Thanks guys. This ad costs $2000 for 60,000 envelopes.
I mail six times a year for a grand total of $12,000.
Return is good, four to five times my money usually.
This year has been slower but it's still paying off.
Valpak designs the mailers for their clients but I decided to stick with and pay extra for my graphic artist who does all my work. Jack Ketrow with GIGMC.COM.
His work is really stunning in my opinion and the ad stands out from the rest.
Mike, Just a heads up. You can negotiate that price a little. They have a little room to bargain. I have used them in the past for another business that I owned and they offered me slightly cheaper pricing when I decided that I was going to stop using ValPak. They knocked around 10% off of my price to try to keep me.
In my area of PA they usually charge around $850/month/zone for that size add that you have. You can do a bigger one for $1,000/month/zone. Still goes out to 30,000 people per zone.
They are hurting for advertisers right now in my area and I have been considering signing up with them. They keep offering me a discounted rate. My only hesitation has been that a lot of my previous ValPak customers were the cheapest customers out there. I found myself discounting a lot of my price quotes in my other business even when people were coming in with a coupon from the start! I guess you haven't found that since you keep using them?
Brian
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Brian Friel The Roof Cleaners llc Oxford PA 19363 610 842 2104
Yellow pages ads have their place for cetain businesses. Some are wildly successful and some are not. I have avoided the yellow pages thus far because of the huge monthly financial commitment. They are not a cheap way to advertise.
I am encoraged by your experience with ValPak. Sounds like something to explore a little more.
Brian
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Brian Friel The Roof Cleaners llc Oxford PA 19363 610 842 2104
I don't know if you all have had any fridge magnets made, but I had 2000 business card magnets made for a couple hundred dollars at magnets.com. They run specials a lot and you can take advantage of the specials they offer.
I like to give potential customers these magnets because more than likely they will NOT throw them away and stick them on the fridge. So everytime they go to open the fridge they see your magnet with your logo, name etc. and come time when they need your service they will hopefully just refer to the magnet you gave them as opposed to looking in the phone book.
Mike Lacey
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Mike Lacey Louisville, KY Green Goose Roof & Exterior Cleaning LLC
Hey, I would reconsider taking away the yellow pages add toally. Maybe, downsize it. Here is why. For my business I had an add my first year and not this year. I did not get that much business (from the phone book) the first year however, now I am getting a lot of calls from the yellow pages (DEX) because people don't always throw them away they keep them and they use the pages to refer to local company websites. So when they say they saw you on the web I am learning that the web is what convinced them but they actually saw my yellow pages add and that led them there. Also, not everyone uses the web YET and may see your name or refer a friend to you and need to find your number quickly with out looking on web or goign to computer.
Just my two-cents.
-- Edited by Satcahr on Wednesday 14th of October 2009 04:05:40 PM
Hey, I would reconsider taking away the yellow pages add toally. Maybe, downsize it. Here is why. For my business I had an add my first year and not this year. I did not get that much business (from the phone book) the first year however, now I am getting a lot of calls from the yellow pages (DEX) because people don't always throw them away they keep them and they use the pages to refer to local company websites. So when they say they saw you on the web I am learning that the web is what convinced them but they actually saw my yellow pages add and that led them there. Also, not everyone uses the web YET and may see your name or refer a friend to you and need to find your number quickly with out looking on web or goign to computer.
Just my two-cents.
Yes, I will, thanks.
I'll just keep at least one line in the phone books, my company name and phone number.