Hello All,
I jumped here from the JLC website to see if I could get your input.
We are in the process of implementing a targeted direct mail program. Our design/graphic artist from our local printing firm has come up with several marketing pieces that soft sells our company as well as detailing our approach and philosophy towards building & remodeling.
These questions are for anyone who has set up and implemented a mailing program. I would appeciate any and all feed back.
1. What worked better- Postcard-Brochure-Booklet
2. How much information?
3. Do you know your rate of response- I expect 1% to 2% (Two high end projects should over the cost of the program $6K)
4. Have you ever tried direct mailing to Architects or high end real estate companies?
I expect that some of you are going to put forth the idea that I should not bother and build my company by word of mouth. Well that does work to a point but only to a point. I am trying to shift my company away from the smaller projects and tire kickers to where the money is. In order to do this we need to present ourselves in a professional manner to the market with the money.
Thanks
Replies
John before I had finishing reading through you whole message I was thinking
" I'll bet a whole bunch of people here are going to tell him he should
be relying on word of mouth" How's that for clairvoyance?
And where you say "...that does work to a point
but only to a point. I am trying to shift my company away from the smaller
projects and tire kickers to where the money is." that's exactly
how and what I've used direct mail for in the past. I'll get back to you here
sometime this weekend on this. Right now I going to call it quits online and
watch as much of the red Sox Yankee game as I can then head in early for the
night since I have a long hot day ahead of me tomorrow. Talk to ya later.
"Architecture is the
handwriting of Man." - Bernard
Maybeck.
Well, I'm not sure what your budget is, but If you have some money to seriously pursue this, I wouldn't have your printer do the designing. I'd talk to either a PR or a Marketing firm. And make sure they have good copywriters on board, as well as experience in direct mail.
Remember, the printer makes money printing. The 'designing' is just an added service so that they can make something to print. Your skilled graphic designers/marketers/PR folk typically don't work for printers.
A return of 1-2% using a targetted list is actually pretty good. A return like that on a non-targetted list may be a bit tougher to achieve, but, like you said, if one or two gigs results, it may be very well worth the effort.
IMHO, I'd also make sure you have a good web site up before sending the direct mail, and that there is a connection and consistency between the direct mail piece and your web site. A lot of people like 'following up' on info they find via a company's web site.
I'm small (never done over half a million in a year) but do some very high end remodel and restore projects (up to about 380,000 grand )so I don't know how this compares to you. Also, I live and work in a very small community where word of mouth works best.
I find that, especialy for high end work, architects and realestate may be your better leads for contacts and information about potential up-coming jobs. I also believe that they are going to throw those expensive flyers in teh round file unless you have something else going on to add contact and name recognition. Then the flyer is just for a convenience to put your number in front of them or to let them know that you specialize in a certain kind of work.
For me, direct contact works best. That means a letter on quality paper briefly introducing yourself/company and asking for time to set up or come in for an interview - face to face with the principle of the firm. Follow it up with a phione call and/or a walk-in, depending on the formality of the setting.
I know some other builders who do lower quality work than I but cinch up better jobs because they work the cocktail circuit and have a golden tongue.
>I expect 1% to 2%
What leads you to expect that? Is it what others have seen from their own tests, or what you hope for, or just a number that kinda sounds good?
"What leads you to expect that? Is it what others have seen from their own tests, or what you hope for, or just a number that kinda sounds good?"
I can't speak for the original poster, but I can say that returns on direct mail of 1-2% are your typical 'very good' results when doing mass mailings. This is pretty much an industry norm.
But it depends a lot on what the "call to action" is. Do you want them to call for more info? Or buy something? Or put your card in their Roladex? Different actions get different responses. Where I'm headed with this is that undertaking a direct mail campaign by guessing/hoping for a response rate that's sufficient to cover costs is akin to budgetting a house's construction cost by guessing/hoping for a $/sf cost. You might do ok or you might lose your shirt. Might wanna try a first test on a smaller scale and adjust expectations higher or lower based on that.
Keep in mind that this is only possible if the response to all marketing is well above the threshold value you've set. For example, if only 1 in 500 houses will install a pool this year, then you can't get a 1-2% response from a direct campaign selling pools. .
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
Two things to keep in mind or you'll come out on the bad end of this deal.
1. Know your market and your market area WELL.
2. Target this market area only (at first)
If you want the high end remodels and repairs, target the OLDER high end neighborhoods. Make sure that these homes have been around for a few years. New high end homes won't be hiring you to remodel anytime soon. First thing you have to do is know WHERE these neighborhoods are, and what kinds of homes are in them. If you do lots of stucco work, and you target neighborhoods that have homes with brick, then you probably wasted some of your money on these homes. This is where you will have to do some legwork, and some homework in order to know exactly WHERE you want to target your mail outs.
You do NOT want to send several hundred mail outs into a poor neighborhood, or to new subdivisions. This costs you money, and will not get you the results you are looking for. Most mail outs go to certain zipcodes, or certain geographical areas. Sometimes this works, sometimes it is a total waste of time, money, and resources. In my area, Beaumont has 17 zip codes. Maybe 10 of these zip codes have high end homes, but in these zip code areas, these homes are spread out. If I sent mailers to each of these 10 zip codes, I would be sending the mailers to an awful lot of poor people and gov't owned homes also. These low income homes are not my target, so I would have wasted a lot of mailers and money reaching these people. Instead, I would restrict the mail outs to specific streets, neighborhoods, and resort communities. In other words, go for addresses, not zip codes.
One other thing - specialize. Don't get generic, and plain jane with this. Heck, the phone book yellow pages list a multitude of contractors that do all kinds of remodeling work. Set yourself apart from them, and let the public know EXACTLY what kind of specialized work you do, and why you would be the best. Use something that will reach out and grab their attention long enough for them to at least look at the mailout. Simple, plane jane mailouts hit the garbage before most people even look at them.
Just my two cents worth...
James DuHamel
J & M Home Maintenance Service