It's in the cards

Jan. 1, 2020
An efficient direct mail campaign can bring additional tire business despite the current tough economic conditions, according to Joy Gendusa, CEO of PostcardMania in Clearwater, Fla. There are these key points to ponder: How do you obtain new custome

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An efficient direct mail campaign can bring additional tire business despite the current tough economic conditions, according to Joy Gendusa, CEO of PostcardMania in Clearwater, Fla.

“When it comes to marketing tires and the services that go along with them, there are three basic challenges,” she explains, raising these key points to ponder:

• How do you obtain new customers or clients?
• How do you get your existing customers to come back for more?
• How can I make it cost effective?

“I know competition is fierce in the tire retail industry; I have tire retail clients that refuse to allow their successful actions to be published in articles like this because they don’t want their competition to see,” says Gendusa, whose firm garnered recognition from Inc Magazine as the nation’s fastest-growing direct mail postcard-marketing firm with 2007 revenues approaching $19 million.

“Tire franchises are looking for an economical way to get a good response on their marketing, and fortunately for them direct mail marketing answers all three of the above challenges admirably – it’s not the only way to do it, but it is a proven method that always works,” she observes.

“You can always rely on direct mail marketing,” Gendusa emphasizes.

“Times like these are the best time to get on the ball with promotion. The reason is simple. Those that continue to promote during slow economic times are the ones that will win out in the end because they will pick up all the business their competitors are losing by not promoting,” she points out.

Too often the first expenditure businesses seek to cut is their marketing and advertising dollars. Gendusa says that’s a serious error, as paying for marketing is as vital as paying the phone bill, the payroll and the mortgage or rent. “The trick is to find ways to get the maximum results with the minimum expenditure. Businesses that are doing well are those that are promoting more, not less. Quit buying into the doom and gloom.”

 

Not surprisingly, Gendusa contends that the postcard is direct marketing’s “secret weapon,” calling it one of the simplest and most cost-effective forms of consumer communication.

“You don’t have to open a postcard, which is one of the main reasons they get better response than their counterpart – the letter. Because postcards work so well they can be considered one of the key small business marketing strategies.”

She cites several steps to attract tire customers:

“Figure out who your perfect target market is – base this on who you’re selling to now and buy a mailing list matching that criteria and demographics. This is easier than you think. Many companies can now take your customer list and append information to it, giving you all the demographic data you need.”

One suggestion is to send the prospects a postcard offering them something hard to refuse. A discount gas card may be a good idea at this point; a cooperative arrangement with a close-by gas station could be an effective approach. “The rest is up to your ability to sell.”

To motivate existing customers to come back for more, Gendusa encourages you to keep accurate records of anyone who has ever bought anything from you in a database, being certain to keep it current.

“Send them frequent mailings. Postcards are excellent. You can send out a newsletter. You can send out personalized letters. But keep contacting them. Tell them about new products or services. Get them to respond,” she says.

“Obviously, you have to deliver excellent service or a great product. You will get results with these marketing techniques even if you don’t deliver good service or a great product, but it won’t last long and you won’t be able to maintain it,” Gendusa cautions.

“Remember, the more you contact someone — a good prospect, someone that has already reached for your product once — the more they’ll think of you when the need or desire becomes undeniable again. So, do it correctly and you cannot fail. Those businesses that continue to promote will pick up all the customers and prospects from their competition that has cut their marketing, she says.”

To get going with postcards, you need to find an experienced postcard purveyor to assist with the effort, she notes.

In Gendusa’s view, this company should:

1. Specialize in postcards, not just do postcards among countless other printing jobs. You will get better service and a better product. It will cost much less because they are printing your postcard along with many other customers’ postcards and can “gang print” them, which means they print many different postcards on one large sheet of card and it’s only one press run, she explains.

2. Have a lot of marketing knowledge and experience. “They should be able to advise you on mailing lists, design, quantities and so on. The better ones offer a full range of services from advice through design, printing and mailing. This is actually a great test when you’re shopping for the perfect direct mail company.”

3. The postcards they produce should be UV coated (laminated) and full-color to lend credibility to your business. “Your marketing is a representation of you. “The UV coating is essential for a very high gloss finish that really makes the postcard stand out and attract attention.”

4. Above all, says Gendusa, you need to know that you are going to get results. “Percentage-of-response is not the real measure of success, as this varies from industry to industry and area to area. What you want to determine is return on investment. If you spend $2,500 all-inclusive to send out a 10,000 postcard mailing and get 200 calls as a result, and convert even 10 of those into tire sales (not to mention the repeat business you would get on down the road), then the mailing was a terrific investment. So you need to look at the big picture and check for results in terms of return on investment,” she points out.

“When choosing a postcard company to handle your mailing, it’s a good idea to get some names and phone numbers of their customers and call them up to get some first-hand information on how good the company is: Do they deliver good service and value for money?”

She goes on to explain that once you have found the right provider (it doesn’t have to be local – the better ones work on a national basis and do business with companies throughout the country), get their advice on producing the postcard. They will help you with all the steps.

Decide whether you want them to handle the mailing for you. A good postcard company can handle the entire mailing and save you money in the process. Having the postcard company do the mailing for you has an additional benefit of saving on shipping. Printed matter is quite heavy and shipping 10,000 postcards across country is not that cheap. If it is mailed from the postcard company direct these shipping charges are avoided, according to Gendusa.

Determine whether you are going to mail to your existing customers, or to mailing lists of potential customers, or to both.

“Procurement of mailing lists is an important point. Sending out postcards to 10,000 random homeowners by zip code is not going to get the same response as sending 10,000 postcards to qualified car owners of the type of tires that you specialize in,” she says.

“You can buy mailing lists that are quite specific. Your biggest expense is going to be postage. It’s worth spending a little extra money to make sure your message gets to qualified potential purchasers in the products that you want to deal with. The postcard company should be able to help you with the choice and purchase of mailing lists.”

Decide on the content of the card. Again, a good postcard company will have experience with this and can offer valuable advice. “They’ve probably worked with other tire retailers and know what works and what doesn’t.”

Then, get the card produced. The company will send you proofs; be sure to make any corrections to ensure that you’re pleased with the finished product.

Get the mailing out, of course, and subsequently you need to make the most of the response. “Make sure your receptionists or shop employees are prepared to answer a lot of calls and get people in the door. Do some drilling with them and pay bonuses on targets achieved. Make sure they know what specials you are promoting,” Gendusa suggests.

“After you’ve done a few mailings, you will get a better idea of what works and you can refine your campaign,” she points out.

For more information, visit www.postcardmania.com.

About the Author

James Guyette

James E. Guyette is a long-time contributing editor to Aftermarket Business World, ABRN and Motor Age magazines.

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