How your roofing company can have a more successful direct mail and email marketing campaign

Direct mail has the potential to reach people that are difficult to or simply cannot be reached online, but it costs money and the response rates are typically low. Email marketing is immediate and inexpensive, but open and click-through rates are often low and if done poorly can flag your domain as spam to internet service providers.

If your roofing company has experienced failure in direct mail or email marketing campaigns, it is likely a result of a combination of factors:

You might be targeting the wrong prospects
The most critical factor for successful email and direct mail marketing is targeting people who match the profiles of your best customers. Marketing to people who don't have a strong interest in what you have to offer (or don't have the authority to purchase) is a waste of time and money.

Your message might not stand out
When potential customers are sorting their mail, size definitely matters. Small postcards are cheap to print and send, but they are also more likely to be dwarfed by the larger pieces of mail. To make sure your direct mail isn't thrown away without being looked at, think big. Oversized postcards are more expensive to print and send, but they are more likely to get noticed.

Your message might be all about you
If everything you present is all about you and how great your company is, people will tune out. Instead, try focusing on benefits for the customer, what's in it for them and why they should care about your offer.

You may have misspelled or incorrect names
If the recipient's name is listed incorrectly, it will immediately be deleted or go into the shredder. Personalization is a great way to make messages more effective, but make sure you have the names correct.

Your message may be boring
Being interactive isn't just for digital media. Direct mail pieces can slide, unfold and open to create an experience for the recipient. The ability to share content via social media, weigh in on a poll question, or watch an embedded video featuring bonus content in an email or via QR Code on print is rarely used but extremely effective. Interaction gives the recipient a reason to engage with your marketing piece.

Your timing might be bad
Often, timing can be everything. Receiving your marketing piece just as there is a need can significantly impact their purchasing decision. Since you can't always predict when that is, frequency (within reason) is your best bet to keep you top-of-mind and stimulate action. If you send an email or postcard about emergency roof leak repairs two months before a storm hits, there is no urgency. If you have your campaign ready to go out two days before a massive rainstorm, monsoon, hail storm, or hurricane is forecasted, they will receive your message exactly when they have a need.

You may be taking the "shotgun" approach
Smart marketers know how to target who exactly gets their emails and direct mail pieces by more than just geography or location. Develop and then use real analytics with your mailing list. Everything you know about your current and potential customers should go into a searchable database that you can use to segment your list based on the message you are about to send.

You might not be contacting them frequently enough
It takes more than one email or postcard for your company to get noticed. Try sending out different messages with unique offers in different formats to become memorable and non-repetitive.

Your message may have no sense of urgency
Try putting an expiration on your offer four to six weeks after they receive it in order to create a sense of urgency.

You may be trying to say too much
Don't write a novel or make the reader work to figure out exactly what your message or "ask" is. Going through the mail and reading unsolicited emails is not the highlight of anyone's day. You have an extremely limited amount of time to get someone's attention, so get to the point.

If you have sent out unsuccessful direct mail or email campaigns before, here is the order of importance to figure out what went wrong and correct your mistake(s) the next time:

1. Improve your list. Make sure you are targeting the right people and that names are correct (and spelled correctly).
2. Improve your content. Get to the point with a well-written, easy to read, relevant, compelling, time-sensitive offer that the reader quickly understands what the value is to them.
3. Improve the physical look. Make sure your email or direct mail piece looks professional, is appropriate for what you are communicating, and is well designed.

If you have any questions about direct mail or email marketing, would like feedback on a campaign you are about to launch (or have recently launched) or would like assistance planning your next campaign, please contact RoofPal any time. We can help you build and improve your mailing list, actually write the content or even design and coordinate printing of the physical piece for you. For more, please visit www.RoofPal.com.


This episode of the RoofPal Marketing Podcast is brought to you by GMD Graphics - your one-stop solution for everything from brochures to yard signs, apparel, vehicle wraps and more. GMD Graphics designs, prints and ships directly to you anywhere nationwide. For a free quote please call (602) 774-3600, email Info@GMDGraphics.com or visit them online at www.GMDGraphics.com.