This is a common question that a business owner may ask while planning a marketing program for the next season. The answer may be as simple as "It Works!" With the increasing constraints being placed on other marketing avenues such as Telemarketing, direct mail has become a boom advertising medium. Direct mail works because it's personal, responsive, measurable and cost effective.
By choosing to use a direct mail campaign to reach new customers you can speak to your target customers in a personal one-to-one level. It allows you to ask a specific question such as "Do you need lawn care services" and the customer can directly respond.
A survey by Vertis released in June, 2003 Customer Focus: Direct Marketing, showed that direct mail's impact is on the rise. This year, 46 percent of adults surveyed said they had responded to direct mail advertising in the past 30 days, compared to 34 percent in 2001. The survey showed the greatest increase among young baby boomers, from 36 percent in 2001 to 49 percent in 2003.
Direct mail is also responsive in the fact that you are directly supplying your potential customers with the means to respond to you. By supplying the means for the target audience with such items as a Business Reply Mail (BRM) card, it makes responding as easy as dropping the card in any mail box.
Another aspect of direct mail is that it is completely measurable. From the exact cost or every response to the amount of revenue generated by the direct mail campaign. As your use of direct mail increases you can begin to learn what areas you want to key on the most. The best part is that by the use of source codes in Lawn Assistant III you can receive and track the response rates for your direct mail campaigns.
Probably for most people the biggest advantage of direct mail is that is cost effective way to sell to people who want to buy your services. By targeting, profiling and the use of market segmentation you can reduce wasted costs that may be associated with other forms of advertising.
Real Green Systems has designed a comprehensive direct mail program that helps take work and worry out of running your direct mail campaign while helping you better understand your target market and grow your business.
Who Should I Send Direct Mail to?
This question is best answered by the use of targeting. By developing and understanding exactly who is most likely to respond to your direct mail campaigns you can avoid wasting money on sending mail to those who are least likely to respond. The ultimate result of targeting is increasing your return on investment.
In any given direct mail campaign only a portion of people will respond to an offer. The reasons for people not responding to a direct mail campaign may be many. For instance, those people who live in apartments will most likely have no interest in getting lawn care services. As a result of targeting your direct mail campaign your sales message is more relevant to the right people.
You already know who your current customers are. Using the many marketing features that already exist in Lawn Assistant III you already have a database of these current customers. You can use this information to up sell services directly to those customers. If your looking to grow your business and have purchased a list from many different list services. These lists can be directly uploaded into Lawn Assistant III allowing you to visualize and decide where to target. By understanding who is best suited to be a target customer you will greatly improve results.
When is the Best Time?
Now you've decided to do a direct mail campaign. Now you're thinking about when you should run your campaign. With the green industry the traditional "Off Season" makes the most obvious sense. However, running direct mail campaigns in the work season can be highly effective as well. Especially while up selling your current customers. Or even gaining new customers mid season to help offset the possible cancels that happen during the season.
For example one of the typically tricky times of the year may be the holidays. By selling services like lawn care at a time when a lawn covered with snow, may not give the best of results. By waiting until the late winter (January & February) you may have better luck as people are starting to look more closely at their lawn and think less about their past holiday bills.
Real Green Systems has developed a comprehensive schedule for helping you deliver the right direct mail piece at the right time of the year. By scheduling drop dates around specific services you'll be able to concentrate the many other aspects of running your business.
