Dunthorpe’s challenge was to develop a marketing strategy for DeviceWall that would enable us to reach out to medium and enterprise-sized companies using a budget that could only scratch the surface of this massive potential audience.

Dunthorpe Marketing Group created an integrated marketing plan that targeted specific market segments using a combination of direct mail, viral promotion, email marketing and internet advertising. The messaging woven through the campaign centered on the consequences for the audience of doing nothing. "If you don’t have DeviceWall, your only alternative is to put (humorous) red stickers on all of your corporate computers begging employees not to steal data." Direct mail that contained an assortment of the stickers drove recipients to a website that promoted the product and offered more hilarious stickers. Did it work? Definitely. In fact, a very large company in Redmond Washington ordered hundreds of them. The campaign was extended through email and online advertising so extending the reach of the campaign significantly. The final step of the campaign was a phone call to each responder to schedule an appointment and demo.

The program successfully harnessed the power to extend a marketing investment with a strong viral component. The scope and budget of the project was based on direct marketing to a small target group combined with online marketing to a much broader audience. The overall reach was extensive and the unusually large number of responses continued months after the campaign was completed. Smart humor was one key to success, along with a smart strategy from first touch through follow-up calling.

Note from Dunthorpe: A marketing campaign like this one could not be more appropriate in this economic climate. Your ability to generate sales leads, get the greatest reach and highest ROI is critical with today’s tight budgets.