My turn again to write the blog, so here goes….
Earlier this year my brother-in-law went to Iraq with the Marines, which filled us all with a lot of fear. He is, however, in one of the safer parts of Iraq if you can believe there is such a place, although we do hear tales about camel spiders!!!.
Of course we started sending him boxes of goodies as soon as he set foot in the desert, and then we started to think about the other soldiers who are over there who don’t get anything from home. We found a web site www.anymarine.com. On there you can find blogs written by soldiers and sailors who are on active duty in Iraq, Afghanistan, and all across the world. They tell you about themselves and then the kinds of things that would make their lives a little easier. Mostly they want things like socks, deodorant, baby wipes, sunscreen and snacks.
We have “adopted” one troop who are stationed at Al Asad Air Base and have sent them packages of food and things like letters, newspapers and magazines. We have received letters and cards from them telling us about themselves and how much it means for them to hear from people at home.
We have also adopted a troop of five soldiers in Afghanistan who are stationed out in the field and get all excited when they get a jar of instant coffee. They don’t have regular access to showers so they always need baby wipes and foot powder and things like that. One new adoptee is SSG John Domstadter who is stationed in Baghdad and is a dog handler. He has requested toys for the dogs. These are working dogs, either bomb sniffers or aggression trained for security but they do have down time and want toys, especially tennis balls, so that will be my next package – tennis balls!!
One thing I have learnt throughout all of this is that the most important thing is not the snacks or other items that we send, it gets much more basic than that, it is about the letters.
It’s all about the connection!! They pass around our letters like they were gold and it helps them feel that someone cares about them and is thinking of them.
I think that direct mail advertising is like that on a higher level…about making a connection with a customer and keeping them feeling like they are not forgotten and are important and valuable. How wonderful if we could find a way to thank people and let them know how important they are to our success and how we value them without sounding impersonal or generic.
On that deep note, I will end my blog and wish you all a Happy June 2007.
Sheila Smith
AdWoman who cares
