Direct Mail Marketing
Whether you’re a local lawn care business or a multinational corporation, postcard marketing is a great way to get loyal customers to try out what your business has to offer. First time customers are one thing, but to keep a steady stream of those first time customers and to keep them coming back, you’ve got to have establish consistency and repetition.
To stay top of mind with your client base the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) recommends a mailing frequency of every 21 days. Most top companies stick relatively closely to that – usually every 30-45 days to ensure three things:
Their customers know they’re still in business
Their "irresistible offer" for the month is spelled out for them
They’re promoting their brand, driving offline traffic online and staying connected
They do this first by knowing their customers well enough to know which offers most appeal to their specific customer type. In other words, they do their homework first! Then the wisest develop a multi-layered approach to their marketing and develop a well thought out postcard campaign that not only allows them to stay in touch but also has the ability to build on itself, create a sense of urgency and even help them develop a following. The most effective campaigns actually have your customers calling YOU if they feel like they’ve missed a mailing!
How do you stay in touch consistently without becoming a nuisance? That’s a question we get asked a lot! Becoming a nuisance is pretty hard to do through the mail. You’ve got to know your customer and depending on your service or product, use your best judgment. Put yourself in their shoes. If you’re an automotive repair shop and you’re giving a five dollar discount on oil changes, it would be smart to send out another postcard in about three months when the next oil change is due. Even in the lawn care business, can’t mow the grass in the snow, but you could give an excellent deal on snow removal. You got to use your creativity. Keep your content and your offer relevant and timely!
Using your postcards as coupons is another great idea. You can send out postcards once a month to customers and if they start bringing them in you know you’ve got a winning campaign. Look at the success of the Bed, Bath and Beyond postcard campaign. I know people who stockpile those postcards, and can’t wait until they see that familiar blue and white card in the mail so they can shop at one of their favorite housewares stores! If that strategy works for a multi-million dollar company who already did all the research, why wouldn’t it work for you? It’s when they start coming in without them is when you got to decide what to change on your postcards. Once you’ve mastered the message, frequency and target audience that works best for your customers and your business, you can tweak things here and there to continuously make it better and deliver fresh ideas to your customer base!
How cool would it be if you could set up all your direct mail marketing on autopilot? I mean, plan it once, the designs, the messages, the target market, the frequency and hit GO! This does exist! Automated birthday marketing, automated new mover mailings, life event trigger mailings…all exist. Even automated launch platforms. These systems are designed to set it up once, understand the optimum frequency for your mailings and launch on your behalf while you focus on doing what you do best.
The subject of appropriate frequency is truly a subjective topic. What works for some may not work for others. We simply recommend testing. Testing frequency, testing offers, testing messaging.