Mail Shark: Strategic Content Marketing Drives Company Growth
When Mail Shark, a direct mail printing company in Morton, Pennsylvania, brought on their 14th employee as a digital marketing consultant, they were still in their earliest growth stages – so early they hadn’t yet hired a full-time accountant.
Company knew that they needed to establish their digital presence early, competing within a competitive market serving restaurants, service providers, and small businesses seeking direct mail marketing solutions.
Project Overview
Challenge: Break through in a saturated digital marketing space dominated by established competitors with larger content marketing budgets.
Solution: Created authoritative content around USPS postal rate changes, filling a critical industry information gap.
Stack: WordPress, Moz Pro, SEMrush, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Agency Analytics, Mail Chimp, HubSpot LeadIn Plugin, Moz Local
Outcome: Assisted in company growth from $2 million to $8 million in annual revenue through sustained organic traffic increases.
Challenges
Breaking into the direct mail industry’s digital space presented a significant challenge.
Established competitors maintained active content marketing and social media programs, making it difficult for a new entrant to gain visibility. With limited resources and operating as one person, every marketing effort needed to deliver measurable results.
A deeper analysis of the market revealed an unexpected opportunity. The United States Postal Service distributed critical rate change information through obscure channels, creating an information vacuum in the industry. Most businesses, including Mail Shark’s competitors, struggled to monitor and interpret these crucial updates that directly impacted their operations.
Solution
The strategy centered on transforming this information gap into a competitive advantage. By establishing direct monitoring of USPS communication channels, Mail Shark gained early access to rate change information. This positioning enabled the creation of comprehensive, authoritative content about upcoming postal rate increases before competitors could react.
The content approach went beyond simple reporting. Each article provided detailed analysis of rate changes, their industry impact, and regular updates as new information emerged. This commitment to maintaining current, authoritative information transformed these resources into valuable industry references.
The strategy’s success attracted attention from industry publications and websites seeking reliable information about postal rates. This natural interest created link-building opportunities, strengthening Mail Shark’s domain authority and improving rankings for crucial industry search terms.
Results
The impact of this content strategy reshaped Mail Shark’s market position and growth trajectory. Organic search traffic tripled as the company achieved top rankings for key industry terms like “direct mail printing company.” The sales team needed to implement new lead qualification processes to handle the increased volume of inquiries.
Over the following decade, this foundation supported consistent growth. Revenue expanded from $2 million to $4 million in early years, reaching $8 million during the engagement. By 2023, Mail Shark reported $17 million in annual revenue with a marketing team of six people.
Perhaps most telling of the strategy’s success, Mail Shark continues using this same approach a decade later, creating content around postal rate changes to drive new business. This longevity demonstrates how identifying and addressing fundamental market needs can create sustainable competitive advantages that outlast typical digital marketing tactics.