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Moving company marketing built around the estimate
Moving company marketing from MBI is three campaigns a local mover runs together, planned, produced and delivered by one team: a highly targeted direct-mail postcard campaign, a localized Facebook and Instagram demand-generation and retargeting campaign, and an SMS lead-nurture and estimate-reminder sequence.
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Which channels does MBI run for a local moving company?
The short answer
Four channels behind three campaigns: a highly targeted direct-mail postcard campaign, a localized Facebook and Instagram demand-generation and retargeting campaign, an SMS lead-nurture and estimate-reminder sequence, and the printing behind the postcard. One team in DeLand, Florida chooses the addresses, produces the piece and delivers it.
The three researched campaigns. The three researched moving campaigns are a highly targeted direct-mail postcard campaign, a localized Facebook/Instagram demand-generation and retargeting campaign, and an SMS lead-nurture and estimate-reminder sequence.
One team. MBI is one company that plans, produces, and delivers direct mail, print and digital campaigns from a single team in DeLand, Florida, and data, print, and delivery have been in-house since 1989.
direct mail marketing services digital advertising services printing services
Four and three
Since 1989
Direct mail
How should moving company direct mail be targeted?
The short answer
Tightly, not broadly. The pattern that holds up for a mover is a tightly targeted moving-company postcard rather than a broad ZIP-code blast, so the drop is defined by chosen addresses instead of whole ZIP codes. MBI selects them, prints the postcard and delivers it, updating the address file first.
The documented pattern. Evidence supports tightly targeted moving-company postcards rather than broad ZIP-code blasts.
USPS Domestic Mail Manual 602.5 provides that each address, except for mail bearing an alternative address format, in a mailing at commercial First-Class Mail presorted or automation prices or USPS Marketing Mail prices is subject to the Move Update standard, and that each address and associated addressee used on the mailpieces in a mailing must be updated within 95 days before the mailing date with one of the USPS-approved methods, which include Address Change Service and the National Change of Address Linkage System (NCOALink).
USPS Domestic Mail Manual 602.5
targeted direct mail direct mail mailing lists direct mail marketing services
Postcard · Direct Mail
Postcard · Direct Mail
Printing
Where do moving company postcards get printed?
The short answer
In house at MBI. Postcards are the printed format a moving campaign is built on, and printing at MBI is commercial and variable-data printing, in-house. Data, print and delivery have been in-house since 1989, so the team that sets the size and the run also sets the day the postcard goes out.
The printed format. Postcards.
USPS Domestic Mail Manual 201.1.2.1 sets card-price physical standards at not less than 3-1/2 inches high, 5 inches long and 0.007 inch thick; at not more than 4-1/4 inches high, 6 inches long or 0.016 inch thick for each stamped card or each half of a double postcard; and at not more than 6 inches high, 9 inches long or 0.016 inch thick for each postcard, with a card more than 4-1/4 inches high or 6 inches long required to be at least 0.009 inch thick. 201.3.7 requires an aspect ratio (length divided by height) of 1.3 to 2.5 inclusive.
USPS Domestic Mail Manual 201
In house. Printing at MBI is commercial and variable-data printing, in-house.
postcard mailing services direct mail cost printing services
Checklist · Printing
Sheet · Printing
One-sheet · Printing
The size, the run, the day
Facebook and Instagram
How do moving company Facebook ads work for a local mover?
The short answer
As localized demand generation beside the mail: offers aimed at the service area, retargeting for people who have already looked once, and campaigns built from the mover's own customer list. No standard lead-form configuration is assumed. Meta's advertising standards say advertisers are responsible for understanding and complying with all applicable laws and regulations.
The documented campaigns. Moving-company sources support Facebook/Instagram demand generation, localized offers, retargeting, and customer-list campaigns; the reviewed sources do not establish a standard Meta lead-form configuration.
Meta's advertising standards state that advertisers are responsible for understanding and complying with all applicable laws and regulations, and that ads must not promote products, services, schemes or offers using identified deceptive or misleading practices, including those meant to scam people out of money or personal information.
Meta, Advertising Standards
digital advertising services direct mail and digital marketing
Meta ad · Facebook
Meta carousel · Facebook
Reel · Instagram
Text messaging
What does moving company text message marketing send after an estimate request?
The short answer
A nurture sequence follows the request. MBI sends nurture messages, missed-call follow-up when the office does not pick up, and estimate reminders to households that have opted in. Immediate lead notification is distinct from that campaign, so the texts run alongside whatever a mover already does to call a new lead straight back.
The documented sequence. Moving-specific guidance supports SMS/email nurture, missed-call follow-up, and estimate reminders. Immediate lead notification is distinct from an SMS campaign.
CTIA's Messaging Principles and Best Practices state that message senders should support opt-in mechanisms and that messages should be sent only after the consumer has opted in to receive them, and list entering a telephone number through a website, clicking a button on a mobile webpage, initiating the text message exchange, signing up at a point-of-sale or other on-site location, and opting in over the phone using interactive voice response among the mechanisms by which a consumer might demonstrate opt-in consent; senders should also document opt-in consent by retaining data where applicable, among it the timestamp of consent acquisition and the consent acquisition medium.
CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices, §5.1.2
CTIA's Messaging Principles and Best Practices state that message senders should ensure that consumers have the ability to opt out of receiving messages at any time, that senders should support multiple mechanisms of opt-out, that senders should acknowledge and honor all opt-out requests by sending one final opt-out confirmation message per campaign, and that message senders should not use opt-in lists that have been rented, sold, or shared and should create and vet their own opt-in lists.
CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices, §§5.1.3–5.1.4
digital advertising services direct mail and digital marketing home services marketing
SMS
SMS
Landing page · Web
Questions
Questions a moving company asks before the first drop
Searched for marketing for moving companies, moving company advertising or mover marketing? Same work, same answers.
Which campaigns make up moving company marketing?
Three, plus the print behind them: a highly targeted direct-mail postcard campaign, a localized Facebook and Instagram demand-generation and retargeting campaign, and an SMS lead-nurture and estimate-reminder sequence. Postcards are the print format. MBI plans, produces and delivers all of it from a single team in DeLand, Florida.
Which households does a moving company's postcard go to?
Chosen addresses, not whole ZIP codes. Tightly targeted moving-company postcards are what the mail is built on rather than broad ZIP-code blasts, so a mover's drop is aimed at the households it wants. MBI selects the addresses, designs and prints the postcard, and delivers it as one job.
What do Facebook and Instagram ads do for a moving company?
Localized demand generation, mainly: offers aimed at the service area, retargeting for people who have already looked once, and campaigns built from the moving company's own customer list. MBI writes, builds and runs the creative. No standard Meta lead-form configuration is assumed as part of that setup.
Does a text sequence replace calling a new lead back?
No. Immediate lead notification is distinct from an SMS campaign. MBI runs the campaign — the nurture messages, the missed-call follow-up and the estimate reminders — alongside whatever the moving company already does to call a new lead straight back.
When may a mover text a household that asked for an estimate?
After a mover's customer has opted in. CTIA's messaging principles say Message Senders should support opt-in mechanisms and that messages should be sent only after the consumer has opted in, list entering a telephone number through a website among those mechanisms, and say Message Senders should not use rented, sold or shared opt-in lists.
What does a moving company mailing cost?
A moving-company postcard has no list price: every quote resolves to two costs — producing the piece and mailing it — and seven decisions move those two numbers, among them quantity, format and finished size, paper, data and personalization, and postage and sortation. /capabilities/direct-mail/direct-mail-cost takes all seven in turn before a mover's drop is quoted.
How big can a mover's postcard be before it stops mailing at card prices?
At commercial card prices a mover's postcard must be no more than 6 inches high, no more than 9 inches long and no thicker than 0.016 inch, and no less than 3-1/2 by 5 inches. A card more than 4-1/4 inches high or 6 inches long must be at least 0.009 inch thick.
What keeps a moving company's mailing addresses current?
An update against the postal change-of-address record before a mover's drop. USPS requires each address in a mailing at commercial First-Class Mail presorted or automation prices, or USPS Marketing Mail prices, to be updated within 95 days before the mailing date by an approved method such as NCOALink; mail bearing an alternative address format is excepted.
Get started
Start a moving campaign.
Say which of the three campaigns it is — the postcard drop, the Facebook and Instagram campaigns, the text sequence after an estimate request — and the service area the crews cover. It goes to a real member of the MBI team, not a queue.