Now is the time to plan ahead for your holiday season direct mail campaign.  Be ready to capitalize on the most profitable quarter of the year,  and understand that you will be competing with many different offers and advertisements during that time.  Your offer must be unique and have a high percieved value to drive the response you need.

So what do you do?

Send Gift Cards to your best friends...your customer base.  Why?  A well put together Gift Card Mailer  produces on average a 200% response rate and 3 times the credit approval rates as non targeted advertising.   

Most Dealers don't market to their customer base because it takes too much time and effort. The Dealer needs to spend time cleaning up the data records, have creative done, find a print shop, figure out how to create a gift card with bar code tracking,  and then determine postage costs and coordinate entire process  (a daunting challenge for anyone not in the Direct Mail business) ........But,  at the same time if done correctly can make the most of your co-op dollars.

Key components of a successful 4th Quarter Gift Card program include:

1.  Planning.   Planning is key to a successful program and you will will want to allocate a portion of your co-op for your Gift Card Mailer in advance.   Here are a few of the key items and time frames for you to consider:

September
     *Budget.  Allocate co-op dollars to your Direct Mail program
     *Confirm with your POS provider how to create the Gift Card dollar amount you want to give
     *Start creative and design the initial proof

October 
     *Generate the Data base list you'd like to mail to
     *Have it cleaned and deduped,  with addresses verified

November
     *Print and deliver.   Have the piece printed and scheduled for delivery.  It will take approx three weeks to get your piece custom printed and in home to your target audience.
    

2.  Timing.   Plan to have your direct mail piece drop between Nov 20 - Dec 10.   Typically any advertising during the month of November prior to this date is wasted,  as most consumers are not in buying mode until after Thanksgiving.   Also,  try to avoid your piece hitting homes after Dec 18,  as you will have missed a significant opportunity with many people having already completed their holiday shopping.

3.  Your Customer base list. Having access to a qualified list is one of the most critical components of a successful direct mail campaign. Quite simply,  your customer base is your biggest asset,  and needs to be utilized early and often.   Wake up your customers for those add ons,  upgrades,  and accessory sales,  and thank them with a gift from you!

4.  A compelling offer. Create a compelling Holiday offer for your customers that cannot be matched by the competition.   Give them a $15 or $25 gift card that they can use toward any new activation or qualified upgrade,  that is only available to be used at your store.  Instead of advertising equipment,  with a price discount,  let them come in and see what they can spend their gift card on at your store. 

TracPoint Wireless provides this kind of service with a turn-key solution created specifically for Wireless Retailers.   A simple 3 step process;

1. Work with you to take your data base list,  clean it, de-dup, & verify correct addresses.

2. Create the message & identify how we can customize the piece specifically for each customer.

3. Develop and finalize creative for carrier coop approval, print and mail.

To drive your existing customers back to your stores,  give serious consideration to developing a customer loyalty card program in addition to your traditional marketing.

Our program allows you choose from a handful of different formats of Direct Mail, then simply select your quantity and your target list criteria and quickly determine your cost. Our pricing is bundled to include all creative, copy writing, print, and postage.    For more information on this program visit us at
http://www.tracpointwireless.com/customer_Loyalty.html