Last week I received a piece of unsolicited direct mail from an unlikely source.

Are you ready for this? It came from Google!

The familiar saying Google has never advertised is no longer true. I guess that even some of the world’s best brands resort to marketing in a down economy.

But the good news is that they sent something really valuable. The mail piece is a blue 8″ by 6″ booklet called Top Tactics for Tough Times. The ten scan-friendly pages deliver great tips on how to improve AdWords results.

The tips use short text and side-by-side graphics to display each tip and show how it can impact results. Here’s an example:

1. Focus your ads on low prices and savings.

Consumers care about prices more than ever, especially on day-to-day purchases. When someone searches on a particular product, you know they’re interested; by using your ad to tell them that you’ve got the highest quality and the best price, you’re more likely to earn their click. Update your ad text to focus on low prices, good values, and timely promotions.

To draw the attention of price-conscious shoppers, these ads use savings-related terms.

Footers in the booklet cite URLs where the message is continued on the web. Click on the graphic to check it out.

Good Direct Mail Stands Out

We’ve used AdWords for more than three years, so we’re used to getting email from Google.  But lately, after a long day of exchanging email with my team, customers and prospects, I find I have less and less interest in turning my attention to unsolicited email messages. The delete key is my friend!

I enjoyed the direct mail piece because it provided a break from using the computer or the phone to obtain information.   It was nice to step away from my desk, relax in a comfortable chair, and thumb through a colorful, nice-looking booklet printed on weighted cardstock that contained information I could actually use. It makes me long for the days when a person could leisurely peruse a printed (gasp!) newspaper.

I wonder if I would have read Top Tactics for Tough Times if Google had sent it via email instead.

No.