article talking about just that.

E-mails may get the message across, but it doesn’t have the elegance or eloquence of handwritten correspondence.

“The pendulum is swinging back,” says Marion Gellatly, president of the Association of Image Consultants International and founder of the etiquette firm Powerful Presence. “We’ve gotten to be such a fast-paced society, and it’s all quick this and that. The whole idea of written thank-you notes has gone by the wayside.”

Resentment toward e-mail, coupled with a return to traditional etiquette, could propel this from a trend back to established practice, specifically for the younger generation.

“I think parents are starting to show children what’s proper,” says Jack Tanowitz, owner of JAX Invitations, Cards and Gifts at Santana Row. “And really, it starts from there.”

Handwritten notes are “absolutely coming back into style, especially with thank-you notes,” he adds.

Small businesses are always looking to stand out in the crowd and offer something a little different, a little better than the competition. And also get value for their marketing dollars. Well, John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing wrote a blog post as a guest blogger for HP talking about just those issues.

When you take the time to send a client or prospect a thoughtfully hand written note, not only do you get the benefit of this connection I describe about, you also:

* Stand out from the crowd (nobody does this anymore and that’s what makes it so powerful)
* Say, I care enough to take the time to do this
* Can’t help but write something that is personal in nature (computers stink at that)
* Make a connection with another form of communication (email, phone, web site, blog, note - you need them all)
* Have the ability to make the person who receives the note feel special (if you can’t figure out why that’s a good marketing thing, I can’t help you)
* Will begin to receive more referrals (your clients will tell people about your unique habit)

As I’ve said many times, if you’ve got the time to write personal handwritten notes, you should. Go do it. I couldn’t agree more. But, if you don’t have that time let us help. Don’t give up the power of handwritten mail just because you don’t have the time.