Home Services / Home Improvement & Restoration
Painting marketing built around a finished exterior repaint
Painting marketing from MBI is homeowner acquisition for a painting company: post-job-radius postcards to the homes near a completed exterior repaint, Facebook and Instagram lead-form ads carrying a clear estimate or consultation offer, and automated personalized texts after a lead, to nurture the conversation and schedule an estimate.
Not sure where to start? Talk with our teamDirect mail
Which houses does painting company direct mail reach after an exterior repaint?
The short answer
The houses near the one just painted. Painting mail campaigns include post-job-radius postcards to nearby homes, so a completed exterior repaint sets the radius and the addresses inside it become the drop. MBI selects those households, prints the postcard and mails it; data, print and delivery have been in-house since 1989.
The three researched campaigns. The three researched painting campaigns are a post-job radius postcard campaign around a completed exterior repaint, a Facebook/Instagram homeowner lead-form campaign to request an estimate, and an immediate SMS follow-up to book a painting estimate.
Where the card goes. Documented painting mail campaigns include post-job-radius postcards to nearby homes; postcard offers can be paired with Facebook/Instagram ads.
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
direct mail marketing services direct mail mailing lists targeted direct mail
Postcard · Direct Mail

Postcard · Direct Mail

The radius
Printing
What size are painting contractor postcards at card prices?
The short answer
Postcards are the print format behind a painting campaign. A postcard claimed at commercial card prices must be no more than 6 inches high, no more than 9 inches long and no thicker than 0.016 inch. MBI prints it in house, as commercial and variable-data printing, and pairs that card's offer with Facebook and Instagram ads.
The format. Postcards.
In house. Printing at MBI is commercial and variable-data printing produced in house.
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, with a card more than 4-1/4 inches high or 6 inches long, or both, required to be a minimum of 0.009 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-stamped card or double postcard; and at not more than 6 inches high, 9 inches long or 0.016 inch thick for each postcard. 201.3.7 requires an aspect ratio (length divided by height) between 1.3 and 2.5 inclusive.
USPS Domestic Mail Manual 201
printing services postcard mailing services direct mail cost
One offer, two places
Mailer · Direct Mail

Checklist · Printing

Facebook and Instagram
What do painting Facebook ads ask a homeowner for?
The short answer
An estimate or a consultation. Painting-focused Meta campaigns support homeowner-area targeting, lead forms, and a clear estimate or consultation offer, so a homeowner answers a short form in the feed instead of hunting for a phone number. MBI builds the audience, writes the creative and sets up the form.
What the campaigns support. Painting-focused Meta campaigns support homeowner-area targeting, lead forms, and a clear estimate or consultation offer.
One team. MBI plans, produces and delivers direct mail, print and digital campaigns from a single in-house team in DeLand, Florida, and data, print and delivery have been in-house since 1989.
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

Lead generation
Where does the inquiry come from in painter lead generation?
The short answer
From a lead form the homeowner submits. The campaign behind it is a Facebook and Instagram homeowner lead-form campaign to request an estimate, and after that lead automated personalized texts nurture the conversation and schedule an estimate. MBI runs the ads, builds the form and sends the texts behind it.
What follows the lead. A painting lead system documented automated personalized texts after a Facebook lead to nurture the conversation and schedule an estimate.
FTC advertising guidance for small business states that advertising must be truthful and non-deceptive, that advertisers must have evidence to back up their claims, and that advertisements cannot be unfair; an ad is deceptive if it contains a statement, or omits information, that is likely to mislead consumers acting reasonably under the circumstances and is material to a consumer's decision to buy or use the product.
Federal Trade Commission, Advertising FAQ’s: A Guide for Small Business
digital advertising services direct mail and digital marketing home services marketing
The lead form
The lead form
SMS
When does painting company text message marketing reach a homeowner?
The short answer
Immediately: the follow-up campaign is an immediate SMS to book a painting estimate, and the texts after a Facebook lead are automated and personalized. 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, so a painting number is given by the homeowner.
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, an advertising keyword, 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 — including but not limited to these — by which a consumer might demonstrate opt-in consent; senders should also document opt-in consent by retaining data where applicable, among them the timestamp of consent acquisition and the consent acquisition medium.
CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices, May 2023, §5.1.2
CTIA's Messaging Principles and Best Practices state that message senders should ensure consumers have the ability to opt out of receiving messages at any time, should support multiple mechanisms of opt-out including phone call, email or text, and should acknowledge and honor all opt-out requests by sending one final opt-out confirmation message per campaign; senders should not use opt-in lists that have been rented, sold or shared to send messages and should create and vet their own opt-in lists.
CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices, May 2023, §§5.1.3–5.1.4
SMS

SMS

Immediately
Questions
Questions a painting company asks before it mails
Searched for painting contractor marketing, painting company marketing or painter marketing? Same work, same answers.
What does MBI mail, run and print for a painting company?
Three campaigns from one team: a post-job radius postcard campaign around a completed exterior repaint, a Facebook and Instagram homeowner lead-form campaign to request an estimate, and an immediate SMS follow-up to book a painting estimate. The printed piece behind them is the postcard.
Who gets the postcard when a repaint is finished?
The homes near the one your crew just painted. Painting mail campaigns include post-job-radius postcards to nearby homes, so the finished exterior repaint sets the radius and the addresses inside it are the drop. MBI selects those households, prints the card and mails it.
What does a painting Facebook ad offer a homeowner?
An estimate or a consultation. Painting-focused Meta campaigns support homeowner-area targeting, lead forms, and a clear estimate or consultation offer, so the ad reaches households in your area and asks for one thing. The same offer on the postcard can be paired with Facebook and Instagram ads.
What happens after a homeowner submits the painting lead form?
A text follows. Automated personalized texts after a Facebook lead nurture the conversation and schedule an estimate, and the campaign behind them is an immediate SMS follow-up to book a painting estimate. MBI writes and sends the painting sequence.
What has to happen before a painting estimate text goes out?
The homeowner has to opt in. CTIA's messaging principles say senders should support opt-in mechanisms and that messages should be sent only after the consumer has opted in, list entering a number on a website among the mechanisms, and say senders should not use rented, sold or shared opt-in lists.
Why does a painting postcard have no list price?
A painting 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 size, paper and finishing, audience data and postage. The page /capabilities/direct-mail/direct-mail-cost walks a painting contractor through all seven.
How current must the addresses be before a painting postcard mails?
Updated within 95 days before the mailing date. USPS applies the Move Update standard to each address in a mailing at commercial First-Class Mail presorted or automation prices or USPS Marketing Mail prices, using an approved method such as NCOALink or Address Change Service; mail bearing an alternative address format is excepted.
Which rules govern what a painting ad claims?
The FTC's small-business guide names three under the FTC Act: advertising must be truthful and non-deceptive, advertisers must have evidence to back up their claims, and advertisements cannot be unfair. An ad is deceptive if a statement or omission is likely to mislead consumers acting reasonably and is material to their decision.
Get started
Start a painting campaign.
Say whether it is the post-job mailing, the lead-form ads beside it, the texts behind them, or all three. It goes to a real member of the MBI team, not a queue.