Ad Mailer Lessons for Local Companies

I have written before about poorly executed ad mailers from Blackfoot’s Colortyme, and I have gotten two more bad mailers from two other local companies. I do not want to harp on our local companies because they are just trying to run their businesses, but these were pretty sad.

First was the flier we received for a Broadway Ford sales event. A scratch card was included, which showed we had won a $1,000 gift certificate to Wal-Mart! We rechecked the details several times, and the only caveat seemed to be that their sale had ended the previous weekend. The sale ran on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday; we received the mailer five days later on the following Friday.

I figured it was no good, but thought I would stop in and ask anyways. I took it to a Broadway Ford employee in a pink shirt and pink tie (yeah, I thought that was weird too), and he confirmed we could only redeem it during the sale that ended five days prior. I asked when they had mailed them out, and he said on Friday, the first day of their sale.

So Broadway Ford thought it was a good marketing plan to mail out sale fliers on the first day of a four-day event (and Sunday was a non-deliverable day), and include scratch cards with significant money amounts for prizes? If they cannot have the sense to see the problems with how they ran this sale, why would I trust them to buy my next truck? The answer is I will not buy my next truck from them.

Second was the Gandolfo’s New York Delicatessen ad we received in the mail. I have not tried Gandolfo’s yet, even though they have a shop just five minutes from my home. The flier included some good coupons for free sandwiches, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to try them out. Then I saw the coupons were only good at the Rexburg store.

Say what?!? They mail me chain restaurant coupons where I have two locations in my city, but restrict the coupons to be used in a city twenty minutes north? Who thought they were going to get my business up in Rexburg? So I never drove up to Rexburg to use the coupons, and I have yet to try Gandolfo’s in either Idaho Falls locations as a result.

Sheesh, so the lessons for local companies considering mailers is to please consult a friend or family member not wrapped up in the business’ inside perspective. Ask them what they would think if they got the ad mailed to them, and what their reaction would be. Hopefully you avoid common sense mistakes like these two examples.

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