facebookpixel

There are many ways to reach your customers, both new and repeat. Direct mailings, flyers, postcards, and door hangers are a few of the most commonly used. All of these methods can be very effective when properly designed, and even more importantly, properly timed.

In the Northern climates where the paving, sealcoating, and striping seasons come to a crashing halt in the fall, timing is everything. Timing the release of your mailings or distribution of your flyers and door hangers is a strategic challenge. There are different challenges that are independently presented to the residential and commercial markets. There are a few key things to keep in mind when to send out mailings or to start distributing your materials.

As we move into spring in the Northern climates, you never know when you might get that last reminder of winter. Typically, in the Midwest, we always receive the unpleasant surprise of snow in April. When it’s snowing outside, not many property owners or managers are thinking about pavement maintenance. If you release your materials too early, you might catch property managers still operating under their snow budgets and not thinking about pavement maintenance just yet. Too late, and your numbers won’t be given any consideration and may not be included in the maintenance budget. Another important factor is when you have a heavy winter, you have to be sensitive to property managers going into the spring. The last thing a property manager wants to think about is pavement maintenance when they are already way over budget with snow money. Our contractors have been successful with this issue by being sensitive with their first letter and following up within a few weeks with another letter or meeting request. This time line and sensitivity are extremely important, especially when attempting to attract new customers.

Related: Grow Your Business With This Marketing Package

On the residential side of the “timing game”, you have a small window you want to shoot for to maximize your initial return on your marketing materials. This window falls on the first warm weekend in the spring. This is usually the weekend when homeowners are outside for the first time, mulling over their landscaping and looking at all their exterior maintenance projects. It is important to check the 10 day weather forecast, to be successful, the weather has to show a warming trend after this weekend. If it’s just a freak warm weekend and temperatures plummet after that, it’s not yet the time. Wait until the next the next warm weekend with a 10 day forecast that looks promising and try again. This is a great time to target your mailings to be delivered or to distribute flyers or hang door hangers.

These concepts have been successful for our contractors for many years. Every year we consult several of our contractors on the most opportune times to start their annual direct marketing campaigns. One other issue we are finding is that as we slump further into a recession in our area, more often times than not, a follow up letter or postcard is becoming necessary to get the customers to engage. Our contractors are having to work harder in these times to retain their customers.

With over 30 years of Pavement contracting experience, Signet Pavement Supply, offers a competitive advantage to its customers. We have a library of experiences that have bridged success for many of our fellow contractors over the years. Good luck to you all as you embark on your own direct marketing missions this spring and visit us @ http://www.signetpavmentsupply.com