Home Services / Exterior & Property Maintenance
Pool service marketing built on the pool-owner postcard and the route-building door hanger
Pool service marketing from MBI is direct mail and commercial print for a pool service company: a pool-owner postcard acquisition campaign that puts a service offer in front of pool-owning homes in the service area, and a route-building door-hanger campaign beside it.
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What is a pool service campaign made of?
The short answer
Pool service marketing from MBI runs on two channels: direct mail and commercial printing. Two campaigns sit under them — a pool-owner postcard acquisition campaign aimed at pool-owning homes in the service area, and a route-building door-hanger campaign. One team in DeLand, Florida plans, produces and delivers the work.
The researched campaign concepts. The campaign concepts researched for pool services include a pool-owner direct-mail postcard acquisition campaign and a route-building door-hanger campaign.
direct mail marketing services printing services home services marketing
Postcard · Direct Mail
Door hanger · Printing
Direct mail
Which homes does pool service direct mail reach?
The short answer
Pool-owning homes inside the service area. A pool service mailing is aimed at households that already have a pool, and the piece carries a service offer. MBI selects those addresses, designs the postcard, prints it and mails it, so one team answers for the list and for the drop.
Who the mailing is aimed at. A pool service direct-mail campaign targets pool-owning homes in the service area with a service offer.
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 (ACS) 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
Which homes
Printing
What goes on pool service postcards?
The short answer
A service offer, addressed to pool-owning homes in the service area. The mailed piece is a 6x9 glossy postcard, and 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 the card in house and mails it.
In house. MBI runs commercial and variable-data printing in house.
USPS Domestic Mail Manual 201.1.2.1 sets commercial card-price physical standards at not less than 3-1/2 inches high, 5 inches long and 0.007 inch thick; cards more than 4-1/4 inches high or 6 inches long, or both, must be a minimum of 0.009 inch thick; no more than 4-1/4 inches high, no more than 6 inches long and no thicker than 0.016 inch applies to each stamped card or each half of a double-stamped card or double postcard; and no more than 6 inches high, no more than 9 inches long and no thicker than 0.016 inch applies to each postcard. 201.3.7 requires an aspect ratio (length of the mailpiece divided by height) between 1.3 and 2.5, inclusive.
USPS Domestic Mail Manual 201
postcard mailing services direct mail cost printing services
Mailer · Direct Mail
Door hangers
Where do pool service door hangers fit in the campaign?
The short answer
Alongside the mailed postcard. A route-building door-hanger campaign is the second campaign a pool service company can run, and door hangers sit among the pieces a pool service campaign can use to reach pool-owning homes, with flyers, postcards and yard signs. MBI designs and prints them: a door hanger is commercial print, not mail.
The documented pieces. Industry guidance for reaching those homes documents several pieces, among them door hangers, flyers, postcards, direct mail and yard signs.
At the door
Door hanger · Printing
Route building
What does pool route marketing mean in practice?
The short answer
Route-building in print. The campaign named for it is a route-building door-hanger campaign, and the pool-owner postcard acquisition campaign works the same service area from the mailbox, carrying a service offer to pool-owning homes. MBI designs and prints both pieces and mails the postcard.
One team. MBI is one company that plans, produces, and delivers direct mail, print and digital campaigns from a single team in DeLand, Florida; data, print, and delivery have been in-house since 1989.
The route
Printing
What else gets printed for a pool service campaign?
The short answer
Flyers and yard signs sit beside the postcards and door hangers as pieces a pool service campaign can use. MBI runs commercial and variable-data printing in house, and data, print and delivery have been in-house since 1989, so the pieces that are designed are the pieces that come off the press.
The print formats. Among the print formats listed for pool services are 6x9 glossy postcards, door hangers, flyers and yard signs.
One-sheet · Printing
Checklist · Printing
Questions
Questions a pool service company asks before it mails
Searched for pool service marketing agency, pool cleaning business marketing or pool company marketing? Same work, same answers.
How does MBI market a pool service company?
With direct mail and commercial print. A pool-owner postcard acquisition campaign puts a service offer in front of pool-owning homes in the service area, and a route-building door-hanger campaign runs beside it in print. MBI selects the addresses, designs the pieces, prints them and mails the postcard.
Is a 6x9 pool service postcard too big to mail at card prices?
No. At commercial card prices a postcard must be no more than 6 inches high, no more than 9 inches long and no thicker than 0.016 inch, so a 6x9 pool service card sits inside the standard. A card more than 4-1/4 inches high or 6 inches long must be at least 0.009 inch thick.
Why is there no list price for a pool service mailing?
A pool service 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 and weight, and postage, mail class and sortation. The direct mail cost page at /capabilities/direct-mail/direct-mail-cost takes all seven in turn.
Who prints the pool service door hangers, and who mails the postcards?
MBI does both. Commercial and variable-data printing run in house, and data, print and delivery have been in-house since 1989, so the door hangers and the 6x9 postcards are printed by the same team that selects the addresses and puts the mailing in the post.
How does a pool service mailing keep up when a homeowner moves?
The pool-owner address file is updated before the 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, among them NCOALink; mail bearing an alternative address format is excepted.
How is a pool service door-hanger campaign different from the postcard mailing?
The postcard is an acquisition campaign: a 6x9 glossy piece mailed to pool-owning homes in the service area with a service offer on it. The door-hanger campaign is route-building, and its piece is commercial print rather than mail — MBI designs and prints the hangers.
Can a pool service company get flyers and yard signs printed as well?
Yes. Alongside the postcards and door hangers, flyers and yard signs are among the pieces a pool service campaign can use to reach pool-owning homes in the service area. MBI runs commercial and variable-data printing in house, so those pieces are produced by the team that prints the postcard.
Get started
Start a pool service campaign.
Say whether it is the mailed postcard, the door-hanger route, or both, and the service area it runs in. It goes to a real member of the MBI team, not a queue.