Hello all,

I am seeking the expertise of mass mailers. I am about to embark on a mass mailing myself but before I do a couple of questions. I know the basics. mail on thursday, to arrive at the weekend, mail 3 or four times a year and so on. What i need to know is how do I identify a good neighborhood to mail to? I looked on info usa to figure out annual income and property worth but was not convinced as two neighboring towns, both very expensive had completly different outcomes. One had no leads and the other had 4663. I just thought it was weird that the first had none even though it is very enpensive. Also I have been in touch with quantum mail, but they said that they could not guarantee that the mailings would arrive on thursday or friday, reason being once shipped from Texas it would take 7-10 days to arrive to the prospect. I live in MA so am wonderind if I go through a local company it might be faster and more accurate to determine an arrival date. Any other info would be greatly appreciated before I dump thousand of dollars into this investment.

Thank you

Check into the commercial printers near your area of ops; most will be able to print, sort, address and deliver to post office ( preferably the DMSC terminal for the areas served) for an all-inclusive price. Some even supply lists to buy or rent, but all will use lists from InfoUSA and the like, as supplied by the customer. Any further questions, contact me: frank@franklinpainting.com

Safe Painting,

Frank

Direct Mail


Local print/mail houses can help with most of your questions and provide answers - Frank is right.

The difference between you doing it yourself, having a local mail house do it, or having a national mail house do it - all provide different results. The variables include first class or bulk mailing (big difference in cost) and what distance you're mailing from. Frank hit the nail on the head here.

Identifying the neighborhoods (it sounds like you're marketing Residential Repaint) can be done with proximity searches and zip codes. If you are doing this yourself call and talk with someone at InfoUSA or DB to get their assistance in assembling the best list. If dealing with a local mail house, they can provide the same help.

Plan this out. What is your monthly budget? That will determine how much you can mail. No sense in having a 4000 count list if you're not going to be mailing to the 4000. If you DIY or contract the work (I suggest it) the list needs to be cleaned in an ongoing fashion. Many successful direct marketers use their list and rotate the delivery through the list so that the same property receives 4 to 6 pieces per year. The idea behind direct marketing is name recognition.
An example: 3000 name list mailing 1/3 of the list every month, rotating through one third of the list each month. This gets 4 pieces in front of each address 4 times a year. 1000 pieces are mailed every month. You can build your plan using a similar formula. Depending on the type and size of piece you mail, 12,000 pieces per year will be budgeted at between $4,500 to $6,500 ++.

Just remember - name recognition is the goal. Yes we all want the phone to ring. Staying the course is the surest way to get that phone ringing.

Supplement your direct marketing with all other means to start building name recognition in the neighborhoods you want to do business in. Vehicle signage, yard signs, and particularly proximity mailers when you're doing a project, i.e., "We're Painting Your Neighbors Home - Call Us to Keep Up with the Jones" type of idea. Quantum Mail is particularly good for this type of limited mailing.
Again, build this section and budget into your plan.

Successful Marketing starts with planning and budgeting. Build the plan and then work and manage the plan.

Here's to your success!


Brandt