Photo courtesy Flickr Jim Epler

Note: In the previous post we touched on creating a direct mail campaign, package design, and targeting your list.  Here we look at what goes into the actual mailing.

The Sales Copy (Copy writing 101)

Now that the piece has gotten enough attention to be opened (the biggest hurdle of direct mail, where a 1% to 3% response rate is considered average) it is time to turn to sales letter copy.  Each piece of direct mail should have one single purpose.  I don’t care what that is, you decide.  Just be sure you aren’t trying to get your prospect to do more than one thing.

• This makes it easier to track results as you are only looking for a single result from each piece.
• You do not want to confuse your customer with conflicting messages.  For example, don’t try to get a new lawn care contract and a newsletter sign-up out of the same piece or mailing.

So, this “one single purpose” can be whatever you choose it to  be.  To get a lead or a call from them, to get a sale, to get them to request more info, to request a quote, to think about your company when they have that problem(branding).

Headlines and Content

Now you work on your “copy” – that is, the words that trigger the response you desire. Although entire careers are built on this topic of copy writing, with a little practice and study of successful mail pieces, you can write ad copy that will attract the actions you desire from every contact.

Begin by studying some “classic” ad copy.  And by collecting direct mail that you receive that appears especially effective.  Also read the full page ads in your favorite magazines (many, many hours have been put into crafting each headline and sentence in these ads.)

Notice that sales pages typically begin with a strong headline that commands the reader’s attention to read more.

Notice also that there are many sud headlines in bolder-than-normal print. This is useful for readers who like to scan the page.

Under each subhead is a paragraph or two relating to the subhead.  Each ending sentence of each paragraph will usually be incomplete without the following subhead and paragraph. For example…

Also notice that the offer is generally made several times throughout the letter.  Each time it is offered, it addresses a different need of your potential audience (though it is the same, single offer, leading your reader to the same single action that you desire).

The offer will be made compelling by one of several different reasons such as this is for a limited time,  we only have 12 slots left open, this must be done before the winter sets in, not doing so could ruin your lawn, etc.

Professional copywriters charge thousands of dollars for a single sales letter because they have proven their ability to cause a person to take the desired action of the letter.  You may need to write your own copy until your marketing budget can afford one.

What About Graphics

If your marketing budget is still quite small, I would avoid using pictures, unless you have already purchased some good, high quality postcards or glossy paper stock on  which you can print your own message.

If you plan on using a template in a Word processor and printing your own pieces on your home printer, you should stick with logos and the printed word.  If you try to print pictures on copy paper with your home ink jet printer, you will most definitely give the impression that you have no marketing budget (and make your customers wonder what else you have no budget for!)

Besides, carefully chosen words can do just as much or more than a bunch of stock photos which look just like the pictures of nice grass on everybody else’s lawn care mailings.

Testing 1-2-3

Any direct mail campaign (and any marketing campaign for that matter) needs to be tested so you can know the results it brings and what changes to make so that future mailings bring in better results.  How do you test?  Start with a control piece.  This can be your first piece.  Then choose an element to test – the headline, the envelope size, the color of text, how many times you make the offer, you get the idea, and change that one element.  Use two different response phone numbers, one for each piece so you can track results.  When the test element pulls better results than the control, change to the new element.  Keep records of these tests and you’ll have a pile of valuable research.

Tie Up The Loose Ends

We have touched on alot of topics surrounding direct mail, such as copywriting, designing a campaign, building a list of addresses and phone numbers, delivery methods, testing,etc.  Some of these topics will be the subject of future posts, so keep your eyes on this blog.

Alright, alright!  I know what you’re thinking.  Junk mail.  Am I right?  Well, if you’re using direct mail the way 99% of business use it, then yes, junk mail.

And wasted marketing dollars (especially  for a small lawncare company.)

But let’s take a look at how to make it work for you.

Typically, your first step in direct-mail would be to design a campaign.  What? A campaign?  Is this some sort of Crusade or something?  YES!  Exactly.  You’re wasting your money if you only send one mailing.  Or even if you send multiple mailings which aren’t consistent.

You should decide what the purpose and thrust of each campaign will be.  To brand your company?  To sell new fertilization jobs?  To dominate a neighborhood?  You must know so that you can design each mailing.

You should target an area (the area you want to concentrate in) and blanket them with your campaign.

Your List Of Prospects

Next, you would typically buy a list of addresses with names.  But, I wouldn’t.  Instead, collect these names and addresses yourself.  This allows you to “laser-target” your market.  There are resources at your public library in the reference section which contain listings of homeowners by street address (along with much useful information such as telephone, years in residence, etc.)  Target a few streets and be sure everyone on the street gets on your list.

A little more complicated method would be to use the whitepages.com.  Just click on the People Search tab, then click Find Neighbors tab.  Here you can enter an address on a street and your search will return all the neighbors’ names with address on the street (minus all the other useful information.)

Just a side note about collecting this information—if you use telemarketing, this is a primo way to target your market, but be aware of the laws surrounding the “Do Not Call Registry” (more on this in another post.)

The Package

The next thing to do is design your campaign pieces.  Letters or postcards?  Trifolded paper in newsletter format or a complete package in a manilla envelope?  Now, spend some time here with me.  This is very important.  Your package must raise enough curiosity to get opened and be read.  Whether its intriguing words on the envelope, the size of the envelope, the method in which it was delivered, something about the package has to make your prospective customer want to open the package.

Need some ideas?  How many large manilla envelopes do you receive in the mail each week?  Do they get opened?  Probably so.  If you received a birthday card sized envelope with nothing on the outside but your address handwritten, wouldn’t you be curious to see who sent it?  Use your imagination.  Since this mailing is on a small scale (you probably aren’t going to target 5000 people all at once) you may be able to afford to send a package that would  have been cost-prohibitive on a larger scale.

What about including some novelty item?  Well, the general rule is that if the novelty item is actually useful, it will likely be kept around.  For example,  my kids hang pictures on the refrigerator all the time.  So I always keep those business card magnets that come in the pieces I receive.  Benefit to me : extra magnets on the fridge.  Benefit to sender : their name and number always in sight close to my phone.

That’s about enough to digest in one post, so stay tuned for Part II, where we’ll cover what to actually say in the pieces you’ll be mailing.

I’ve just spent a long weekend with my family in Gatlinburg, TN.  It’s a very nice, scenic, appalachian mountain area we like to visit often.  However, it’s no secret that it’s also a tourist trap type of place.  There are literally hundreds of small shops selling food, candy, and drinks all within a 1 mile walk – and many marketing lessons to be learned by anyone willing to uncover them.

Free Roasted Pecans?

For example, the guy selling roasted pecans with a sign that says “Free Samples.” Not only did he have a sign that said “Free Samples”, but he waited to make eye contact with you and said “Why don’t you try one – they’re free.”  And not only that, he tells your kids “They taste like pecan pie, try one.”  So we tried some.  And guess who ended up buying a bag?  Well, it’s obvious the Free Sample strategy works.  And I can’t say for sure why in each case.  But in my case – I had a no-risk way to see if I would even like them before I bought any.  After having some pecans for free (and he was generous with the samples) I felt almost obligated to buy something from him.  It’s a strategy I think could be applied to the lawn care industry – with a few pointers.

What’s This Got To Do With Lawn Care?

First,what product will be your free sample?  Of course, being in the lawn care industry, you probably don’t have a physical product (but if you do, it may be just the ticket to win some new customers.)  In our type of businesses – the service industry – a free consultation could be equated with the free sample strategy.

Free Estimates (By Any Other Name)

But, you’ll have to spice it up a bit.  Everybody has free consultations and free estimates.  You’ll have to call it something else.  “The 25 Point Lawn Disease Inspection.”  Or “The Free Driveway Entrance Landscaping Plan.”  And you’ll have to make it better than anyone else’s “free estimate” too (I don’t mean a better price, I mean a better experience.)  You should have a standard, well rehearsed presentation.  It should be executed as if you have done this a thousand times.  You are the expert.  Show that to your potential customer.  And please don’t show up in torn blue jeans and a sweaty t-shirt to make a presentation. (Ask me how many times I did that before I got smart about marketing.)

Reach The Decision Maker

Now you’ve got a hook, next you need to reach the one who decides to buy your services.  I have several tips to focus on this in other posts.  But for now lets just say “Repetition, repetition, repetition.”  Others might call it branding.  Commitment to your message.  We know that rarely does a customer respond to the first contact with your message.

Exposure To Your Marketing Message

In fact, though they may think they’ve not seen your message before, research bears out that on average it takes 7-9 exposures to your message to elicit a reaction from a customer.  And that’s not counting all the times you put your message out there and your prospect didn’t notice it.  So don’t give up on your marketing after just one shot.  Keep your message consistent so that your potential customer doesn’t get confused over the 7-9 times he is exposed to it.  Remember the Pecan Man I described at the beginning?  Look at all the contacts he had with us leading up to the free sample.  Which brings us to the next point…

That Free Sample Better Be Good

Because if the free sample is a piece of crap that has no value to your customer, why should they think you have anything else of value?  Let’s look at two scenarios of the free sample strategy.

Hey, We Offer Free Estimates Too!

Scenario 1 is your competition.  Probably all of them.  They have it printed on their business cards.  All of their fliers say the same thing.  They all have it on their truck and trailer signs.  You know what I’m talking about.  That one line – we offer free estimates.  Tell me, is there a lawn care company out there that doesn’t?  Believe me, your customers expect it.  So he (and every other lawn care company owner) shows up with his mowing or spraying rig, a metal clipboard, and a pad of generic estimate forms.  He measures the yard, looks it over for a few minutes, gets a price in his head, and writes on this metal clipboard/pad a description of what he does (and its the same for every customer – cut, trim, blow, edge) and a price per service.  If he can use a calculator, he gives a price per season to try to get a contract out of it.  Then he shows it to the customer and leaves a business card.  No rehearsed sales pitch, no real value to the customer, just a price for them to think about.

Your Lawn Is In Danger!

Scenario 2 is you.  Why does it stand apart?  Because you don’t offer a free estimate.  You offer a 15 point disease and pest inspection.  Or a free soil test to determine what’s wrong with your lawn’s foundation.  Or a 10 point inspection and explanation of the danger your lawn faces this coming season.  And to be sure, you have rehearsed this presentation until you can pull it off in your sleep.  It is so well put together and so slick that your prospect will never forget what just happened.  Maybe, you had a DVD about these dangers to their lawn which they watched while you did the inspection.  Then you met them with the answers to their questions, the results of your inspection, and a suggestion for service.  You see, you gave them something of value – before you, they didn’t even know they had problems.  Now you give them a choice of solutions to the problems you’ve made them aware of.

Both lawn companies gave an estimate for the same service.  But you gave it value.  Who do you think gets the job?  The guy who writes 4 lines on a generic estimate form, or the expert who let his customer know that they were facing a real lawn crisis if they don’t act now.

If your free sample is truly excellent, both in value and in your execution of it, then the fourth point is a slam dunk.

Trust And Obligation

Yes, your potential customer will trust you more than the 10 fliers she got in the mail last week because you have just proven you know what to do about their problem.  She thought her problem was finding someone to cut the grass.  You showed her the problem was much more than that AND that you can fix it.  This kind of free service also builds obligation into the mix.  And that’s what makes them buy from you.

So map out a plan to offer your free sample and you’ll start closing a whole lot more deals for your lawncare business.

That being said, one good but seldom used marketing tool is a short note or letter telling your customers any new service you are going to begin offering.

Did you just buy a leaf vacuum?  Tell them all about the benefits of removing the leaves from their lawns this fall.  And create an offer to entice them.

What about that new aerator you saw at the turf grass trade show?  Tell your customers about the benefits of aerating their lawns and how you have just such a service.

Do you have winter services that your customers don’t know about?  They may be using another company for such services simply because you haven’t told them that you offer it.  What about gutter cleaning?  Christmas lights and decorations?  Fall/Thanksgiving themed yard displays?  Snow removal?  Irrigation system flush?  What about Spring plantings of annuals?

Not only will you get more sales, you’ll build a better bond with your customer as you educate them and keep in touch with them.

Chance Marketing

Most lawn care operators are in the same boat.  They use Chance Marketing – that is, just wait for chance to happen and referrals will somehow come along on their own.  Can you afford to leave your business’ growth to chance?  Not in today’s economy.

Do You Have Customers Or Do You Have Evangelists?

Of all the tools in your marketing tool bag, “word of mouth” or referral marketing is by far the most effective.  When your satisfied customers tell their friends and neighbors about you, they aren’t advertising, they are evangelizing!  They believe in you and their word is worth more to that potential customer than 10 or 15 exposures to your marketing message.  How can you beat that?

Consistent Referral Results

If you don’t have a system in place to consistently, relentlessly get referral business from your satisfied customers, you are leaving a lot of money on the table.  How much?  I’d say at least $475 per customer per year.  If your average account is $45 per service (conservative) and your average season yields 35 service visits, then your average customer is worth $1575 per season.  If you use a 30% response rate on a fine-tuned referral system, that amounts to $475 additional income per customer per season.  If you have 20 customers that amounts to $9500 you’re leaving on the table every year.  If you target higher end customers and learn the art of upselling of course, your loss is even greater.

Your Referral Garden

Your customers are a garden and you have to cultivate the referrals. This means develop a system or systems to encourage them to share your name with their friends and neighbors.  Referrals don’t just happen with enough consistency to depend on.

The Answer Then Is A System

system
Noun
1.a method or set of methods for doing or organizing something
If you want consistent, predictable results from your referral marketing, you need to have in place a system that works day in and day out.  There are as many ways to implement a referral marketing system as there are creative marketers.  The key, however, is to know your customer.  Think like they think, and you’ll be able to develop a program that will pull consistent results.

One Quick Example

Need a little help to get started?  How about this.  Create a “New Customer Offer” such as a free 21 point lawn inspection, or free first fertilization application, or whatever your ideal customer would value.  Print your offer on a sheet of business card stock (most word processor programs have templates for 8 or 10 business cards to a page, or search for free downloadable templates) along with your satisfied customer’s name.  For example, one entire sheet of business cards would look like this:

First Fertilization Application
Provided Compliments of
Mr and Mrs Smith
Call 555-5555

So, you see.  You give this stack of 10 cards to your customer, Mr Smith with instructions to pass them on to his neighbors and friends.  In return, for every referral call you get, he gets a credit towards one free service.  If you get a new customer as a result of his referral you’ll give him a $50 gift card to Long Horn Steak House or something.

So your cost is about 80 cents per sheet of business cards plus the value of the service provided to your new customer plus a gift card to your current customer.  So for about $80.00 in hard costs, you get a new customer worth $1575 each season.  More if you master the upsell.  If you get no referrals, you are only out 80 cents for the stack of business cards.

The Power Of Referral Marketing

If you need help coming up with ideas or just want some concrete advice about how to use referral marketing to its maximum potential, check out this ebook from Vince Goldeexampler.

Now, your marketing calendar should have those weeks marked which cover seasonal and time-sensitive services. This way you’ll know when to begin marketing those services.

If we’re coming up on time to apply pre-emergent weed control, send a short note or postcard about 2 weeks before that “window” of service opens. And let your customer (or potential customer) know why it is important to do this service inside this small “window of opportunity.” Then follow up with another note or phone call in a week.

If they have already signed an agreement that includes this service, then send a postcard explaining why its important and announce when you intend to provide the service. This kind of communication goes a long way toward building customer loyalty.

And get this…time-sensitive services have a built-in psychological trigger (aiding the sales process.) That trigger is called “scarcity.” In this case, time scarcity. By letting potential customers know that to be effective, these services must be completed by a certain date, you give your marketing a certain urgency.

Customers will respond much more quickly and definitely to a time-sensitive notice than to open ended marketing. So use these services to your marketing advantage.

Need some examples of time-sensitive issues? Here are a few, depending on what your company does (or is licensed to do.)

• -pre-emergent weed control
• -aeration
• -overseeding/slitseeding
• -annual flower beds (2 opportunities here)
• -pruning/shrub trimming
• -irrigation winterizing
• -gutter cleaning
• -bulb plantings
• -various fertilization programs
• -fall decorations/Christmas decorations

Look over your list of accounts and write a list of every service you have performed. Place a check mark beside any service that may be considered time-sensitive. These are the services you should market to all your customers in this way.

Don’t pass up this “built-in” sales opportunity.