August is a perfect time to celebrate your customers with back-to-school specials and “last chance” end-of-summer events. National Smile Day and Labor Day provide two more great opportunities for direct mail marketing in August; don’t miss your opportunity.
Back to School – Kids are going back to school, parents are celebrating, and teachers are preparing. This is a perfect opportunity for any business to reinforce loyalty among your current customers and bring in new ones too.
Ellen is the marketing director for a luxury salon and spa. As a mother, she understands the relief that comes with kids starting school – and understands why she sees a higher volume of women in August and September. To promote the spa among that target market, Ellen used Click2Mail’s mailing list services to acquire a list of households with female residents within a 20-mile radius. She sent out a 5 x 8 postcard offering a special “back-to-school celebration” discount when the recipient brings in the card through mid-September.
By collecting and counting all of the postcards that customers brought in, Ellen found that over 50% of the people who received postcards came in to redeem their discount – and the salon and spa saw a 10% increase in business from the year. Ellen’s direct mail marketing campaign was such a success that she is currently planning a few special mailers for upcoming holidays.
Happy Birthday! August is the most popular birthday month – making it a perfect time to run birthday incentive programs.
Linda is the proud owner of a small bakery and coffee shop. She has a lot of regular customers and offers a loyalty program that allows them to earn points, rewards, and discounts for frequently visiting her shop. One of the rewards is a free birthday beverage or pastry. Since August is the busiest birthday month, Linda takes advantage of Click2Mail’s direct mail services and sends 4.25 x 6 postcards to all of her customers with August birthdays reminding them to come in and redeem their free item. Out of the 100 or so postcards she sent, 86 were used and 42 of those people purchased additional items during their visit. Linda is currently working on a plan using Click2Mail to help market her birthday promotions all year round.
National Smile Week: August 5-11 – Put a smile on your customers’ faces the week of August 5th by providing them with “A Reason to Smile” discount or other related special promotions that show you care.
Gary, a local dentist, takes National Smile Week very seriously. Every year he runs special discounts for new and returning patients for everything from teeth whitening to root canals. It is one of his busiest weeks of the year, but he was only seeing about a 2% increase in the number of new patients coming in each year. So Gary decided to take advantage of Click2Mail Every Door Direct Mail service to send a mailer to every home in the three closest zip codes. He used an 8.5 x 12 mailer and included four different discounts. When the week was over he took a look at his numbers and saw an 8% increase in business from the year before – the largest increase he’d ever seen. Even better, many of the new patients who came in during the discount week returned for regular check-ups. With the great bump in business he is currently looking at opening up a new office on the other side of town.
Labor Day Weekend: August 30 – September 2 – Labor Day is a great holiday to ring in the fall and say goodbye to summer. It’s a great day for parties, going to the lake, and shopping great sales. No matter what business you are in, Labor Day weekend is easy to take advantage of.
Debbie owns a small boutique. She uses Labor Day weekend to get rid of her remaining summer items and make room for the fall line. Many of her regulars come in this weekend to take advantage of the great sales. This year she decided to throw a tea party to get to know her customers and showcase her new fall items. Using Click2Mail’s consumer mailing list services she obtained a list of all households with female residents over 18. She then sent out an 8.5 x 11 flyer to promote the tea party. She had over 100 new customers throughout the weekend and over 75 people attended the tea party, which was a huge hit. Debbie is currently working on a direct mail marketing campaign to announce her new upcoming events as well.
No matter what month it is, a direct mail campaign can influence your marketing success.
