NeighborMail Narrows Marketing Focus

Armstrong Air's NeighborMail fine-tunes direct mail marketing.

Trying to find the right target audience for an effective marketing campaign can be frustrating, time-consuming, and costly. And what HVAC contractor would like to use those three adjectives to describe their marketing campaigns? The answer is likely an emphatic none!

Targeted marketing is not always an exact science, but one company is working on a program that is designed to take the frustration out of not being able to reach the right audience with an advertising message in a timely and efficient manner.

Armstrong Air (www.armstrongair.com) has introduced NeighborMailÂ® for its dealers to narrow in on precisely the number of homeowners for a specific marketing program - usually a number that is much smaller than traditional target marketing. Armstrong Air dealers can use NeighborMail to send marketing pieces to neighbors of a homeowner who is having equipment installed by the dealer. Instead of sending out marketing pieces to hundreds of neighbors, the list can be pared down to only dozens.

"We recommend targeting a minimum of 20 homes," said Lee Bergstrom, advertising manager for Armstrong Air. "The key to the program is the very targeted aspect of it."

PROGRAM FEATURES

Armstrong Air is touting NeighborMail as the solution to direct mail marketing. Now its dealers can:

Establish their own Web-based marketing center.

Launch a customized direct-mail marketing campaign in minutes online.

Generate leads with less time and effort.

Elevate professional image with quality direct-mail pieces.

Target the right audience with the right message.

Access to new homeowners list.

"Armstrong dealers have full customization abilities using our templates," Bergstrom said.

"And NeighborMail will store all of the mailings, so repeat mailings are easy and can help build frequency."

Formats and designs available include jumbo postcards, flyers, and door hangers. Cost of the program to dealers is $39 to enroll; ComforTeamâ„¢ dealers receive a $40 credit to defer the enrollment cost, $5 for follow-up lists, 10 cents per name for new homeowner list, 62 cents for jumbo postcards, and 36 cents for door hangers (50 minimum).

The NeighborMail program can also delete names of existing customers and replace them with new prospects.

Getting started is an easy process. Dealers log on to the Armstrong Air ContractorNet, enroll in the program, choose a card and message, enter the target address, and the direct-mail campaign has begun.

Karen Bunting, Armstrong Air manager of sales and marketing development, said one advantage of NeighborMail is that, "people in the neighborhood have already seen the dealer's trucks around and trust their name." She added, "In order for the program to be successful, dealers have to keep it going and stay on top of it."

Bergstrom said that the philosophy behind small, targeted neighborhood marketing is simple.

"If you have done a retrofit and want to use it to get more business, why not target the area around that home?"

Publication date: 02/20/2006

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