Direct mail and marketing (the simple way)

This Contractortalk.com thread "Update on Advertising" offers an inspiring and practical business-building solution for smaller contractors trying to find business in hard times. You need to do some work, taking a list and hand-addressing the letters, but the results can be satisfactory if you are ready to put in the effort. Cost will be some sweat and a few hundred dollars, maximum.

Simple (lumpy) stuff

Leonard Megliola at Bestline Plumbing in Los Angeles, CA sent me some samples of his give-away package used at home shows and the like. This material isn't elegant or fancy, but does the job and shows how a simple marketing package can be developed inexpensively and effectively.
What's good about this package?

• It's "lumpy" (to borrow a phrase I first heard from Jon Goldman). If you mail this, it sticks out and attracts attention from the other junk mail. If you hand it out at home shows, when you empty your bag of goodies at the end of the show, you will notice it, and you will go to the effort to open it.
• It's inexpensive. Nothing here costs much to purchase or print, in quantity.
• It has long retention life. Fridge magnets are perfect for "sticking around". You might not need a plumber today, but when you have a crisis six months from now, and the number is on your fridge, would you call Bestline?
• It contains reading substance. Direct marketing pieces work best when there is enough content for readers to spend some time with the material -- the longer you read the material, the more you retain and remember (that is why most direct marketing pieces are long on text).

Note Bestline's material and approach I think is best for a middle/lower middle class market or to sell a service where highbrow is not wanted nor needed. (Even rich folk want their plumbers to be 'real' plumbers, not some fancy phony!)

See this contractortalk.com posting where Leonard explains his source -- and the effectiveness of -- his fridge magnets.

Instant gratification (maybe)

Steve Flashman's book "Marketing for Construction" is launching Sept. 5. I'm skeptical of orchestrated marketing messages, but agree 100 per cent with the principals he is advocating in his website's "about" box. So maybe this e-book (and other resources) may represent good value.

I sometimes enjoy reading the marketing messages for contractor resources that arrive in my e-box. With well-written copy, they tease, entice, and look, well, like most of the other direct response Internet marketing pieces I've seen before, over and over. They are following the formula for online marketing, they think.

These techniques undoubtedly work, but I wonder how well, really, in the long run. Many times, the material is all tease and no substance -- and you just feel the "you must order this" is around the corner, before you receive any useful information.

But there are exceptions, and these may represent the best in direct marketing techniques, giving ou resources you may wish to emulate for your own business.

Here's an example from Steve Flashman, in the U.K., who started off with a sequential auto generated brief marketing course. The content, I found to be useful and relevant but quite basic. Maybe I "know" too much. So my initial reaction on reading this email which arrived yesterday, was, "oh no, here is the selling message, time to delete."

Dear Mark,

It's really hard to come by good Marketing Consultants that specialise in construction.

You have to be able to get your hands dirty - get on the phone, talk to people, build relationships, know your target market, understand lead generation, know how to get through to the "decision makers"...

You may say,"I'm not worried about the current economic downturn because my business is not affected." But you surely believe in discovering new tried and tested ways to grow your business from a specialist marketer with experience in the
industry, don't you?

You don't need to spend mega-bucks marketing your business - but if you do nothing, sooner or later you'll be walking down a dead end street.

I'd really encourage you to take a look at my 50,000 word eBook, Marketing For Construction. It could save you a truck load of money!

Launch date: September 5th 2008

Best regards

Steve Flashman

Hmm, enticing, perhaps, but what is the catch? Who is Steve Flashman? And why should anyone rush to give him money?

Well, my original skepticism is modified by these words on his website in the "About Us" box:

On The Box Marketing was launched in 2008 in response to growing demands for a no nonsense approach to marketing, particularly in the construction industry. We believe that the most successful marketing is built on successful relationships, developing networks and establishing partnerships, joint ventures and framework agreements that bring mutual benefit to all parties involved. Gone are the days when slick marketing "speak" won the contract! We have built our marketing expertise around this basic principle and can show you how to build effective relationships that will open new opportunities and lucrative business deals that will bring growth, integrity and kudos to your business development.

Now that is a selling message that comes close to my heart. So maybe Steve is for real. I'll keep my mind open. And I'm sure he won't mind the link and reference to his website here (though if he does, I'll remove it -- copyright recognition is important around here.)

P.S. I'm also setting a permalink for his Marketing for Construction blog -- not many entries, but useful content, nonetheless, and of course obviously relevant to the theme here.