The Best Direct Mail Companies for Auto Shop Coupon Advertising

While it’s very tempting to focus on digital marketing for your auto shop, don’t pass on tried and true methods like direct mail. These more traditional but proven techniques are still going strong. In fact, today’s digital landscape is not much more than an extension of the things that have been working in advertising since the first “sale!” Direct mail is an effective way for your auto shop coupons to be delivered to potential customers who may not see your digital presence. In fact, businesses that use direct mail say they see a 10 to 30 times higher response from customers in comparison to digital marketing. To succeed in the direct mail space, you need to find a reliable service that will deliver your auto shop coupons to customer mailboxes. These direct mail companies will design, print, stamp, and deliver and have other features you may be interested in. We’ll tell you what to look for when choosing a service, and the direct mail companies we think are best for auto shop coupon advertising.

What to Look for in a Direct Mail Provider?

When comparing your options to decide who will create and distribute your direct mail coupon advertising, use these four criteria:

• Repetition – Success with direct mail advertising is never a one-and-done. It takes time and repeated mailings to get real results because you need to build brand recognition.
• Appeal- Your coupon design must be eye-catching and connect with customers through a simple message and great looking imagery.
• Targeting –Who you mail is as important as what you mail. Will your direct mailer hit the addresses within your targeted area or distance from your auto shop?
• Exposure – Will your coupon be seen? Does the provider reach enough households in the area you’re targeting?

The Best Direct Mail Companies for Auto Shop Coupon Advertising

After doing some research using the above criteria, we’ve narrowed down the best direct mail companies to these options:

• MailShark for Repetition
• Spectrum for Appeal
• PostcardMania for Targeting
• ValPak for Exposure

MailShark

Best Company for Repetition. If it’s repetition you want, you’ll surely get it with MailShark and their weekly mailing strategy. This feature allows you to spread your mailings and payments out on a weekly schedule of your choice. However, if you’re truly looking to advertise your auto shop every single week of the year, then they can ensure that you’re marketed consistently using a variety of direct mail pieces through The Annual Mailing program. MailShark is a full-service print and direct mail company specializing in auto repair shops. Whether you want to DIY your direct mail campaign or want full-service from design to mailing, they can do it. MailShark will make sure they understand your auto shop’s unique needs and then tailor their direct mail marketing solutions to fit.

Spectrum

Best Company for Appeal. With 26 years’ experience, Spectrum’s auto service industry expertise allows them to design auto shop coupons for maximum engagement and ROI. Here are a few examples of their work: Spectrum has experts that understand the auto service industry and its unique dynamics. This allows their approach to direct mail coupon advertising to be powerful and drive results. They are also a full-service company offering additional features like reporting and analysis.

PostcardMania

Best Company for Targeting. Not only can you hit your targeted areas with PostcardMania, but they allow you to edit your mailing lists so that you can focus your message for specific households. PostcardMania is data-driven. They boast that they are the ONLY Postcard Marketing Company to create customer marketing campaigns based on proven results. This company offers a tracking option that lets you keep tabs on how well your customers respond to your mailers. With this information, you can adjust future direct mail campaigns to meet your customers’ needs better and gain valuable knowledge about the people your business caters to.

Valpak

Best Company for Exposure. Valpak is the best known of our options. It’s no wonder since Valpak mailed more than 1.01 billion automotive advertisements last year. We’ve all seen The Blue Envelope of coupons in our mailbox. Valpak mails to over 38 million homes and is the national leader in direct mail. Valpak does its mailings per zone, and each zone is approximately 10,000 mailings or households. Let’s say you purchased two zones; then, your direct mail coupon would be seen by 20,000 households per mailing.

So, how do you ensure your advertising will be successful?

There are many options when choosing a direct mail company, but we think that the best for the auto shop industry are MailShark, Spectrum, PostcardMania, and Valpak. Before committing to any company to create and execute your direct mail campaigns, consider the criteria of Repetition, Appeal, Targeting, and Exposure. Each company has its strength. Use this information to help you pick the provider that best fits your advertising strategy.  Learn more about how to distribute your auto shop coupon to potential customers using profitable, proven advertising. While Facebook ads, sponsored tweets, Adwords, and other digital marketing can be a great addition to your marketing strategy, don’t forget what put those services on the map in the first place, the humble print ad. To stay competitive, on budget, AND land a great ROI, think about traditional as well as unconventional print advertising.