Marketing Your Startup by Simona Covel

Author:Simona Covel
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: AMACOM
Published: 2018-05-01T04:00:00+00:00

What About ROI?

When done right, the return on investment is surprising, say founders who have come to rely on direct mail as a powerful tool in their marketing arsenal.

As the marketing manager of Fox’s Pizza Den, a family-owned franchise business spanning twenty-five states, Adam Haupricht mails 500,000 promotional postcards at a time. The campaigns cost 25 cents per piece including postage, and Haupricht says he’s seen new stores increase sales as much as 30 to 40 percent over thirty weeks using them. Keeping it fresh is the key, he says. “A generic postcard with the same old coupons on the back—no menu, nothing fancy—is the least effective,” Haupricht says. He talks to the owners of the company’s 250 franchises about ideas for each new mailing. “I say, ‘Hey, what do you want to try? What’s working? What’s not?’ ”

Sometimes, effectiveness can be measured by a single response. That’s what happened in 2014, recalls entrepreneur Brian Roberts, when he was stuck.

“My goal was to get my former fashion accessories brand into Urban Outfitters. We had just landed several major media features, but the coverage got the attention of everyone but my intended target: their accessories buyers,” Roberts says.

Since he couldn’t get them to reach out to him, he had no choice but to reach out to them. He knew he’d never break through the email clutter. Phone calls just aren’t viable for a visual product like accessories. “I needed a different way to reach out that wouldn’t result in me getting lost in the pile.”

He typed up a letter and ordered several custom postcards and catalogs from an online printing company based in California. Less than a month after sending the mailing, he says, he got a call from a buyer who liked a few styles in the catalog. Shortly after that sit down, the brand was picked up by Urban Outfitters.

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