Fine-Tuning Direct Mail

When you're competing in a sea of upscale remodelers for homeowners already numbed by unsolicited mail, you might be tempted to save your money for another marketing medium. Bruce Wentworth opted instead to make a splash — an oversized one.

Recent mailings from Classic Remodeling & Construction (far left). The Levine Group (two center items), and Wentworth Inc. (far right).

Photo Credit: George Brown

Wentworth's self-named design/build company does high-end projects in and around Washington, D.C., specializing in older homes. “Living Design,” the company's tabloid-sized, four-color, eight-page testimony to fine home remodeling, debuted in the mailboxes of some 5,000 of these homes this fall.

Though it's considered a newsletter, “Living Design” looks and reads more like a stylish shelter magazine.

The cover sets the mood: a full-page, professionally shot photo of a Wentworth entry addition. The door is slightly open, beckoning the reader into the warmly lit house and the editorial and graphics within. At once informative, fun, and subtly persuasive, the articles seem to anticipate readers' questions — about the projects Wentworth does, the design/build advantage, the architectural styles he knows best, and the experience of working with his company. The cover photo's crisp geometric lines carry through each page in a playful grid framing colorful photos, sketches, screen shots, and messages.

As marketing pieces go, “Living Design” is stunning. As an expression of Wentworth's eye for detail and quality, it's pitch-perfect. But does it work? Wentworth says that it will be a while before he can measure the newsletter's results against his investment in it, which he says was more than $10,000, not counting his time. In the meantime, he has heard anecdotally that it is “getting passed around” within the neighborhoods he likes.

Another good sign: With each wave of newsletter mailings, traffic on www.wentworthstudio.com spikes a bit, evidence that readers want to learn more about the company.

Classic Remodeling & Construction is striking a contemporary pose with its re-branding effort. Several postcards will culminate in this 10-page, fold-out brochure, mailed to about 5,000 homes in gated and waterfront communities.

Photo Credit: George Brown

But what really makes Wentworth optimistic is his sense that the newsletter, which he plans to send twice a year, “is setting a tone for the business I'm providing. We know how older houses are put together, and this newsletter is evidence that we're fully committed to the architect-build business.” “Living Design,” combined with Wentworth's Web site, advertisements, and the other mailings he periodically sends, is keeping his company “top of mind” among the types of people who can appreciate and afford his work.

And that's the essential reason why upscale remodelers should make direct mail a part of their marketing effort. “You don't always know when someone is thinking of starting a project,” says Amy Perry, whose graphic design company Smizer Perry (www.smizer perry.com) has created marketing materials for DeCiantis Construction, Stonington, Conn. High-end remodeling projects aren't impulse buys, and a single mail piece isn't going to unleash a flurry of business. “But timing is very important. You want to keep your name out there on a continuous basis,” Perry says, so that when your ideal clients are ready to remodel, they immediately think of you.

U.S. households receive at least 4 million tons of so-called “junk mail” each year, and nearly half of it is never even opened. More often than not, affluent homeowners get the most mail, yet have the least time to sift through it. “The question is,” posits Jerry Levine, another Washington remodeler (and Wentworth's former business partner), “how do you get something in a person's hand that they won't pitch after looking at it for three seconds?”

First, unless your company has a sophisticated marketing department, don't try it alone. “You need a variety of people to make it all happen,” Wentworth says. He hired a graphic design company called Fathom Creative (www.fathomcreative.com) to design and produce his newsletter, but he has also used independent creative consultants, including photographers, writers, and graphic designers, for his other marketing materials.

A professional image is essential, and your best starting point for this probably is a marketing or a graphic design company. “A lot of contractors have bad design,” says Sheri Grant, Fathom Creative's art director. “Their wives want to do it, or their administrative assistant. I think that's probably OK for a general audience, but if you want to appeal to a more design-sensitive audience, you've got to have good design.”

Amy Perry says that a key advantage of design firms over freelancers is that “we take a team approach that looks at the big picture and sees the implications” of how one marketing component will support every other. It's critical to maintain a consistent look and feel. “A lot of small businesses think they have to keep having a new look,” she notes, “when oftentimes the opposite is true.”

Such touches as a vellum envelope and die-cut cover enhance the upscale presentation of Classic Remodeling's “grand finale” brochure.

Photo Credit: George Brown

Professional firms offer creative and technical advantages as well, such as the ideas that emerge from group brainstorming sessions (see “Group Think,” right), and the superior materials that sophisticated technology and resources can produce. Many will also oversee the printing process, which can catch potentially expensive or embarrassing errors.

In addition, most marketing and graphic design companies can help you assemble the rest of your marketing team, including a photographer, a copywriter, and a printer. Other than the photographer, none needs to be local. “You can have great phone and e-mail relationships,” Grant says.

The basic form of your mailing — one postcard or a series? Two black-and-white pages or eight pages of color? — hinges to a large degree on your budget. “It's very important for us to understand our client's budget,” Grant says. “You can do great things with a one-color postcard if it has a gorgeous image,” but she cautions that a single mailing, whatever its form, is never sufficient.

More caveats: Postcards can easily get lost in the mail shuffle, so always go oversized. And don't cut corners by using flimsy paper. Give your mailing some heft, says Perry, who also likes paper with an interesting texture. “It's another way to differentiate,” she says.

Once your mailing's basic parameters are established, collaborate. For its recent re-branding initiative, Classic Remodeling & Construction, Charleston, S.C., hired an advertising and public relations agency called The Bosworth Group (www.thebosworthgroup.com). Classic president Bob Fleming, several key staff members, and members of Fleming's peer review group also weighed in creatively. “I think the large collaborative group drove the ad agency crazy at times,” Fleming says, “but in the end, I think we ended up with an even better product than anticipated” — a series of oversized postcards that will culminate with an impressive, accordion-fold brochure featuring a die-cut cover in the shape of Classic's logo, all packaged in a provocative vellum envelope.

The collaboration between DeCiantis Construction and Smizer Perry began with a launch meeting “for all stakeholders,” Perry says. “We want all those who have a say in a marketing and creative direction to be involved early, so we all go down the same path together.” A key issue that owner John DeCiantis wanted to address was “this perception that we're too busy to take on new work,” DeCiantis says. “The message we wanted to send was: Here's who we are and the type of work we do. And we want to work.”

To accomplish this, Perry's team asked about the competition, changes in the design/build industry, and DeCiantis' clients. Perry went on to write a creative brief for everyone in her studio, and then to host a “creative cafe” — a brainstorming lunch for her entire staff. “We've done the homework already” by then, she says. The creative cafe is “very free association; nothing is sacred, and nothing is stupid.”

From that lunch emerged the winning theme of DeCiantis' campaign: a postcard series playing on the headline “DeCiantis Is...” followed by an alliterative series of words (with project photos) that remodeling clients want: details, dependable, design, delivery. Perry doesn't expect homeowners to hold onto the cards, but to receive enough of them so that DeCiantis becomes etched into their minds as the obvious choice.

Collaborating with outside professionals can also crystallize your assemblage of ideas. “Let us visually problem-solve,” says Tom Gamertsfelder, Wentworth's designer at Fathom Creative. Prior to their first meeting, Wentworth identified the topics he wanted his newsletter to cover and sifted through years of project photos. “I had bits and pieces of things, and more photos than Tom could ever use,” Wentworth says.

Clean, consistent, and uncluttered, the DeCiantis Construction postcards will mail quarterly. Each card's background imagery is a high-end material such as granite or marble.

Photo Credit: smizerperry.com

The initial meeting helped refine Wentworth's ideas. “Bruce kept spouting these construction terms,” Gamertsfelder recalls, “so I said why not define them?” Hence the “Terms & Definitions You Should Know” section of “Living Design,” which briefly defines 18 terms used often — but perhaps not always understood — in historic remodels, such as muntin, pilaster, and rosette. The final product also drew from publications brought in to spark brainstorming. Grant, for instance, brought in some tabloid publications, as well as “a gorgeous yoga brochure. I loved the way it feels,” she says, and “I knew we wanted to create something that [homeowners] would hold onto.”

“The first hook is visual,” according to Levine. “You can have wonderful language, but the reader won't get to it unless the pictures catch the eye.” Professional photography is a must, preferably by an architectural photographer. “People really relate to a picture if it's beautiful,” Grant says. “You want them to see it and say, ‘I want that.'” Gamertsfelder notes that many professional photographers like to shoot in the early morning or the later afternoon when the shadows are more dramatic and the sky color is more vibrant.

More than one photo can be a good thing, but too many can appear overly busy. Alan Field, Levine's marketing director (and an architect) strives to give the company's postcards an “architecty” feel — crisp, close-up photos, clean type, simple colors, well organized.

“Styling the set is also very important,” says Victoria Downing, president of Remodelers Advantage (www.remodelersadvantage.com). “So choose someone who understands that they have to move the hoses out of the yard and take the magnets off the refrigerator!” Paul Bowers, a professional photographer in San Diego (www.paulmbowers.com) says that he prepares homes by removing clutter, rearranging or editing furniture, adding or removing flowers, using window lighting, and sometimes adding additional lighting.

Consider introducing other graphical elements into your marketing materials as well. A striking element of Wentworth's newsletter is “In the Works,” which takes his original sketch of a current project (a basement renovation for the first issue), overlays it with blocks of color, and intersperses small photos to suggest the completed project's products and finishes. “I thought the mixture was kind of cool because it shows how the project is evolving from sketch to reality,” Wentworth says.

As for the verbal hook, use words that will arouse the reader's interest, differentiate you from the competition, and communicate your benefits. “Don't say too much,” Perry advises. Three or four succinct points are sufficient for a postcard, for instance — particularly when targeting time-stressed, often dual-income prospects. Downing says that a testimonial from “a prominent person in their social strata” can speak volumes to this crowd.

Restraint is the rule for longer mailings as well. “You're not trying to sell the whole story,” Grant says. “You can be a lot more content heavy on the Web site,” so use your mailing to drive traffic there. Field considers www.thelevinegroup.com “the marketing hub, and everything else the spokes. Everything we're doing will direct people to our Web site.”

Wentworth's newsletter doesn't just give the address of his Web site; it contains several screen shots, a quiz on architectural styles (with answers on the site), and an invitation to “ask the architect,” followed by his personal e-mail address.

Always give your direct mail piece a call to action. “The goal should be to create a sense of urgency and a reason to take action now,” Downing says. “Visit a showroom, call for a complimentary consultation, attend a seminar.” Provide multiple ways of reaching your company — by phone, on the Web, and, for larger mailers, a prepaid mail-back response — and track the responses you get.

How many mailings should you send, and how often should you send them? Part of the answer depends on how big a response your staff can reasonably handle.

Downing notes that direct mail returns are traditionally very low: “1% is considered phenomenal.” With that as your basis, do the math. If you want to elicit 10 lead calls, send it to 1,000 well-chosen households. If your lead flow isn't meeting your expectations, send out another wave. Or have a mailing house do it for you, if it's a large quantity and you want the bulk-mailing rate.

The art and editorial in Wentworth's newsletter drive traffic to the company's Web site. Even the pull-out postcard is visually interesting.

Photo Credit: George Brown

The Levine Group used to do mailings of 20,000 pieces or more, but Field says that the company intends to start mailing fewer postcards to smaller areas to more closely track responses from specific ZIP codes. Classic Remodeling & Construction plans to send a new postcard every two months for a year, targeting 5,000 households that meet certain financial and geographic criteria. “We're very focused on the type of project we want,” says Fleming, who believes that his selective mailing list is a key reason for his company's high closure rate on raw leads.

DeCiantis Construction plans to mail its postcards quarterly to its entire mailing list of 2,000 or so households. The company compiled the list in-house, DiCiantis says, in part through such resourceful tricks as getting directories from a local yacht club and a historical society. “I haven't found a mailing list company I like,” he adds.

For more information about targeted mailing lists, see “Ready, Aim, Profits,” UPSCALE REMODELING, Fall 2005.

Leah Thayer is a senior editor for REMODELING.

The following organizations can put you in touch with graphic artists, photographers, and printers:

• American Institute of Graphic Artists: www.aiga.org
• Graphic Artists Guild: www.gag.org
• Graphic Arts Information Network: www.gain.net
• International Association of Printing House Craftsmen: www.iaphc.org
• Professional Photographers of America: www.ppa.com
• National Press Photographers Association: www.nppa.org

How much remodelers spend on marketing depends on many factors. Classic Remodeling & Construction's marketing budget is normally 2% ($110,000, based on 2005 projected revenues of $5.4 million), but rose slightly to support the company's current re-branding effort. Bruce Wentworth's first newsletter incurred relatively high design fees, but these will drop significantly if future issues use the same template.

Direct mail can be expensive because it typically requires multiple mailings to get a response. Printing and postage can more than double creative expenses, which can vary widely. Some professional photographers, for instance, charge $500 for a half-day and $1,000 for a full day, not including film, processing, crew, lighting, and other expenses. Photographer Paul Bowers determines a “project rate” that could range from $400 for an hour-long shoot of a single room to $6,000-plus for a three-day whole house shoot.

Fathom Creative charges by the project or by the hour (currently $125 per hour for design and production). A single postcard might require 12 hours and a postcard campaign perhaps 30 hours. Fathom typically bills out copywriting services at $100 to $125 an hour. The Levine Group spent about $9,000 to design, print, and mail its 20,000 marketing pieces. John DeCiantis spent about $1,200 for the concept and design of each of his postcards.

• Use only qualified mailing lists of homeowners who meet your geographic and financial criteria.
• Share your budget with your marketing/ graphic design team. They'll help you determine the best approach for your money.
• Limit the amount of “discovery” your team needs to do. Provide them with a full picture of your company, your clients, your marketing history, and your competition.
• Be decisive about art and editorial early on, and avoid making changes later. Like change orders, edits can cost you dearly.