The Perfect Solution To Get More Customers
Our Weekly Direct Mail strategy gives you the flexibility to customize the exact mailing and payment schedule that aligns with your restaurant’s goals and budget.
How It Works:
There is No Money Up Front. We take your total quantity of direct mail pieces and spread your mailing/s and the cost of the mailing/s out evenly over the number weeks that you choose to mail.
Here’s an example below:
Product Selected Standard Menu |
Quantity Mailed 5,000 Different Addresses |
Mail & Payment weeks 8 Weeks |
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5,000 Postcards ÷ 8 Weeks = 625 Postcards Mailed & Paid For Each Week
Week 1 Mail 625 and Pay $359 Week 2 Mail 625 and Pay $359 Week 3 Mail 625 and Pay $359 Week 4 Mail 625 and Pay $359
Week 5 Mail 625 and Pay $359 Week 6 Mail 625 and Pay $359 Week 7 Mail 625 and Pay $359 Week 8 Mail 625 and Pay $359 |
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Annual Mailing Program
- Put Your Marketing On A Calendar
- Consistently Get More Customers Every Week Of The Year
Our Annual Program delivers affordable and consistent direct mail marketing, targeting new prospective customers for your restaurant every week of the year.
This is accomplished by putting your marketing on a calendar and pre-planning multiple different direct mail campaigns throughout the entire year.
We then execute each mailing using our weekly mailing strategy, sending out each direct mail campaign on a weekly basis, allowing you to pay for your mailings on a weekly basis instead of all at once.
This strategic planning creates accountability, increases response rates, and ensures your marketing stays on budget and on track no matter how busy you get running your restaurant.
Here’s an Example :
In the illustration below, we highlight our popular Bi-Monthly Annual Mailing Plan. This Bi-Monthly Plan consist of 6 different direct mail campaigns sent out consecutively over the course of a year.
Each campaign is sent out on a weekly basis over each two-month period. You will also notice a variety of different direct mail pieces being used. This is always selected by you. The total cost of all mailings is then divided evenly over the 52 week annual period to give you one low weekly payment.
| Mailing Number | Product Mailed | Quantity Mailed OR Prospects Targeted | # Of Mailing Weeks | Quantity Mailed Weekly | Weekly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Standard Menus | 5,000 | 8 | 625 | Only $330 |
| #2 | Medium Plastic Postcards | 5,000 | 9 | 556 | Only $330 |
| #3 | Standard Menus | 5,000 | 9 | 556 | Only $330 |
| #4 | Postcard Magnets | 5,000 | 8 | 625 | Only $330 |
| #5 | Standard Menus | 5,000 | 9 | 556 | Only $330 |
| #6 | Scratch-Off Postcards | 5,000 | 9 | 556 | Only $330 |
| Totals | — | 5,000 | 9 | — | — |
Your Annual Marketing Calendar
Getting Started Is Easy:
- We work closely with you to determine the most viable areas to target new prospective customers.
- You determine the number of mailings to send out.
- We help you select the best direct mail product/s to use.
- We take the total cost of your mailing/s and spread your payments evenly over the total number of weeks being mailed.
- We put your marketing on a calendar and execute your plan.
FAQs
- What type of mailings do you offer?
We offer several different types of mailings which we have listed below. That said, there are many nuances to each of these types of mailings that are better explained during a no-nonsense consultation with one of our direct mail experts.
Full-Service Mailing Options
(We design, print and mail for you)Carrier Routes Mailings
A carrier route is simply a further breakdown of a zip code and is the route that each USPS employee takes each day to deliver the mail. Targeting areas by carrier route allows you to get much more specific about the areas you are targeting as opposed to targeting everyone in an entire zip code. Carrier route mailings are also the least expensive option to send out mail.Database Mailings
We can take your existing database of customers and mail to them. Before doing so, we will run your database through our postal software to ensure all of the addresses in your database are valid mailable addresses and that there are no vacant addresses.New Mover Mailings
Once a month we target the new residents that move into your local market.Do It Yours Mailing Option (EDDM Retail – Every Door Direct Mail)
EDDM Retail Is a do it yourself program offered by the USPS that gives you the ability to send direct mail to local customers by targeting specific carrier routes by physically delivering the mail pieces themselves to each local post office.Essentially, we design, print and ship the direct mail pieces to you. You are then in charge of delivering them to the post office.
If you would like to learn more about EDDM, we have put together several informative articles that you can access via the link below. However, a quick call with one of our direct mail experts can certainly save you time and get you the immediate answers to the questions you have.
- How much does it cost?
The cost of your mailing/s is driven by many factors including quantity, product selection, type of mailing, etc. Simply contact us for a no-nonsense transparent quote. The all-inclusive price we provide you with includes everything you need from start to finish;
A custom design, mailing list, all printing costs, postage and delivery to the USPS. There are never any additional costs taxes or hidden fees.
- Why Is Your Annual Program So Effective?
Our annual program is extremely effective for a number of reasons.
- Our Annual program provides you with the ability to consistently market your business all year long without any gaps in your marketing. Consistency is one of the keys to a successful marketing plan.
- The Annual program creates the perfect blend of Frequency & Reach.
- Frequency is the number of times you target those prospects with your message & Reach is the total number of people exposed to your marketing message.
- Reach without Frequency = Wasted Money
- Take a deeper look at frequency & reach
- The use of a variety of different products to target prospects ensures your marketing doesn’t get stale.
- Why Is Your Annual Program So Effective?
Our annual program is extremely effective for a number of reasons.
- Our Annual program provides you with the ability to consistently market your shop all year long without any gaps in your marketing. Consistency is one of the keys to a successful marketing plan.
- The Annual program creates the perfect blend of Frequency & Reach.
- Frequency is the number of times you target those prospects with your message & Reach is the total number of people exposed to your marketing message.
- Reach without Frequency = Wasted Money
- Take a deeper look at frequency & reach
- The use of a variety of different products to target prospects ensures your marketing doesn’t get stale.
- Do I have to do an annual program
Absolutely not. Our Annual program is our most popular for all of the reasons stated above. However, you are always in control and able to choose the number of mailings that are the best for your shop, whether that is 1 or 12.
- Over how many weeks can I spread my mailings and payments?
You can spread your mailings and payments over up to 10 weeks. If that doesn’t meet your goals, there are other options. Simply give us a call to discuss.
- Can I change my Annual Program as I go?
Although our Annual Program is strategically pre-planned, one of its key benefits is that it is not set in stone. Whenever a direct mail marketing campaign is scheduled, you have complete control over changing as much as necessary, including your design and ad copy, mailing area, quantities, etc.
- What if I need to stop the Annual Program?
Our Annual Program allows you to market your shop every week of the year consistently and does not lock you into additional mailings. Therefore, there is an easy and fair way to stop your mailings for any reason.
When you sign up for an Annual Program, consisting of 5 or more mailings during a calendar year, we provide you a discounted rate below our standard pricing equal to one penny per piece.
In the event you need to end your Annual Program prior to its completion, you are simply required to pay back the one penny per piece discount on all of the pieces you have mailed.
This isn’t a cancellation fee; it is merely the cost you would have paid based on our standard pricing, had you not been on the Annual Program.
Additionally, in the event that you end your Annual Program in the middle of a mailing and have remaining printed and addressed direct mail pieces on our shelf that have not been sent out, you simply pay us for the cost of the printing and addressing of those remaining pieces and not postage.
- Do you use the USPS EDDM program?
For our full-service mailings that we design, print and mail for your practice, we DO NOT use the USPS EDDM BMEU program.
We put a physical address on each direct mail piece that is sent out, unlike the USPS EDDM BMEU program that uses a generic address on each piece. The benefit of addressing each mailer is that it gives us the flexibility to remove certain types of unwanted addresses as well as the ability to suppress your current patient database from your mailers which you cannot do with the USPS EDDM BMEU program.
However, we do offer printed material that can be used for the USPS EDDM Retail program, where you physically take the mailers to the post office yourself.
- How Do I Choose the Best Areas to Target?
One thing we know, based on some of the latest dental patient research, is that prospective patients are looking for a dental office that is conveniently located to them. Therefore, it’s critical to understand how far people are willing to travel to become a patient at your practice.
Unfortunately, many marketers put all dental practices in the same bucket and suggest targeting prospects within a 1–3-mile radius from their practice. The inherent issue with this is that every practice is located in a different geographic area, with unique demographic and geographic characteristics. Therefore, each practice needs to be looked at individually based on their specific market and not some predetermined arbitrary radius.
General Dentistry Practices – Continue reading.
Pediatric, Orthodontic & Cosmetic Practices – Skip to the section below.
General Dentistry Practices typically choose to target all prospects in a specific area. This is done by identifying and mailing to everyone in a specific postal carrier route/s (further breakdown of a zip code). Targeting by carrier route allows you to target specific neighborhoods in a zip code without having to target everyone in the entire zip code. It’s also the most cost-effective solution for general dentistry practices.
Our strategy to help you select the best carrier routes is to take your current database of patients and compare and append them back to the exact carrier route that they are located within. With this data, you will be able to make a strategic fact-based decision about which areas are the most viable for you to target new prospective patients.
*As a side note, once we have your current database of patient’s addresses (not names), we can easily suppress them from your mailing to maximize your marketing spend.
If you are a new or newer practice without a large database, we will use our mapping software and key demographics along with your knowledge of your local market to help you strategically choose the best carrier routes to target.
If your practice caters to a specific demographic, and you do not wish to target everyone in a specific area, and you would rather target a specific type of customer, please continue reading the next section to learn about our targeted demographic mailings.
Pediatric, Orthodontic & Cosmetic Practices
When your practice caters to a specific audience like children, for example, a better strategy than targeting everyone in a specific area is to create an ideal customer profile and purchase a mailings list of only those prospects that meet your criteria. Mail Shark utilizes the most trusted and accurate sources for this type of consumer data available, from sources such as Epsilon, Acxiom, Compact, and more, to ensure you the highest quality and most accurate list on the market.
In summation, we recommend consulting with one of our Direct Mail experts to determine which strategy is the perfect fit for your practice/s.
- What offers should I use on my mailers?
Our best advice is to give us a call. It’s important we first understand what has worked for you in the past before providing future suggestions. If you haven’t tried any offers in the past or simply want us to make suggestions based on our direct mail marketing expertise that is perfectly fine as well. We will not only make suggested offers; we will provide you with the reasoning and methodology used behind our suggestions.
- Will you help me design my mailer?
Yes, we absolutely will and as a matter of fact, a custom design is included with every order.
- Why is Mail Shark the best direct mail partner for my shop?
We feel that the most important characteristic you should look for in a direct mail partner is Trust. We are extremely proud to say that we have built a reputation for over a decade as the most trusted industry resource for direct mail. We pride ourselves on always doing the right thing, even when no one is looking. We believe in transparency, accountability and do what we say we will do every single time for our clients.
We have also worked with over 9,136 restaurants (*As of 12-28-20) and that number continues to grow every week. We encourage you to check our testimonials as well as google reviews.
In addition, our weekly direct mail services and lineup of both paper and plastic direct mail products are the perfect solution for restaurants. Plus, unlike many other companies, our family-owned business actually does everything under one roof, including an Onsite Post office to ensure your direct mail is verified accurate, on time, every time.