To some companies the idea of their employees having the ability to send and receive faxes without leaving their desks probably not only sounds new, but sounds beneficial as well.
FaxSav (www.faxsav.com), Edison, NJ, a network services company, realizes the idea also may be something that most companies won't be sold on immediately. That's why it's using an integrated marketing campaign to promote the service.
The $2 million test campaign, which started last month, targeted the information technicians of 25,000 Fortune 5000 companies. It is the company's first major marketing push for its products and includes direct mail, print and Web advertising.
“We're using direct marketing to raise awareness of our company and to enlighten these other companies of the value we can bring them,” said Bill Fallon, vice president of marketing at FaxSav. “Hopefully, it will get our sales force in front of as many of the right customers as possible.”
According to Fallon, FaxSav realizes the service isn't the type of investment companies are going to order just by looking at a direct mail piece. Instead, he said the campaign was used to help generate leads for the company's sales representatives.
“The message we are trying to deliver with this piece is more along the lines of trying to make these people understand the cost of faxing and why they should be talking to us,” he said. “The response we are looking for is for companies to call us back, ask for more information and set up a meeting with a sales representative.”
The piece details how a switch to faxing by computer can save a company an estimated $490,000. It outlines the problems, solutions and benefits of making the change and provides a “fax-back” sheet on which the responding party lists a contact name, alternate contact name, the company name and address.
FaxSav is looking at the initial responses and results and has so far seen about a 1 percent response rate. Fallon said responses would most likely take a while because, in most cases, there was no specific person to whom to direct the mailing.
“It takes time for a piece like this to trickle down to the right person within a company,” he said. “There is no manager or director of fax in a large company. This presents us with some interesting challenges regarding what we have to do to make sure our message gets to the right person.”
FaxSav will begin rolling out another campaign next month. While the size of that campaign has yet to be determined, its message will remain the same. And based on who within the companies respond, it will help FaxSav develop a more targeted effort.
“After the results are in, they will hopefully help us to fine-tune our message and identify who we want to mail to,” Fallon said.
