5k to start a direct mail campaign in Chattanooga tn.

[Luke Holcomb]

What would you do. What's the expected return: response>qualified>leads>deals? What does your list look like? What does your 1st,2nd,3rd,4th... Mail piece look like. Current goal is to get to 1 wholesale deal a month, then work to two, then start flipping them myself. Thanks BP! - Luke

[Melodee Lucido]

Hi Luke,

Welcome to BP! You will love it here.

I love DM and have used it for generating leads for years.

So you have your budget all set---very good. To get the most bang for your buck I would go with pcards. @Michael Quarles has a great site where you can choose which one you like best---and he has some super choices. if you go to his profile here on BP you will see the link.

He also sells lists ;-) I love OOS (out of state) owners and free&clear lists.

Some people use the same postcard every time; others will use the same one for 4 consecutive mailings---over a period of 4-6 months and then switch. The reason for this is tracking. Another word for marketing is, wait for it, TESTING. Everything s a test to see what works best in your market.

You sound like a good goal setter. One possible deal is a reasonable target. I like to send out no less than 500 per month to start. The most important part of DM is REPEAT mailing. It is 100x better than mailing to 2k names and then not mail again for 3 or more months. I recommend mailing to your list every month or at the very most 6 weeks. If you can mail to 1k names every month so much the better!!

One other thing. DM is kinda like going to Vegas and playing the slots. Well, ok, it's a bit better than that. But I have had some mailings of 2k pieces that brought me zip, zingo, nada. Sheesh, that wasn't fun. It's all about timing and consistency.

You didn't ask but I'll say it anyway.  like more targeted mail pieces---so I reeeealllly don't like the standard yellow letter. I mean really. I like handwritten name and address rather than labels too.

And if you have other questions I'm sure Michaels people will steer you right.

Best of success to you