Best ROI on marketing dollars for wholesalers

[Justin Montoya]

How do some of you wholesalers see the best return on investment for your marketing dollars? I am specifically interested in direct mail marketing and the specifics of it. Please help :)

[Claire Trammell]

Alrighty! Let's see if I can help.

Just to keep things basic, let me start with direct mail tends to work best when you send a campaign of 5-7 different pieces, 4 weeks apart from each other. Follow ups are key as the average person takes 3-5 touches before picking up the phone to respond.

When you're getting started and planning out your campaign, there are two things that you should ask yourself that will help you determine your mailing quantity:

1) Your budget

2) Your ability to handle the calls

It might help you answer these questions if you had an idea on what to expect in respect to the response rates. Here are the average response rates we have seen based on our customer feedback as well as our own mailings throughout the years:

Yellow Letters- average response rate of 8%-9%, all kinds of calls (angry calls, curious calls, tire-kickers, quality calls)

Postcards- average response rate of .5%, mostly quality calls.

Zip Letters- average response rate of 2%, mostly quality calls. (Great for follow ups)

Greeting Cards- average response rate of 2%, mostly quality calls. (Great for follow ups)

The actual response rates you will see greatly depend on the competition in your market, however these are the averages we have seen.

Once you have your budget and campaign planned, execute. Stay consistent. Don't give up. Don't get discouraged. After you complete your plan, re-evaluate and do it again!