What are the best times of the year to mail? Overall how do summer time mailings work out? Start of school year?
What direct mail methods have worked best for you especially in terms of frequency?
Content…Simply a menu? Discounted products? A freebie?
Your thoughts would be appreciated.
Lots of factors come into play…So it usually takes some trial and error to figure out the best program…How much competition do you have?..How aggressive or passive is your competition in their marketing efforts?..Where does you price point fall in your market area?..
In my past I worked in a larger market where we divided town into 6 or 7 segments and just rotated menus through each segment…1 segment a week over and over…With a few weeks missed in the summer and over Christmas…We just did menus with no deals…This seemed to keep a steady volume coming in…If your competition is quite “passive” this may work…If they are quite aggressive you may have to supplement the menu with some offers…
As far as how much to spend…Marketing $s should not have a “firm” cap…You should spend money so long as it is having a positive return…And sometimes that return is slow coming…So you have to hang in for a longer period of time to see it work…It is about “top of mind” awareness…
Good luck…
As Royster said, there are lots of factors that come in to play. For me and my market, I found the best results come from sending them for in home days of Wednesday and Thursday. Monday people are exhausted after returning to their work week, and aren’t really going to take the time to “digest” the mail. Friday is similar, but they are tuning into “weekend mode”. Red Plum (Valassis inserts) hits our area on Tuesday, and I don’t want to get caught in the shuffle. This led me to my days of Wednesday and Thursday, and I always seem to have a better ROI on these days as opposed to when I hit the same areas previously on other days.
I usually rotate through all the home within a 5 mile radius of my shop ever 10 weeks, with 3 weeks off for the dust to settle, and then restart a new advertisement.