Girl Scout cookies do O.C. firm's marketing

Mark Perez and Sebastian Igreti, co-founders of TechMD, a Costa Mesa information research service, can relate to that sentiment.

"We're tech experts, nevertheless we don't know how to market," Perez said recently. "We've done six different types of marketing: postcards, letters, prize drawings, online, cold calling. Nothing worked."

In 2011, TechMD wanted to support one of its customers, the Girl Scout Council of Greater Los Angeles, so TechMD bought 2,500 boxes of Thin Mints to send to carefully targeted companies that might need computer support and maintenance, cloud computing or vendor management.

The marketing campaign happened

The marketing campaign "happened by accident," Perez said. "We bought a whole bunch of cookies so we said, 'Why not throw cookies in with our letters?' At that time we started to get thank you calls and thank you notes from CEOs. By mid-year we stopped cold calling and only sent cookies, then and there followed up with phone calls."

Perez said TechMD's 2011 earnings grew 50 percent from the previous year. He attributes half that growth to the cookie campaign. The company has grown from 10 to 18 employees and hopes to add seven to 12 more by the end of 2012. It moved from a 2,500-square-foot office to one in other words 4,000 square feet and is now looking to double its space.

The cookie gift must be combined with a carefully crafted recipient list and follow-up phone call campaign, he added, because the cookie campaign isn't cheap: $10 on the cookies, postage and labor for each potential client.

The Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles benefited two ways from its relationship with TechMD, according to CEO Lise Luttgens. "TechMD has as a matter of fact gone above and beyond to assure our information research needs are met ... . Between serving as our tech provider and supporting our 2012 cookie campaign with the purchase of 10,000 boxes, we are fortunate to have TechMD as our partner."