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Small Business Direct Mail - Who Does it Well?

by consultant1027
5 replies
I've got a small, local retail business. I'm wondering people's opinions on direct mail options with typically the highest ROI? There's the ValPak route, then there's direct mail postcard mailing (where to get a good targeted mailing list from?)

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
#business #direct #mail #small
  • Profile picture of the author gjabiz
    Interesting discovery this past summer...more and more retail stores with customers mostly coming from nearby, are opting more and more for flyer delivery.

    Would your retail store be better for this or do your customers come from all around? I inferred you want to target nearby areas with ValPak and EDDM.

    What sort of list would you use and what would the offer be?

    gjabiz


    Originally Posted by consultant1027 View Post

    I've got a small, local retail business. I'm wondering people's opinions on direct mail options with typically the highest ROI? There's the ValPak route, then there's direct mail postcard mailing (where to get a good targeted mailing list from?)

    What sort of list would you mail to, and what type of offer?

    gjabiz

    Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
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  • Profile picture of the author NewParadigm
    local paper stuffing is pretty inexpensive for larger postcards and flyers.
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  • Profile picture of the author Branlan17
    I've worked with some ad agencies who specialize in doing DM for clients and while I'm not sure of the resources you'd want to use to bootstrap such an operation, I know that after the first round of mailing they're immediately reaching out with surveys or followup calls, etc. to find out how people reacted to the packs and such and then making those changes before they think about sending more. This is usually due to the client being a charity and thus not having an excessively large ad budget to waste on low-converting mail, but it applies to anyone who doesn't want to waste money (so, anyone ).
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  • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
    Originally Posted by consultant1027 View Post

    I've got a small, local retail business. I'm wondering people's opinions on direct mail options with typically the highest ROI? There's the ValPak route, then there's direct mail postcard mailing (where to get a good targeted mailing list from?)

    Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
    Your highest roi is when you share a mailer with 2
    other biz owners.

    They split the cost of the mailing in half and
    you ride along for free.

    Even more attractive to your joint advertisers is to
    blanket desired suburbs using EDDM, as it's 18.3 cents
    per letterbox.

    6.5" x 12" sized postcards are best for this
    as it gives each advertiser a good sized space to advertise
    plus the big size stands out in the mail.

    Back to roi, infinite because you haven't put any money in it.

    Best,
    Doctor E. Vile
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  • Profile picture of the author internetmarketer1
    Direct mail can get quite expensive, and that's why I don't always recommend it to those starting out if they're going to use all their money on just the direct mail.

    I agree with the post above stating that you should instead just do it but sharing the advertisement with other biz owners. It'll help you get your services out there while shaving off a lot of the costs. You'll save a lot of your money this way.

    Direct mail can get expensive once you continue doing it over and over again, so I always say to use it to land high paying clients with a recurring fee.
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