Mailshooting...

[womble]

As we're just starting out I was thinking about sending out a letter to all the local pubs within say 5-10 miles introducing ourselves and what we do and pushing the karaoke and quiz nights to try and get a weekly slot somewhere on our doorstep.

Has anyone gone down this route before? Anyone had any success, or does anyone have any recommendations/ideas?

Thanks in advance,
Chris.

[ppentertainments]

Tried it and failed :(
Sorry can't be more help, still looking for the answer myself ;)

[rob1963]

As we're just starting out I was thinking about sending out a letter to all the local pubs within say 5-10 miles introducing ourselves and what we do and pushing the karaoke and quiz nights to try and get a weekly slot somewhere on our doorstep.

Has anyone gone down this route before? Anyone had any success, or does anyone have any recommendations/ideas?

Thanks in advance,
Chris.

I think this might be a waste of time, as the response rate for mailshots is somewhere around the 1% mark.

You're probably better off actually visiting the pubs to introduce yourself.

A friend of mine has gained a few quiz nights this way.

Good luck.

:)

[DiscoPromotions]

I agree, we sent out 230 postcards introducing our services and only got one response.

[Vectis]

Waste of time.

As has been suggested, if pubs are your target market then start doing the rounds. Pitch up, buy a drink, and get chatting.

Personally I'd say it's possibly the worst time in a long time to be looking at getting into this sector - pubs are closing at a ridiculous rate for a whole host of reasons ("credit crunch"/smoking ban/poor planning (guess which I suspect?!)) and many of those that remain open are struggling to do so and are cutting costs to try to stay afloat.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

Put it this way. In the time it takes to write up a letter and post it you could of visited several venues.

With a letter they dont know you from Jack (or Sid) so naturally price is all that makes you different from the rest.

When someone sees you, hears you speak about the service you offer then not only will you make an better impression but they can assess you based on this and price becomes less of a factor. Once you make a couple of "sales" your pitch will improve and strike rate will vastly increase.

[Wayno]

Mailshots are a waste of time, money and effort - if you only do it once.

Research shows the only way to improve lead rates on mailshots is by undertaking a strategy of continued exposure i.e the more you do it the better the lead rate becomes, at the very least you would need to send your letter once every two weeks over a six week period.

Also don't waste too much time - keep the shot short, to the point and customer orientated - it should be used as a snapshot of your service as well as an invitation to view your website.

Don't send cheap home made items - invest in some nicely designed cards/leaflets depending on your market.

Maybe consider a discount code / freebie to action a responce

The lead rate is never going to be more then 5-10% of the amount of items sent so to be effective you need to think big, however choose your recipients wisely as if your campaign is too prolongued people may start getting miffed.

This said, in this day and age mailshots are not as effective as investing in a quality, correctly SEO'd website. (once again depending on your market).

[CRAZY K]

Waste of time.

As has been suggested, if pubs are your target market then start doing the rounds. Pitch up, buy a drink, and get chatting.

Personally I'd say it's possibly the worst time in a long time to be looking at getting into this sector - pubs are closing at a ridiculous rate for a whole host of reasons ("credit crunch"/smoking ban/poor planning (guess which I suspect?!)) and many of those that remain open are struggling to do so and are cutting costs to try to stay afloat.

Agree with this

HOWEVER

My friends Rock n Roll Band do a lot of live work in Pubs because the band leader continually PHONES pubs LOCALLY to see if they are interested.

Prices are keen and they have a good local reputation backed by recommendations from loads of local pubs raving about them ( if required)

Generally mailshots are NOT effective anymore--I did one in the winter--got one booking but the date concerned could have been easily filled from the website without wasting a load of cash on printing, stamps,envelopes and time.

HTH

CRAZY K