Money Mailers

[Boom782]

Anyone used and had success? I own a training facility in Chicago and am considering it. Here is the deal:

10,000 mailers delivered in about a 4-6 block radius of my facility. I could do 5 mailers over the span of 6 months(every 5 weeks they go out) so 50,000 mailers and cost would be about $1300.

I know a good deal of people toss them out without opening them but I figure it only takes 1-2 clients to break even on the investment.

Any thoughts or experiences?

[jrdunassigned]

Anyone used and had success? I own a training facility in Chicago and am considering it. Here is the deal:

10,000 mailers delivered in about a 4-6 block radius of my facility. I could do 5 mailers over the span of 6 months(every 5 weeks they go out) so 50,000 mailers and cost would be about $1300.

I know a good deal of people toss them out without opening them but I figure it only takes 1-2 clients to break even on the investment.

Any thoughts or experiences?

What other advertising techniques have you tried?

[Boom782]

Craigslist has brought us a few clients. I have branded shirts, bottles, and bags. I use social media sites a lot. I tried postcards before that I left out at certain businesses. SEO for my website. I have gift cards worth $50 I give to current clients to help bring in referrals. Other than that I haven't done any other paid advertising.

Oh I tried ******** and google ads about a year ago with no luck.

[jrdunassigned]

Craigslist has brought us a few clients. I have branded shirts, bottles, and bags. I use social media sites a lot. I tried postcards before that I left out at certain businesses. SEO for my website. I have gift cards worth $50 I give to current clients to help bring in referrals. Other than that I haven't done any other paid advertising.

Oh I tried ******** and google ads about a year ago with no luck.

Have you tried engaging a chiropractor, private doctor's office, and other related fields to do free cross-promotion, maybe with a % kick-back? I.E. you get 10% from clients that you refer and he gets 10% kick-back on clients that he has referred to you?

If you get one local practitioner from each field you avoid a conflict of interest and could generate a lead or two for no charge...

[jrdunassigned]

The reason I'm so skeptical about mailers is because, as you pointed out, they get tossed quickly.

Additionally, I'm of the "permission marketing" school of thought; you'll generate more returning business by being a welcome distraction. Customers will tune into you instead of tuning you out with the other noise.

Also, you could consider developing a personal app for your clients that comes as part of having you as a PT, maybe with updates, etc. Would only cost about $600 to hire a programmer online; just draw up pictures of exactly what you want.

I would direct you to this recent article from the Harvard Business Review:
blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/05/what_do_consumer_really_want_s(DOT)html

Customers want simplicity, and one of the ways you can simplify things is to actively engage them once they agree to give you a test-run. Keep things simple for them by doing all of the information work, via a private app or some other method.