Direct mail campaigns

One of the big questions any small business owner wants to know is "How do I get the word out about my business". I won't go into all the low cost ways to get your marketing message that are covered in the excellent book Guerrilla Marketing (a must read for any small business owner). Instead, I wanted to let you know about one of the only advertising methods that I have found success with - direct mail.

Specifically, I recently began using a postcard mailing company called Boise Direct (http://www.boisedirect.com/). They mail oversized postcards (see photos) at a cost of less than the price of a first class stamp. I'm not saying this is cheap in the overall sense. If you pay let's say 35 cents for each piece and you bulk send to 5,000 residents, we're talking $1750. But, when you really break it out by the piece, 35 cents is a huge bargain. Could you gather demographics, design a beautiful postcard, print it in full color, and mail it to every resident in your town for that price? I know I couldn't.

In the end, every business decision you make should be dictated by one thing - return on investment. You already know that I'm a fan of EFT's, so let's plug some numbers into this and see what the return is. Let's say we run a promotion with 2 options: $49 enrollment fee plus $19 a month EFT (with a 12 month minimum) or $249 for a 1 year paid in full. We send out a postcard with this promotion to 5,000 residents, at a cost of $1750. We sell 5 one year paid in fulls and 20 EFT's. I am oversimplifying this, but that actual dollar value of this promotion is as follows:

• $1245 up front revenue on the paid in full plans (5 x $249)
  
• $735 up front revenue on the enrollment fees (15 x $49)


• $285 a month for the next 12 months on the EFT's (15 x $19/month)

That gives us a grand total for the year of $5400. The $1750 investment returns a profit of $3650, which is very good. In fact, in our example, the money spent on the postcard was actually recovered right at the start, so all the EFT's processed over the next 12 months represent your profit from this promotion.

So I guess what I'm saying is that you may want to consider a direct mail program, just be sure that if you do, you make sure to document your results, so that you can better comprehend the success of the program. Even so, I'd probably advise running a program like this 4-6 times year if your budget will allow, thus taking advantage of the repetition

If you've got a marketing method that you've had success with, please feel free to post it here by submitting a comment.