What cha think?

[heartland]

Guys.... checkout the mailing that is going out this week. These are printed on cardstock paper, with color, 8.5 x 5.5

Never done this type of ad before, but the agent is a friend of mine and she does these type of mailings and will often "spotlight" another local company. Pretty convenient deal cause the company she works for did all the artwork, printing and mailing labels for only pennies...

I don't have the final costs yet, but will post them later so you guys can tell me whether it seems like a good deal.

 

[treeman82]

The graphics look really good. I am guessing that they won't be cheap. I think it is a little bit wordy, however I just read it at 1:00 AM and had a few drinks tonight at dinner. I might suggest that you use something a little less wordy, or maybe sell another winter service in with that? One idea in my head would be to do some form of a "baseball card" type package. Something with graphics like that, an explanation, and a service; crown reduction, structural pruning, removals, stump grinding, land clearing, whatever you think you might have luck with selling.

 

[Stumper]

Nice. I look forward to hearing about the cost/results.

 

[heartland]

Final costs are in:

700 cards @ .10/card design & print fees = $70
700 cards @ .19/card bulk mail fees = $133
label fees = $9

Grand Total = $212

I am splitting the cost with the agent, so my portion is only $106.

It feels like a good deal, but I've never priced this stuff before.

 

[heartland]

Brian... good question. I asked her that too. She uses the info simply as a mechanism to get her name in front of people. The main idea is to provide useful information to consumers.

Somebody may pick it up and actually read and learn something from it.... then in the future when they need a realator.... they remember that cool chick that was always sending out the postcards with sniglets of good info.

In a way, she is earning their respect before they become a customer. I'm certain there is some marketing/advertising psychology to it all.... but it does seem to make sense.

 

[Greg]

Your costs are great, sounds like an excellent deal. However it is a little too wordy --no, wayyy too wordy.
I did somthing similar and my neighbor who works for a marketing co gave me some good advice:
--What are you trying to do? Sell? if so give them a reason to buy
--Tell why they should call you --certified, insured, professional, etc..
--Give them incentive to call --said discounts work great offer a 15% discount of any trimming or tree removal over $500
--If you don't look too rough put your picture on there --just like it works for the realators

I think that info is best to hand to people when you are talking to them. They still probably won't read it but did any of the other tree guys give them any eduucational material when they gave theri estimates, no, extra point for you.

I've been working on design, and basically dragging my a$$ on creating a good direct mail peice for a while now, anything is better than nothing. Good luck!!
Greg

 

[Dan F]

Granted, we are not a tree care company, but we have been sending out newsletters here at work. So far, we've sent out two this year. We started out with the intent of sending them every quarter, but haven't fallen into a routine with them yet.

We send them to past and current clients, both installation and maintenence. Usually just a front and back, one page. We've detailed some of our services that we offer that people may not be aware of, provided general info, and updated about the company. The last one even had 2 birth announcements in it! All for a company with only 3 people.

You would be surprised how many people actually DO read it. Takes all of about 10 minutes, if that, and it gets your name in front of them again. Says, "Hey, we're still here, call us if you need us!"

Try it this winter. You might be surprised. We do our copy in Publisher, then take it to have it printed. It takes a little time (couple of hours total), but if you are looking for something to do while the snow is flying/the rain is falling...... Why not?


Dan