However, when a campaign is successful, it won’t cost you money, it will make you money!

How can we improve the results of your next postcard mailing? By generating a bigger response. Well, it’s the message (or special offer) that makes people respond, right? So consider “Kicking It Up A Notch”!

Here are two examples:

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A Pizza Shop Drops a Mailing of 5000 Postcards with the Usual Coupons

- ESTIMATED RESPONSE: 3% – Or about 150 coupons redeemed
- COST PER RESPONSE: Cost of the mailing $1798 divided by 150 = $11.98
- REVENUE GENERATED: Average sale $20 x 150 responses = $3000 – not too bad

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What if we ”Kick It Up A Notch” and make a really remarkable offer:
“Try Our Pizza – Get a FREE Large Cheese Pizza, No Strings Attached”!

- ESTIMATED RESPONSE: An offer like that could triple the response rate to 9% or 450 coupons
- COST PER RESPONSE: Cost of the mailing $1798 divided by 450 = $3.99 (Much Lower!)
- ADJUSTED COST PER RESPONSE: Add in the cost of the “FREE” Pizza at $3.50 + $3.99 = $7.49
- REVENUE GENERATED: With a FREE Pizza, the average sale will drop to about $8  X 450 = $3600

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But don’t evaluate the success of the mailing by only the revenue generated from the coupons.

Let’s say of all coupons redeemed about 30% were new customers.

- NEW CUSTOMERS GENERATED with the Usual Coupon Offers: 30% of 150 = 45 New Customers

- NEW CUSTOMERS GENERATED with the FREE Pizza Offer: 30% of 450 = 135 New Customers

Consider the “Value Of A New Customer” over the next year (or longer).

- How many times will he purchase over the next year?
- How much will he spend over the next year?
- How many friends or family members will he tell about your Pizza?

Maintaining regular customers by rewarding them with special offers and at the same time generating new customers… that is how to Grow Your Business!

In both examples, enough revenue was generated to justify the cost of the mailing without even taking into consideration the potential of future business from new customers.

The usual coupons or a very special offer? You decide how aggressive you want to be.

“A good plan violently executed today, is better than a perfect plan executed next week.” – that quote from General George S. Patton inspires me nearly every day.

In the current economy, procrastination can be a recipe for disaster. You have got to work harder than ever just to maintain market share let alone grow your business. However, smart business owners know that there are opportunities during strong or weak economic times. Advertising can help you exploit those opportunities.

What’s that old saying, “…if you keeping doing the same things over and over again, you are going to keep getting the same results!”.

Do something different this week. Advertise.

• Family doctor
• Dentist
• Lawn and landscaping company
• Pool cleaning service
• House cleaning service
• Day Care
• Handyman
• Church

Be the first in front of the residents in your area!

New home owners and new movers are great prospects for many services. The new home owners list is compiled from public records of people who have bought a home in the last six months. New movers is a list of people who have just moved into the area in the last six months and includes renters as well as new home owners.

When targeting new homeowners, a good idea is to design your postcard as “Welcome to the Neighborhood” postcard.  It’s nice to feel welcomed and will increase your overall return on investment (ROI) on your campaign.

In order to have the most effective direct mailing campaign possible, it is essential to target your direct mailers, which means getting them out to the right people.    Direct mail allows your campaign to target different voter demographics with highly effective messages.  Not all campaign messages will resonate the same with all voters; perhaps a message that reverberates well with seniors may not resonate that well with younger voters.  That is the advantage that direct mail has over any other promotional materials (TV, Radio, Newspaper, Fliers, etc.).

So, who should we target?

Well, that depends on the message you are portraying on your direct mail postcard.

• If you are trying to raise funds for your campaign, you would want a mailing list compiled of residents that have donated to a campaign in the past, and have at least a middle class income.
• If you are trying to rally your base, you may want to target only people that are in your party (democrat, republican, independent).
• If you are trying to get young people to get out and vote, you may want target residents that are under the age of 30.
• Are you trying to saturate the entire district with your postcard, then a saturation mailing list would be perfect for you

See Political Postcard Sample Below

There are two types of lists that can be used to target potential clients with a direct mail piece. The first way would be to do a “saturation” mailing. A saturation mailing list is compiled by mailing to everyone on a mail carrier’s route.   A “targeted “ list is compiled using specific demographical criteria .

What is a saturation mailing mailing list?

Please review video #3 of the bulk mail boot camp.

When to use saturation mailing list?

Can your product or promotion only be used by anyone? If a pizza was offering a three pizza special for $15 would everyone on your street be a potential client? The answer is yes. Every person on your street eats pizza, and is a potential client. If you can look down and you see everyone as potential customer, then saturation is definitely your choice.

If the product or promotion can be used by anybody , it is recommended that you use a saturation list.

Examples:

• Restaurants —Two for One Entree
• Fitness Club — One Free Trial Membership
• Wireless Store — Free gas card with new phone contract
• Church — Christmas Festival

What is a targeted mailing list?

Please review video #4 of the bulk mail boot camp.

When to use a targeted mailing list?

Can your product or promotion only be used by certain people? If a day care was offering 50% new memberships would everyone on your street be a potential client? The answer is no. Only the people with children on your street are potential clients. Use a targeted mailing list when

If the product or promotion can be used only by certain people, it is recommended that you use a targeted list.

Examples:

• Restaurants — Kids eat free (homes must have children to be applicable)
• Pet Supply Store — $10 off $50 purchase of dog food (homes must have dogs to be applicable)
• Pool Service — $20 off first cleaning (homes must have a pool to be applicable)
• Church — Vacation Bible School (homes must have children to be applicable)

For more information on direct mail campaigns and mailing lists please call 866-594-3069.

A carrier route is the actual route walked by a postman.

Every zip code is broken down into carrier routes, also known as a postal route.

Please review video number three of our Bulk Mail Boot Camp below before we go any further.

A postal carrier route is the group of addresses to which the USPS assigns the same code to aid in mail delivery. These codes are 9 digits – 5 numbers for the ZIP Code, one letter for the carrier route type (explained below), and 3 numbers for the carrier route code. For example “05055R003″ or “12508C007.”

A carrier route map consists of two parts; (A) The geographical map of the area and (B) the demographical information of the individual routes.

The (A) map will break each zip code(s) into the individual route that a mail carrier delivers the mail to every day.

Each different route has a colored polygon defining its geographical area and an abbreviated label.

The demographical report of the carrier route map will let you know how many deliverable addresses are in each route. It also displays the average age, income, and home value for each route.

It also breaks down the number of homes and apartment in each route. Please keep in mind that there are additional postage rates when you do not mail to an entire route (ie, mailing to only apartments).

So how do the map and demographics correlate?

On the map, the labels are abbreviated by taking the last two digits of the zip code and the route.

Notice the green polygon located on the left of the map? It is labeled with 40C12.

The last two digits of the zip code are 40. So the zip code would be 44140. And the Route would be C12.

So, on the (A) map 40C12 is the abbreviation of 44140C012.

As you can see, 444140C012 (40C12) has 252 homes and 3 apartments for a total of 255 residential deliveries. The average income is $106,701, the average age is 60, and the average home value $204,851.

Postal routes are the basis for all saturation mailings.

Carrier route mailings are sometimes referred to as saturation mailings because they include every address within the boundary of the route. The list is complied by the USPS and is updated every two months, so it is very accurate. Carrier route mailing lists are usually presorted in the sequence that the carrier walks his route, and therefore can be mailed at the lowest postage rate available.

Of course a good mailing list is just one of three important elements of a successful bulk mail advertising campaign. The product or service being offered and postcard design are the other two considerations. Each is vital. Try using mail carrier routes and target neighborhoods not entire zip codes and save money on postage in the process!

We have put together a video that summarizes the key points of this article. Feel free to check it out at