Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi everyone,

I am considering advertising through direct mail.  Creating a brochure or business postcard announcing our accounting services for small businesses. 

I find myself asking is it worth it ?

Have any of you as a business, ever receive these types of postcards or brochure from another company offering their services or products?

If so, did it grab your attention? or did you treat it as junk mail and just toss it in the garbage pail?

Have you tried this approach in marketing your company? Did it prove to be an effective marketing strategy?

Your opinions are so appreciated. 

Thanks everyone!

Hello BreeAna:

Yes,  I receive direct mail pieces in my mailbox almost daily. Most I just toss in the trash without reading them. But every once in a while, a piece will grab me by the eyeballs and refuse to let go. When you get one of those gems, study it for all it`s worth. Analyze it and try to figure out why it was so effective in getting your attention.

I`ve used direct mail in the past with excellent results. However, because of  soaring postal costs, a direct mail campaign is not something to be entered into lightly. It`s important that you do your homework.

There are numerous elements that can determine the success or failure of a direct mail campaign, not the least of which is the list you use.

To get your feet wet and to reduce mailing costs, you might want to consider doing a shared mailing with other local businessowners. You can learn more about this approach at http://Valpak.com.

Also, before starting a direct mail campaign, I highly recommend you educate yourself on successful direct mail marketing techniques. If you`re not sure where to start, I have a nice selection of direct mail articles on my website, including articles about postcard marketing. You can view them here:

http://guruknowledge.org/categories/Direct-Mail-Marketing/

http://guruknowledge.org/categories/Postcard-Marketing/

Dale King

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If you`re tired of all the money-making
hype, lies and scams...read this!
Click here for more details!

We`ve done direct mailing for our salon. IMO if the service is something we`re not in need of the mailer is tossed. I STRONGLY suggest you find other companies to team up with to cover more area and reduce the overall costs for the mailings, and remember you should mail to each address at least 3 times. Teaming up is a great way to offer a nice full color brochure for several companies.

As for success rates, when we`ve done our own mailings, they havent been the greatest. We then teamed up with local realestate companies and they provide the new residents a flyer to our salon, you could do something like that with the city, new business gets a flyer from you. We also signed up with a local cupon mailer, that actually has had the best response overall. Now it could be the ad, but all we know is the ad has paid for it self 100 times over.

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He who gets greedy like a pig, gets slaughtered like a hog!

Todd has a good point about marketing partnerships to reach your target market.  I`d hold off on a blanket direct mailing for now and focus on communicating with your existing customer base with follow up thank you notes for their business and referrals and NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK.  Selling services is probably one of the most challenging marketing plans to draft and execute and requires constant emphasis on talent and what sets you apart from your competitors.  

For your accounting business, I believe the mainstay of your marketing initiative should be building a solid referral network based on testimonials.  You might also want to consider some speaking engagements, article writing and/or seminars.  These will give you an opportunity to showcase your expertise and what you have to offer the small business owner.  Concentrate on what makes your accounting practice so special...  Is it your extensive knowledge of the tax law for home-based businesses?  Is it a payroll service?  Is it the workbooks you provide to assist a business owner file quarterly and yearly returns?  Do you have a brochure or sell sheet that emphasizes your "unique selling points"?

Good luck

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Joann Sondy
Creative Aces
Designing visual communications to enhance your company & its story.

Direct mail is certainly a great way to market your accounting services.  As a Virtual Marketing Assistant, I use direct mail for most of my clients as well as myself.  I have found, however, that POSTCARDS work the best.  You can design them 4-up, print on a bright colored cardstock (so it stands out in a pile of mail) and the postage rate for first-class is the lowest price using stamps.  I also recommend adding stamps, not computer-generated (like stamps.com) or postage meter, but good old stamps.  Hand-addressing is also good because the person receiving your mailpiece knows you took extra time to reach him/her.  Another point about postcards is that the mail moves through many, many hands from the time you mail it until it is received.  I know for a fact that many postal workers read lots of postcards and it is just another way for someone to find out about your business.  Everyone, at some point, business or personal, will need a good accountant so make your message stand out and be noticed - not too much text - no one wants to read a book, maybe a graphic (if you feel you really need one) and make sure all your contact info is very visible - including your telephone number, email, snail mail and website.

I`ve been marketing my new networking site, www.runlancaster.com - a face-to-face referral-based networking group with postcards.  I design a new one almost every week and continue to mail to new prospects and it really does work.  If you are interested in learning more about postcard marketing, or marketing assistance, please let me know!

All the best,

Carol Deckert
Networking Coach/Virtual Marketing Assistant
http://www.runlancaster.com
carol@runlancaster.com

 

 

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Carol Deckert, Networking Coach
Referrals Unlimited Network
http://www.runlancaster.com
carol@runlancaster.com

Everyone knows to network, not everyone knows how to network effectively or efficiently!

Carol`s suggestions above are great - postcards get my attention and I don`t have to bothering opening them.  The vast majority of other direct mail pieces I get go immediately into the shredder.  However, even postcards can have limited effectiveness if you are not reaching a well-defined target market.

In talking to other "creative types" (designers, illustrators, photographers, writers, etc.) about marketing and promotion efforts I always tell them that for me a piece needs to pass the "Metropolitan Refrigerator of Art" test.  If the postcard catches my eye with a great design and piques my curiosity enough to get me to actually read the message, there`s a chance I might actually stick it up on my fridge (or bulletin board, filing cabinet, etc) and contact the company/individual being promoted at a later date if I need the  product/service.

Just yesterday I wrote a bLog-oMotives entry about a past direct mail piece experience of my own.  I was still getting commissioned to do work from the piece five years after I mailed it out.  I think the biggest mistake any direct mailer makes is assuming that a huge amount of business will result immediately from doing a mailing.

- J.



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Jeff Fisher | Jeff Fisher LogoMotives | Tweet! Tweet!

While it`s not very probable that anyone will recognize a financial windfall from a single mailing, it is possible.

Dale King

-------------------------

If you`re tired of all the money-making
hype, lies and scams...read this!
Click here for more details!

A 2-3% direct mail response rate is considered acceptable/good in the advertising industry.  I once had a client have a 25% return (with purchase) on a direct mail piece I designed - but that is far from the norm.

DIRECT  Magazine had an article with the following info:

The average response rate for the 1,122 industry-specific campaigns that the DMA (Direct Marketing Association) studied was 2.61%.

Within sectors, nonprofit fundraisers enjoy the most success with direct response, getting rates of 5.35%. Close behind are retail stores (with 3.36%) and establishments selling services to businesses (3.34%).

Manufacturing delivers 3.17%; personal and repair services 3.07%; and travel 2.98%. The two sectors at the bottom of the list — computer/electronic products and packaged goods — still get better than 2% response. 

- J.



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Jeff Fisher | Jeff Fisher LogoMotives | Tweet! Tweet!

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and opinions! 

I was leaning more towards the business postcards.  The target market for now are small businesses.  Rather than buying mailing lists, I went through the public database of small businesses with our city licensing department.  There is a wealth of leads itemized in different industry types.   

Being resourceful with information saves me a ton of money in the end. 

I will certainly try the direct mailing approach with a small budget and gradually increase should there be a need to. 

I will certainly check up on valpak!

i feel all in all your direct mailer should have a catchy subject line... by catchy i mean a subject line which says something about what you have in the body of your mail and something related to the company or the person... whom u are dispatching the mail.... there are more chances of it grabbing the attention of the concerned person and also one point to be noted here is... your subject line should never mislead the reader or it goes in the junk....




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