We at PinPoint Mailings learned yesterday that we were nominated for the Love a Local Business Hiring Grant. This is truly an honor for us. One of the reasons we were selected included feedback from our local clients. Indeed, one of the metrics to win the grant is feedback from clients and others who know the business. Or, as they state it, people who “Love a Local Business!”

When we were asked to write a quick 150 character summary of PinPoint Mailings, here’s what we put:

“PinPoint Mailings was created to help small businesses market like big businesses. Most marketing firms won’t talk to small businesses without hefty up-front fees. PinPoint loves helping small businesses grow to provide for the owners and employees.”

As you may know, one of the pleasures we enjoy is helping businesses grow. We accomplish that through a variety of products from simple business cards to help them at networking events, rack cards to display at their location and local businesses, targeted mailings to reach specific prospects, or any number of other printed materials (including extremely large “grand-size” banners for display on buildngs).

Right now, one of the ways we’re trying to give back to the community is through hiring. That may be why we were nominated for this grant. We’re looking to hire right now, and have been for several months. If you know someone interested in Sales, please refer them over.

If we are fortunate to win this grant, we will be able to accelerate our growth and hiring plans. We would be able to give back more to the community by hiring more quickly, and reach more businesses to help them grow, which in turn leads to improving the economy.

So, PinPoint Mailings is asking for your help! Each person we have helped, talked with, or are connected to may enter two votes for us: one vote online, the other by text. If you are comfortable, we’d like to task you to share why you Love a Local Business named PinPoint Mailings.

If you are comfortable sharing, you can vote online at http://bit.ly/lovepp. You may also vote by texting the word “pinpoint” to 244326.

We appreciate your help and support, as clients, business associates, and as friends.

Thank you! We look forward to giving back more to our wonderful community!

Businesses all need to market. Marketing should include multiple strategies, working concurrently, even working together for the best results. However, many businesses focus on just one or two strategies. For best results, a business should have as many strategies as they can manage and implement.

Selecting marketing plans can be overwhelming. There are options for radio, television, local newspapers, regional papers, neighborhood papers, flyering, direct mail, in-person networking, and many, many others. Choosing, designing and implementing any of these strategies requires a good amount of work, research and knowledge.

While we focus on direct marketing (postcards, letters, brochures, and door hangers), we also take the approach that we should one be one of the many strategies a business should use. In our consultative approach, we discover the current or planned strategies a prospective client may be using, and work through if our services would complement them.

In some cases, direct marketing strategies may not work. And when we discover that, we let the prospective client know. When there is a fit, we work to ensure what we develop is consistent with their other strategies, but can perform and be measured independently.

Going into a meeting, you may have a good idea what you’re expecting, or we may have an idea what we initially think may work. What we’ve discovered in our many meetings, what the client or we may have in mind initially changes as we brainstorm. Sometimes the changes are minor, other times, they are significant changes.

One last thought about selecting marketing strategies is that over time, the effectiveness of any strategy may change. Those that have been the “bread-and-butter” strategies may start to falter, while those that didn’t work in the past may generate great results when you try them again, in a different market.

In short, try many things, measure the results, and try some more. When one strategy stops working, or the results start to trail off, try something different. Always be marketing and know how it works for your business.

A few weeks ago, I had a fun meeting with a newer business. Laurian Horowitz started Colorado Life Lessons just under a year ago. They provide great services for people, especially teenagers, looking to establish their credentials in life guarding, baby sitting, CPR and First Aid.

Laurian was referred to me to see if I could help her with some of her marketing. After a good conversation learning about all the services she offers and brainstorming a little about the market for each, we started into what we could possibly do.

First, we discussed each of the services to determine which would be easiest to market and most profitable. Unfortunately, those didn’t overlap in her case. We also discussed the work it would require of her for each of the classes to determine how much she could actually handle.

The markets for Colorado Life Lessons overlapped to some extent, but in order to effectively market, we had to get extremely specific, which removed some of the overlap.

As marketing goes, nothing is guaranteed, but when you can either get extremely specific, or hit multiple markets at the same time, you can measure the response. Ultimately, all your marketing should be tracking well so you can evaluate your strategies on a monthly basis and make any adjustments.

The lesson here to to always look for new marketing that complements your existing marketing. While some things won’t work, others will. Your goal will be to find out which methods work and how to integrate them into an overall marketing strategy.

While this blog is not intended to be a sales tool for PinPoint Mailings, if you think direct marketing may be a strategy you’d like to explore, I’d be more than happy to help you determine if it may be a fit for your business.

Several months ago, a few of us decided to partner with the best business people we know in several industries. With a variety of businesses involved in the group, from merchant services to website development, marketing design to insurance, promotional products to information technology, we  joined together to become a one-stop shop for small businesses. We became The Small Business Specialists. Our goal is to help start-up and small businesses grow.

Each of us are experts in our own niche. Coming together allows to leverage our knowledge and experience. In running our own businesses, we found it to be most efficient to focus on using our skills and hire or outsource the other aspects of our businesses. Even running our group, we refer to each other for ideas and brain-storming.

An auto mechanic best uses his skills repairing engines, not mopping the floor, filing papers, or running his payroll. Non-profit employees and volunteers should provide their services, not fold and stuff envelopes, or create small give-away items. A veterinarian should be seeing people’s pets, not fixing computers or updating his website.

In reality, any business owner should focus on just one thing: running his business. Everything from payroll and accounting to marketing and office cleaning should be done by a hired employee or an outsourced contractor.

That’s where The Small Business Specialists come in. We provide the essential services to running any business. By working with one group, a business owner can streamline the entire process or selecting other vendors. Due to the familiarity we’ve developed with each other, we can easily work together to meet the needs of the client as quickly and painlessly as possible.

If you are, or know, a small business owner thinking of starting a business, talk with one of our consultants to see if we can help get you jump started. Visit our website or call one of our consultants at (303) 731-4363.

Recently, I started working with an automotive repair shop; Davis Repair. They recently hired a BMW technician. They wanted to reach out to nearby BMW owners to try to lure in some new customers. They weren’t sure where to start…

The shop owner wanted to test direct mail on a small mailing to evaluate if he should make it part of his 2010 marketing plan. We developed a campaign to market to the 500 BMW owners closest to his shop. The campaign was very simple; three monthly mailings of the same postcard to BMW owners.

The first set of cards was mailed in November. About a week after the mailing, Davis Repair received several calls for minor repairs and oil changes. However, they were also able to service one new customer’s BMW with a $3,000 repair. That one repair covered the cost of the entire campaign.

After the experience, the owner called to expand the marketing. He wanted to add the next closest 500 BMW owners. The modified campaign will now run for six months, alternating between the two groups. Since they have already covered the cost of both campaigns, all future business generated as a result of this mailing is profit.

This example shows how a direct marketing campaign should work. We defined the target market of BMW owners, developed a message tailroed to them, and reached out to them multiple times. As a result, new customers have come in, and with good customer service, will become regular customers.

We don’t yet have the Return On Investment (ROI) for this campaign, as it is only about halfway finished. The preliminary response shows promise, and the results have already paid for the entire campaign.

This campaign, though on the small side, shows what a direct mail campaign should do for your business. If you want help developing a campaign tailored to your business. I’d enjoy the opportunity to talk.