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THE PERFECT SOLUTION TO INCREASE ENROLLMENT
Our Weekly Direct Mail strategy gives you the flexibility to customize the exact mailing and payment schedule that aligns perfectly with your 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 Oversized Postcard |
Quantity Mailed 5,000 Different Addresses |
Mail & Payment weeks 8 Weeks |
||||||||||||||
5,000 Postcards ÷ 8 Weeks = 625 Postcards Mailed & Paid For Each Week
Week 1 Mail 625 and Pay $319 Week 2 Mail 625 and Pay $319 Week 3 Mail 625 and Pay $319 Week 4 Mail 625 and Pay $319
Week 5 Mail 625 and Pay $319 Week 6 Mail 625 and Pay $319 Week 7 Mail 625 and Pay $319 Week 8 Mail 625 and Pay $319 |
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THE ANNUAL MAILING PROGRAM
- Put Your Marketing on A Calendar
- Consistently Market Every Week of the Year
Our Annual Program delivers affordable and consistent direct mail marketing every week of the year or the weekly schedule you choose based on your enrollment periods.
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 or you can choose to mail and pay all at once. You’re always in control.
This strategic planning creates accountability, increases response rates, and ensures your marketing stays on budget and on track no matter how busy you get.
| Mailing Number | Product Mailed | Quantity Mailed OR Prospects Targeted | # Of Mailing Weeks | Quantity Mailed Weekly | Weekly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Oversized Postcard | 5,000 | 8 | 625 | Only $453 |
| #2 | Medium Plastic Postcard | 5,000 | 9 | 556 | Only $453 |
| #3 | Jumbo Postcard | 5,000 | 9 | 556 | Only $453 |
| #4 | Magnet Postcard | 5,000 | 9 | 556 | Only $453 |
| #5 | Oversized Postcard | 5,000 | 8 | 625 | Only $453 |
| #6 | Scratch-Off Postcard | 5,000 | 9 | 556 | Only $453 |
| Totals | — | 5,000 | 9 | — | — |
Your Annual Marketing Calendar
Getting Started is Easy:
- We work closely with you to determine the most viable areas and prospects to target.
- 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?
Below is a list of the types of mailings we offer. We recommend giving us a call to determine which option is best for your education and childcare business.
Full-Service Mailing Options
We Design, Print & Mail for you.New Acquisition Mailings
1. Target Prospects by Profile.
With a targeted Profile mailing, we work with you to create your ideal prospects profile. We then find and purchase a list of only those individuals that meet these specific criteria. Targeted profile mailings ensure your marketing only gets delivered to the exact audience you choose. Targeting prospects by profile is almost always recommended for education and childcare service businesses.
2. Target Prospects by Carrier Route (Further Breakdown of a Zip Code)
The route that your postal worker takes each day to deliver the mail is called a carrier route. Targeting prospects by carrier route allows you to get very specific about the areas you would like to target without having to target an entire zip code.
In addition, carrier route mailings provide additional capabilities to remove certain types of addresses that you may not want to target depending upon what type of business you have.
For example, you can remove apartments, trailers, college addresses, seasonal addresses, PO Boxes, etc.
Finally, we can apply key demographics to each carrier route, such as median income, median age, median home value, median year homes were built, % of households with children, etc. to further strategically help you select the most viable routes to target.
Although our typical recommendation for education and childcare service businesses is Targeting prospects by profile, we recommend giving us a call to discuss all the options to determine which will be the best fit for what you are trying to accomplish.
Database Customer Retention / Loyalty Mailings
Database mailings target your list of current or previous students. Whether you need to communicate with your current students about important news, updates, etc. or you want to target previous students with new services, donation requests, etc. we have a solution for you.
All we need from you, is the list of the students you want to target from your database, in an Excel or CSV format separated by first name, last name, address, city, state, zip.
We will then run your database through our postal software to ensure all addresses in your database are valid and deliverable.
In addition, if you are targeting previous students, for a nominal cost, we can run your database through the NCOA (National Change of Address) System. This process compares the names and addresses of the students in your database to the NCOA database of approximately 160 million changes of addresses going back 48 months.
This process ensures the students in your database have not changed their address. The benefit to you is the cost savings of potentially sending mailers to students that have moved out of the area and will never need your services again.
- How much does it cost?
The cost of your mailing/s is driven by many factors including quantity being mailed, mailing list, product selection, 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; There are never any additional costs taxes or hidden fees.
- Why Is Your Annual Program So Effective?
Our annual program is extremely effective for several reasons.
- Our Annual program provides you with the ability to consistently market your business all year long without any gaps in your marketing. This consistency is the key to having 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
- Learn more about the importance of frequency and reach on our blog
- 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. You can pick and choose the number of mailings you want do, 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?
The purpose of our Annual Program is to give you the ability to consistently market your business every week of the year. It is not designed to lock you into future 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.
- How can I track my response rates?
There are two potential methods that can be used on their own or in conjunction with each other, to track your direct mail response rates: Matchback reporting and call tracking.
Matchback reports:
If your business acquires your students physical addresses, we can provide you with a customer matchback report.
A matchback report compares your new customer addresses to the mailing list of recipients that were targeted with your direct mail marketing. This comparison gives you a transparent picture of how many new students you acquired from your direct mail marketing.
However, one blind spot of matchback reporting is that it only shows the prospects you have converted into a new customer. It does not provide visibility to the number of prospects that have responded to your direct mail marketing but did not convert into a customer.
This is a critical differentiation. If you have 50 people call from your direct mail piece, however, only 10 of them turn in to new students, it will skew the analysis of your response rates and may appear that your marketing isn’t working as well as it is.
It’s also critical that you understand why a prospect calls but does not convert into an appointment. It could be quite a few reasons, such as poor customer service, scheduling issues, etc. Whatever the case may be, it is critical that you understand these reasons in order to be able to not only properly analyze the performance of your direct mail marketing but also to identify and address the reasons why these prospects did not convert. This brings us to the second method of tracking response rates: call tracking.
Call Tracking:
Call tracking works by utilizing a unique phone number that is only used on your direct mail marketing. Mail Shark can help acquire a call tracking number. Anyone who calls from this unique call tracking number is documented, and the call is recorded.
This provides another layer of tracking and allows you to listen to these calls as well for training and tracking purposes.
That said, one blind spot of call tracking is that any prospect who goes to Google or to your website and calls from the number on your website will not show up on your call tracking. Thus, call tracking is not 100% perfect but does provide an extra layer of tracking.
- Can I remove my current students from my mailing?
Yes, you absolutely can remove your current students from your mailing. All we need from you, is your complete database of students in an Excel or CSV format separated by address, city, state, zip.
- How Do I Choose the Best Areas to Target?
In most cases, we start by plotting your current students on a map in order to identify where your current students are coming from. We can then leverage that data along to strategically select current or new areas to target.
The best place to start is by contacting us and consulting with one of our Direct Mail experts to determine which strategy is right for your business. Our team of direct mail experts will simplify and help guide you through this process.
- 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 Business?
The most important characteristic you should look for in a direct mail partner is Trust. We are extremely proud to say that for over a decade working with 1000’s of businesses just like yours, we have built a reputation as the most trusted industry resource for direct mail.
We pride ourselves on going the extra mile and 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.