How many of you have used a letter type of advertising mailed to selected neighborhoods or addresses to advertise your work, and what type of return have you realized ? I know of one local furniture/cabinet builder that has used this approach. I am thinking of targeting recent home sales, new and existing.
Robert
Replies
I haven't done so but I'm interested hearing about your results.How did you generate the mailing list, is there some sort of database you are working from.If so is it something you pay for, public records somewhere maybe?It seems that if you had the right list it could work quite well .
What I am thinking of using to start with is the property transfers that are listed in the newspaper every week. In my area this ranges from 25 - 50 on the average. I would then target the mid to upper level dollar level of these. My thinking is new homeowners are looking at changes needed, a built-in, etc. If you pick say 100 addresses your initial investment is a small amount of copying and some postage.Robert
http://www.colonypress.com/
Never used them personally, but heard good things.
Robert,
My experience is outside the US, so take it with some reservations -
Just mailing a nice brochure to a selected mailing list got us about 2% inquiries in return, of which only 10% of them will materialize into work. Sounds cruel but it isn't too bad really.
On the other hand, getting (paying for) database info on new houses in the range we are looking for, and phoning the owners, gets more like 20% positive return that are willing to pursue the matter, that is, have a face-to-face meeting.
DR
Be wary of do-not-call lists: cold calling potential customers is nothing more than tele-marketing, which is regualted by the FCC.Recommending the use of "Hide Signatures" option under "My Preferences" since 2005
Yeah, well, even though I did make it a point that I was not in the US, many times people assume...
but in any case, those who allow their names to appear on the lists we use have a priori given their permission to be approached, and are in fact expecting it.
DR
I recommend you run the numbers before you jump in.
If, for example, your business were to operate at a profit margin of 10%, and the cost of your mailing campaign was $500.00, your campaign would need to generate additional sales of $5,000 just to break even. Once you've calculated the break-even, it's fairly simple to convert the revenue target into unit sales.
Lots of people fail to crunch the numbers first, don't set up a tracking mechanism to test the efficacy of their campaign, and never know - in pure dollars and cents - whether their campaign was viable.
Good luck,
-Jazzdogg-
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Gil Bailie
I've used such a thing before in my business. The post office can and will gladly get you all the info you need about bulk mailing. Basically you by a permit, good for a year, then you pay the postage for all the adresses in their "zones". You can pick and choose zones, but you have to buy all of a zone.
Listen to what Jazzdog says before you jump into this. It's expensive to print up flyers, and by the way, they have to approved by the PO, and have the correct postmark printed by you, then be bundled by you correctly, then they'll stick them in the mail. You'll need something attractive enough to keep the customers from just tossing them as well. Another option is to include the flyers in one of your local papers. It's cheaper then the PO. Personally, I think the PO route would get more attention, as there is less clutter to compete with the prospective customers attention.
For 500 quality color flyers, you'll spend at least $2000. Not cheap by any means. I used this method to promote a new delivery service, and to tell you the truth, it was money wasted. I would have been better off to make the delivery car more flashy.
Edited 10/5/2005 12:28 am ET by dirtstirrer
Robert,
One way to think about these kinds of transactions is to think about the cost in terms of the products you typically make & sell.
For example, if you are a chairmaker, how many chairs would you have to make, and sell, in order to pay for your advertising campaign. Let's say the cost of your campaign (Printing & Design, Delivery, Postage, Employee Labor & Benefits, the value of your time) is $3,000, and your average chair sells for $1,000.
How many chairs would you be willing to make, and what kind of profit and cash flow would you be willing to accept, if you had to give away three chairs for free in order to get a contract? Would you throw in three chairs for free if a customer gave you an order for 5 chairs @ $1,000.00 each? How about 50 chairs?
The same kinds of considerations that drive these decisions can be helpful when trying to determine the real value of investments like advertising: if the expenditure represents "just another expense," and not an investment, is it worth making?
For example, if you're going to invest in print advertising, make sure logo development, art, color selection, font selection, etc. are all congruent with your current practices and long-term business goals. If done properly, you will have invested in reusable business art that can be used for advertising, business cards, stationery, truck logo, etc. Better to be thoughtful & deliberate than waste cash on throw-away mailers with no long-term value.
After you've put pencil to paper and answered these kinds of questions, you will have a much better perspective of the market value (buying power) of your services/products in relation to the products and services you consume.
Additionally, these kinds of valuations enable you to make fact-based decisions about bartering your products or services with your vendors instead of paying cash. Barter involves tax disclosures for all parties, so it's always advisable to consult your attorney and accountant before engaging in these kinds of transactions and stay out of trouble with the IRS. Who knows, your attorney or accountant may be willing to develop barter procedures and documentation for your business in exchange for a handmade chair for their office!
Good luck,
-Jazzdogg-
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Gil Bailie
Thanks for the reply, I think what I am considering initially is a very low budget approach to get my name out there. I am part time and trying to grow slowly. What I had received in the mail from another local woodworker was nothing more than a letter that explained his business and what he offered, built-ins, custom furniture. I do not know how my name and address was chosen, other than I had recently moved to that address, within 6 months. I eventually would like to have some type of color brochure, but I know that could be a big investment.
Robert
Robert -- you've gotten a lot of responses to your initial question, but none of them really answers on-target. Why don't you just try what you said you had in mind? It sounds good to me and it won't break the bank. I ran an advertising and PR agency for 20 years and found small accounts the hardest to do well. Go for the targeted, high-end objectives you outlined and always ask for the order. If you look too slick, you won't get much attention. Better to look informal, competent and hungry -- and be sure to use examples, testimonials from customers and references. Invite people to call. Offer free estimates for truly custom projects. And whenever you get done with a job, ask that customer to tell others. Give them your business cards. Unless you get into production work, referrals are your best bet once you get some projects behind you. Email me if you'd like to discuss it more. Jim MacMahon
I am not up on the ins and outs of bulk mail advertising but I thought I would add a couple of things.
First, here is a fantastic source for low cost but high quality specialty advertising papers you can use to create low volume advertising materials. http://www.paperdirect.com/
Also, a number of people have clearly shown the cost of direct mail, there was recently a thread about donating work to get recognition. I was recently at a party and got a possible commission on bed and a custom entry door due to a lowly set of pretty wood bottle stoppers I had given a real estate agent who sells high end homes. I have a buddy who makes wood pens and it absolutely STUNS me how people react to them, you would think they were cherry writing desks, he trades them for all sorts of good and services and has gotten any number of commissions because people like his pens.
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