Val-pak...Losing its value???

[pizzatime]

15 years ago, I was always in val-pak. Today, that blue envelope is full of national bs ads and only a handful of locals. I think the value of this once good marketing piece has been greatly diminished.

Your thoughts?

 

[system]

Agreed, we don’t use them nor would I. If/when I get them myself I pitch em.

Money better off spent somewhere else.

 

[pizzaguy]

For years this was one of my best forms of advertising. I would have about a 15% redemption some months but since last year it has slowly gone down hill so I havent used them for about 12 months. I thought I would try them again last month and they didnt even call me back. One of the things I liked was I live in a small town of 5000 addresses but I could do my 10,000 min quantity in 2 mailings at no extra charge and also they would do overruns that I would use in my store and it would only cost me pennies for those.

 

[j_r0kk]

pizzaguy,

Unfortunately, the days of getting fantastic redemption off bulk mailings have long passed. You’re right, back in the day, before the national advertisements for vacuum cleaners and check printers and home refinance loans found their way into the picture, these bulk mailings focused mainly on local and sometimes regional advertisers so potential customers actually looked to see what was inside. Now, especially with ValPak, it’s been more of a pitch into the trashcan kind of junkpiece that few people even bother to open.

I still do bulk mailings (I use MailSouth, which is like Advo’s Shopwise magazine). These pieces still focus on the local markets and provide a decent return (in the 1% range). I spend about $500/month and with the 1% return on 13,000 pieces, generate approximately $2,000 in sales from it, giving me a satisfactory ROI ratio of 4:1.

I firmly believe in the power of local store marketing and that has been my focus for many years. In my opinion, bulk mailings should not be the primary focus of an advertising campaign but more of a complimentary piece to supplement the local advertising already being practiced in your store. -J_r0kk

 

[pizzaguy]

Well said I agree 100% and the other thing is to make sure to not always do the same things. Sometimes something will work for awhile but when you start to see it going downhill its time to change things up.