Promoting Your Lube: Direct Mail

By Tammy Williams
NOLN Staff Writer

Are your bays feeling a little empty? Is business slower than usual? Wouldn’t it be nice to have your current customers return more frequently, get back in touch with customers who haven’t visited in a while or reach out to new customers? You can — with direct mail.

Some fast lubes may already use direct mail and not even realize it. Reminder cards are a form of direct mail that helps keep your customers coming back, but so much more is possible with this marketing technique.

If you are interested in using direct mail to promote your lube, there are three selections you need to make: the list, the offer and the creative.

“The conventional wisdom is 40 percent of the response of direct mail comes from the list that you go to, 40 percent is the offer and 20 percent is the creative,” said Jay Siff, CEO of Moving Targets.

The List

When working on a direct mail piece, the first thing you need to decide is who you would like to target. Most everyone knows what response reminder cards can get with your existing customer list, but you can also segment that list even more. For instance, you could do a lost-customer mailing by sending to those who have not visited in more than a year.

“If you’re looking for new customers, you should start thinking about who you’re going to go to,” Siff said. “Part of it is going to be trade area — the entire community or a certain neighborhood — but part of it is demographics. Do you want to go to young people, older people, those with high incomes, low incomes, etcetera?”

You can purchase address lists from certain companies to get your mailing jumpstarted, but that’s not the only option.

“If you want to blanket the entire community, you might want to use a company like Valpak. They mail in 10,000-address increments where they combine your piece with others and mail them together. Plus, they’ll supply the list,” Siff said.

If you would like a more targeted audience, a list company might be your best option. They can segment lists nearly any way you want, from people who just moved into the community to those who graduated from college to those with a birthday approaching.

You can also get creative when searching out lists.

“If you find that you do particularly well with an organization, be it the Boy Scouts or a maybe a church, you may want to see if they’ll supply you with a list,” Siff said. “Then you can mail to them and offer some sort of discount because they’re a member of that group. Be creative. If you find you have half a dozen church members who really like you and might give you a testimonial, then you might make a donation to the church, get their member list and do a mailing to them.”

The Offer

Once you have determined your audience, it’s time to determine your offer. If you are sending a piece to current customers, Siff said a small discount or even no discount at all is usually well received. However, if you are reaching out to new customers, you might need a more robust offer.

Want to do some research? Look in your mailbox.

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