I will be doing some mail drop come mid march but i would like some advice first. I will be doing a 5000 piece eddm and was considering doing a 20000 piece valpak drop as well. I dont want to invest to much into valpak because im a little less than convinced i will get as good of a return as eddm. Do you think two months of a 20000 piece drop will be giving valpak a chance to prove its self or would i really need to give it 3 or 4 month like the people at valpak are trying to tell me. I understand that a big key to valpak is a strong coupon and im ok with that. I spent ten years in the car business lowball ads and upselling is somthing i can handle
Also i viewed some nice looking eddm mailers being advertised on this forum. What size is recommend . And who do i need to contact to get them or atleast a price on them. I really like the make you house shine mailer who has used them and how did it work for you
I have no experience with ValPak but I know that some have had success.
EDDM is more work. Much more depending on if you try to do it all yourself or hire it out like JC does.
I believe that a 5k EDDM would be step one and that same route should get at least two more cards over the next couple of months
5k EDDM three times is probably $4,100.00 or so.
The PWRA has the best printing prices available anywhere and your first year membership would be paid for in short order with print savings and design cost savings.
They also have some cards that are easy to have changed with your information.
The pre-designed cards in the PWRA store will have their sizes listed.
I prefer 6 1/2" x 11" when I have cards custom designed.
I do have experience with Valpak. I love it, but I don’t think 2 months is enough time to give a fair evaluation of any marketing plan. Which ever way you go, you should be consistent and try for 6 months or so before dumping it. Making some changes and tweaks along the way. Also I’m surprised Valpak would let you do only 2 months.
.So your saying 4 to 6 months is really necessary . The price on a 10000 piece drop was $389 maby i will do 6 months of that. Along with 3 5000 piece eddm over a 6 month period. That’s. $ 6500 over the next 6 months is the really the best way to spend that or am i missing something. I still have no web site so i need to do that to. I spoke to ann currie about her web sites and verified the references she gave me they all were very satisfied. So i will be moving foward with that soon as well. Am i prioritizing this correctly or should i be more focused on the web presence first. Would i be better of just doing the 3 eddm drops and a web site. Rather than eddm and valpak
The purpose of the mailer is to get them to call you. But what often happens is that they go to your website before calling. Ambidextrous Services can hook you up on that end.
Have you fully explored all of the discounts available to PWRA members in both printing and Web creation?
No i cannot say i have yet bit i will
I’m not saying go into debt to do this for six months. I’m saying one large mail drop will not tell you if it’s successful or not. Try the one and see what happens. Save some money from the income you make on that and build a web site. If you do huge mailings, there is a possibility you could get more calls than expected. You need to be ready for it. You may not get many calls at all. Best thing is start with what you can handle financially and adjust as you need to.
I’m first year, I put out 2000 flyers in one very long weekend. The phone started ringing like crazy. I got busy and didn’t put out flyers for awhile. Suddenly the worked stopped and I had flyers out. I had to print more and deliver them. There was a couple weeks down time time. My point is, keep consistent and always have marketing going. That will ensure steady work.
I would say, “Yes”.
A big, nice EDDM card is at least going to get seen by the homeowner and you know where they are going. I’ve seen too many unopened Valpaks in the garbage.
I don’t mean so sound pushy but you should really look hard at the PWRA EDDM cards, At-Cost Printing, and Ambidextrous discounts. If you have any questions ask them here, email me at thad@pressurewashingresource.com, or call/ text me at 601-329-5819.
Also feel free to ask the PWRA members.
EDDM is going to be my new baby to rock a cradle. :0)
ARC Powerwashing
Alex Curry
(O)919.827.4376
(M)919.637.1627
Not for nothing but ambidextrous services did my site and logo. I saved $675 on my site. How much is the cost of membership $300? That’s my kinda math right there! And that’s just one benefit. A website is one of the most important investments you need to make
the problem with eddm is that it literally hits every house, rentals-townhomes-empty homes- etc… I think you could save some money by doing a target demographics… Or get 5,000 door hangers and pay some friends 10 bucks an hour and spend a weekend targeting the areas that you see most profitable… 6500 is a lot of money to spend on first year advertising… I would get a site setup, and put a small budget towards ppc advertising to get your name out there!
My business is a small business (just me and my wife) but we have found that hanging door hangers around town is the best way to go by far. It dont cost much at all to print off your own or like others here have said use the ones the PWR guys make up for the members. the last time me and ash put out door hangers we only put out 160 due to nasty weather coming in the evening on that day but by the time we were done we had 7 calls and 4 of them were estimates awarded to us, to me thats a great turn around for the cost.
but if you dont have time then the eddm is the best way to go as most valpaks do end up in the trash as i know ours do when my wife gets them.
Give Anya a call this week and get your site going. !!!
ARC Powerwashing
Alex Curry
(O)919.827.4376
(M)919.637.1627
Do it!
Website from Ambidextrous was the best ROI…
It paid for itself within 2 months.
First thing you should do is get your pwra membership then call Anya. My membership saved me over $700 on my website
that she just started on. She is such a pleasure to do business with and makes the whole process super easy. Then I would call Keith at KBK and get him to design you some door hangers. He did an excellent job on mine and everyone else’s that he’s done. You should definitely get your website built before you do any mailing. A lot of people will look you up online after they get your post card.
For those of you that do val pack. What does it generally run you. Is it wort it?
In my area it’s $540 per zone. Each zone is 10,000 homes. They have the zone broken down by median income and home value. They give a break if you buy multiple zones. For me it’s worth it. I can pick the zones and pick the months I send out. I can change the offer, art work or service I offer as the seasons change. For me it’s just easier than doing it all myself. On the WCR, there has been some discussion on this and many people have been dead set against it for many reasons. But in my area, it works and I like the ease of it.
Now thats what i wanted to hear im sold on the wed site being somthing i need to make a high priority. I will be gone on a project for the next two weeks when i get back i will call ambidextrous and get rolling on that. And depending on if i get finished under budget i may be able to do all three well hopefully
You definitely won’t regret it. Make sure you join the PWRA first it saved me about $850 with the package I got and the add-on’s such as copy-writing.
