By Cheryl Weber. A Web site can multiply your business presence, but more likely it's just the icing on the cake, the final stroke that solidifies your reputation. With that philosophy, design/build remodelers Sharon and Jeff Rainey, owners of Home Equity Builders in Great Falls, Va., launched a postcard campaign to attract Web site visitors, promising a magnifying glass to people who requested one online.
In the best marketing tradition, the message delivers a double punch. "Take a closer look at your home with a free magnifying glass from HEB," the copy urges, while subliminally suggesting that HEB's work will withstand close scrutiny. "We wanted to have people realize that we take the magnifying glass approach to remodeling," says Sharon Rainey. "When you take a closer look, it's not disappointing."
Although the postcard promotes HEB's lesser-known handyman services, the Raineys also point people to their Web site because it weeds out the "tire-kickers" looking for cheap design/build services. "If they're coming to us from direct mail solicitation, they've usually heard about us another way -- through the hardware store or the local home design magazine," Sharon Rainey says. "We have quite a few people who get the direct mail, then go to the Web site. By the time Jeff gets out there, he's got the job."
Rainey estimates they've sent out 500 postcards so far. While the magnifying glass isn't that popular -- only three people have requested one -- HEB's services are. "For every 50 postcards sent, we've gotten four to five jobs," Rainey says.
