Post Card Mailing Frequency

[SELF MADE]

I want to run 2 cards per month and have repeat advertisers.

1.Based on everyone's experience what is the % of people who sign up for reoccurring mailings?

2. What is the most optimal frequency to do mailing per city? is it per month, ever 2 months, every 3? etc.?

3. For someone wanting to do 2 cards per month what's the best time line(monthly, quarterly) to schedule each mailer for each city?

[Goblue1918]

The name of my mailer is Full Moon Deals, so I follow the lunar calendar and only drop off during the full moon.

"Advertising that gets more attention than the moon" (patent pending)

[chy]

Hey Goblue1918, have you been bartering with the cannabis shop that advertises with you? LOL


The name of my mailer is Full Moon Deals, so I follow the lunar calendar and only drop off during the full moon.

"Advertising that gets more attention than the moon" (patent pending)

[Mister Natural]

The name of my mailer is Full Moon Deals, so I follow the lunar calendar and only drop off during the full moon.

"Advertising that gets more attention than the moon" (patent pending)

That is rather clever.
Where in Michigan are you located ?

[Mister Natural]

I want to run 2 cards per month and have repeat advertisers.

1.Based on everyone's experience what is the % of people who sign up for reoccurring mailings?

2. What is the most optimal frequency to do mailing per city? is it per month, ever 2 months, every 3? etc.?

3. For someone wanting to do 2 cards per month what's the best time line(monthly, quarterly) to schedule each mailer for each city?

What is the population of "your city" ?
For example if you live in New York City pop. 8,400,000. You could send out 840 cards to 10,000 addresses every month and NEVER hit the same place twice. Hah.... think of the money you'd make. MONEY..... It's a gas..... Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash

Red Plum blasts their "publication" out nearly every two weeks.
Switch up the appearance of your card, change colors on every card, rearrange the ads, use different sizes, keep it fresh to keep the public from developing that "valpak blue envelope syndrome". Every address valpak is delivered to, the resident sees that blue envelope and instantly thinks "junk, trash, crap". By the way, ValPak closed up shop in my area. I like to think I had something to do with that.

Anyway, I guarantee you, nobody pulls a valpak envelope out of their mailbox and excitedly screams.... OMG THIS IS AWESOME !!! THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR !!!!!

ABOUT PERCENTAGES:
Provide and deliver quality at a reasonable price and your percentages can be 50%.
Try to make your fortune over night charging hefty prices ($600 - $1000) for a standard sized ad and naturally, fewer people will step up should they see a lackluster performance.
Get all your ducks in a row. Quality card material, quality design, select an appropriate target area, and try to get them out ASAP.

[cbuckley00]

Good question and thanks for the detailed answer guys.
I'm sure all of us appreciate it.

[Goblue1918]

Okay, believe it or not, my original response may have been a little in jest (and I wasn't even drinking).

Here are the answers that I have experienced.

1. % of people who sign up for recurring mailings?
That varies. If the business has advertised in the past consistently, and they see results with advertising on your postcard, they will advertise again. If you get them to advertise for the first time, then most likely, they are not going to understand the value of the lifetime customer. They are going to expect a 2% return rate (even if it is not a pizza ad). You need to sell the value and also after the sale, make sure they have a system to capture the information of the new customers that come in.

Overall, I figured that I have 83% of advertisers who have advertised more than once. Keep in mind there might be a gap of 2-3 months in between ads.

I recently started a new area, sent out the postcard on September 24th, 2014. Of the 14 people who advertised, 5 agreed to do it again. Now for some background, I live in an area with 20,344 home and business addresses. I broke it down into 2 areas - South & North. I did the South area first, and this month I will be sending out the North the week of October 20th, 2014.

2. Optimal Frequency
I sort of answered your question above. By going every 2 months you can help prevent advertiser burnout. By waiting 2 months the likelihood of getting people to advertise again increases because:
- They will not remember writing the check and thinking of the advertising cost (which is perceived as an expense)
- More time for customers to bring in the coupons
When I go to these people (those who decided not to do the North area), I will start soliciting those next week.

3. 2 Cards Per Month
I would suggest you do it every other month. Depending on the size of where you live, you can do connecting areas like I mentioned before.

A couple of key points.
- Your first postcard is going to take longer than you think to fill out. You are new in town and this is not proven. Make sure you have samples from other people who have done these. SHAMELESS PLUG - I offer 200 postcards for $33.00 USPS Priority Mail flat rate shipping, you get 4 different cards in packs of 50. That allows you to show the business owners what you are doing and also provides credibility that it has been done before. The concept of the 9x12 is hard for people to envision without seeing it.
- You will be tempted to set a firm deadline for the first postcard - DONT. You will lock yourself in a corner. When I did this new area it took me 10 weeks from the time I signed up the first customer until it went in the mail. Also, you may want to discount the price to try to fill up the last spots. That is fine. Although, for those business owners, that is the price they will pay going forward. Good luck trying to increase the price from $300 to $500, it will not happen very often.
- After you get the first card out, it will go much faster, not only because you will have a proven product, but also because you will have leads from people you solicited for the first ad. That is another reason I like doing areas close together, because they may say, I am stuck in this Newspaper ad until October, come back in November. In addition, business owners think that everyone within a couple of miles thinks that everyone knows their business, and they want to reach customers who are 4-5 miles away. Well, that is business owners own self-image that is over-inflating what they think other people think about them or remember them. It is not true. I don't go around just thinking about restaurant where I ate 3 months ago. However a business owner does. There is a disconnect in reality between a business owner and a customer.

There is much more, but I gotta go.

Good luck.

If you want the cards send me a note.

Bill

[SELF MADE]

Thank you everyone for you replies, very insightful!