Direct Mailing Advice...

[CHSColorado]

Hello all, I was wondering if someone could give me some advice for my direct mailing, advertising campaign.

I have a small construction business, that specializes in custom woodwork and tile, that was entirely dependent on referals and word of mouth. I recently moved from California to Colorado, and it is clear that I need to start advertising. I created a postcard direct mailer, and after creating my own address list, I mailed it to neighborhoods that seamed to fit my business (correct size, age, etc.). The response i got was really bad, in fact after considerable time and a $350 dollar investment in printing and stamps, I didn't get one response.

I have 500 more that I haven't mailed yet, and I am going to focus on even older homes than I did at first, in hopes that a demographic change will help.

I was hoping someone with direct marketing experience could give me some advice or pointers on my mailer, it's design, layout, content...whatever.

You can see it here: centerpiecehomes.com/chs/samplecard.jpg


Thanks up front.

[copywriter]

Hi CHS. Hmm... I don't think you're going to like what I have to say Not trying to be brutal, but I'm a rather "tell-it-like-it-is" girl.

The card is very attractive. It caught my eye immediately. It's clean and professional-looking. However, that's about all it is.

I have no idea what you do. I have no idea why I need you. And I have no idea what benefits I'll receive from using your service. The card currently says, "I'm Centerpiece Home Solutions. Call me." And it should say, "If your kitchen floor is ripped to shreads by your 5 dogs and 3 kids and your living room looks like something out of the Brady Bunch, call me! I can make your house the envy of all your neighbors. You'll get professionally-installed ceramic tile and custom wordworking unparalleled. And the attention to detail will astonish you. I'd love to give you a free estimate so call me today."

(Not literally, but you get the idea.)

The postcard tells me nothing about you, what you offer or why I should care that I got your card. Make me drool! Give me a vision of my new home after you've gotten your hands on it.

[CHSColorado]

To start out, I don't have any formal marketing or advertising experience, and I appreciate the input...that's why i'm here. My first attempt at the design HAD a fairly lengthy paragraph on it explaining in detail what I offer and how superior our craftsmanship is.


...."Centerpiece Home Solutions, a full service residential contractor that specializes in custom woodwork, bathrooms and kitchens, tile and stone, additions, and remodels."....
....."We at Centerpiece Home Solutions take pride in every aspect of the job and realize that this care and attention to detail in every phase is vital to obtaining a desirable finished product. All work done by Centerpiece Home Solutions will be performed to exacting specifications and care will be given to every detail to insure lasting beauty and functionality."....


The bulk mail manager at my local post office, who I might add has been very helpful with lots of free advice and suggestions on direct mailing even though I chose hand applied, first class postage, told me I had too much information. He suggested I streamline it down to just a basic message, much like was already in my logo..."Full service, custom residential contracting specializing in tile bathrooms and floors".


I agree I want to let people know what I do, and I tried to do that, yet I also don't want to have too much information and potentially NOT have the prospective client notice the most important things I'm trying to relate (I specialize in tile bathrooms and floors and im having a sale).

So what Do I do here? Do I embellish, or do I keep it concise?

Thanks again.




<PS...What do you think of something like this?
...."Let Centerpiece Home Solutions build you a bathroom that will truly shine. From conception to completion Centerpiece Home Solutions can design and build you a new bathroom that will be the envy of all. Do you have a particular tile color or design in mind? We will happily assist you in hand picking your favorite size, color, and texture to further insure your ultimate satisfaction.".... >

[copywriter]

Well, God bless the post office employee (seriously) for his help. However, if nobody can tell what you do or why they should choose you over the competition then the postcard won't be of much help.

The other thing you'll need to remember is that renovations are not an impulse buy. One mailing won't do it. You'll need to keep your name in front of homeowners so that - when they are ready and have a need - they think of you first.

Since you're company name and contact information are already on the postcard, stop using it in the copy. On a postcard, "enterpiece Home Solutions" takes up too much space.

Unless you only do bathrooms, I wouldn't focus on just bathrooms in your postcard. Now, if you planned to do a series of mailings (once every other month or so) then you could do one about bathrooms, one about kitchen cabinets, etc., etc.

Consider a short one or two sentence paragraph and some bullet points. Those are easily read and are also eye-catching. Maybe (instead of just graphic design) you can place a picture of a gorgious kitchen, bathroom or deck on the postcard. Royaly-free stock photos are available around every corner online for only about $30.

Who are you?
What do you do?
Why would I use your service?
What makes you better than the other guy?

You may also want to give them an incentive to keep that postcard for future use. Give them a 10% discount if they turn their postcard back into you during an estimate or something.

[4ndr3w]

Divide your remaining list of addresses into small groups, and design a different card for each group. One card can be more verbose, others less so. See what kind of responses you get. That may help you decide which approaches are likely to work better the next time around.

Just as an aside, I hate marketing pieces in which the company just talks about themselves. Don't talk about yourself in your marketing piece. Talk about what you're going to do for me, your potential customer. Listen to Karen - she's right!

And I really, really hate it when I get a pitch that tells me I will be treated "like family". I don't want to be treated like family. I want to be treated like a very good customer. Also, my eyes instantly glaze over when I hear or read the word "tradition" in a marketing piece.

[mktgbiz]

CHS,
Have you considered putting your information, benefits, and offering on something bigger than a post card? How about 8 1/2 x 11 flyers that can be distributed home to home? You can deliver them or pay someone else to do it.

Years and years ago when I had me painting business that's all I did and I had work coming in from it regularly.

In addition to that I completely agree with Karon. She clearly knows what she is talking about. Words have power if they are used correctly!~

Best,
MKTGBIZ

[Steve B]

I'm certainly not an expert, but the experts have told me .5% - 2% is what might be expected in a response to direct mail. Given that your service is a high ticket item and not needed by most people when they read your ad - you should be expecting the very low end of that range (if you're lucky). Therefore, you may need to send to at least 10,000 homes if you want to receive 25 - 50 phone calls. Repitition would help your response rate go up.

My (very limited) experience with my dog fencing business seems to confirm what the experts have told me. I've handed out 2000 post card sized ads to perfect houses - and I think I got one phone call. Luckily it also turned into a sale.

[lucysar]

Dear CHS Colorado,
It looks like your posting is from 2005 but I thought I would give you some quick short tips on direct mail since I was in the industry before I started my own business.

Karen provided you with some good tips on the copywriting. Make sure all your mailings have a consistant brand (logo, colors, etc...). Always give a good offer with an expiration date. Testing one creative against another is always good but you have to have a large list in order for the results to be significant (5000-10000 pieces). Testing small lists don't yield statistically correct test results. Explore using larger size postcards (6x9 or 5x7) that stand out in the mail. Postage is the same, print might cost a little more. A good campaign against a cold list might yield a 3% response rate which is considered successful. If you list is small enought, give some thought to a nice personalized letter in a plain jane envelope with a first class postage stamp. Letters that have a stamp get looked at and opened more often then postcards.

I hope this helps for any future mailings you do.

Jennifer Griffin

[Robert]

Welcome to the forum, Jennifer!

[Ravedesigns]

Hey CHSColorado,

I'm late to the party as usual, but thought I'd add a few comments to the already good advice you've gotten from many others here.

I think the biggest problem I see with your postcard marketing efforts is that you're asking too much of your postcard here. You're asking your postcard to try to make an immediate sale for you, when you really should be using it to open the door for you and give your prospects a chance to get to know you before asking them to invest thousands of dollars with you.

My advice would be to use a two step method. Send a number of postcards to a targeted list but instead of asking them to buy immediately, invite them to get to know you better first. Put together a simple 5 page guide to called "How to avoid these home improvement scams" or "Don't make these mistakes when hiring a home improvement contractor" and use the postcard to invite people to call or visit your website to get this free report. You can mail a hard copy to them if you wish, or ask them to subscribe to an email newsletter on your website and send the guide via email.

Why will this work better than one step marketing? Two good reasons!

1) People buy from people they know, like and trust - and until they know they can trust you and that your services can truly benefit them - they're not buying anything!

2) Out of every 100 people your postcards reach, how many really have home improvement jobs that need to be done? If you ask them to buy now when they don't have a real need for your services, they'll toss your postcard and quickly forget about you. However, if you try to establish a relationship with them first, provide them with valuable information that they can benefit from and keep in touch with them on a regular basis - you're going to be the first person they think of when it comes time to have work done in their home!

Now, if you're going to send folks to your website, you could benefit from improvement there too. You need a strong Unique Selling Proposition and some copy on your home page to tell people WHY they should choose you and HOW they can benefit by using you instead of someone else. You could also benefit from some good testimonials, but they've got to be believable and specific. Testimonials like "Great Job! - J. Smith" are worthless.

Well, I've rambled long enough, but check out http://www.givetogetmarketing.com/ for more great info on two-step marketing and how you can use it to grow your business.

Cheers!