Making Direct Mail Media work

Brown Thomas wanted to position itself as the ultimate destination for beauty in Ireland. It decided to mail its Brown Thomas Beauty magazine to 5,000 of its core customers. The magazine was a way of displaying exclusive brands and illustrating the vast selection of beauty product and gift ideas available in Brown Thomas during the Christmas period.

This was done alongside an ‘All I Want for Christmas’ digital competition with €2,500 worth of prizes, which was aimed at increasing the brand’s social media following and engaging with visitors to its website.

The results far exceeded expectations, with 38% of the 5,000 customers mailed purchasing in the Brown Thomas Beauty Hall within the 10-day period. The digital competition saw the Brown Thomas Facebook community grow by over 16,000 fans, with more than 10,000 entries to the competition and almost 30,000 engagements.

Louise Beggan and Jillian McGuirk, directors of estate agent McGuirk Beggan, first heard of AdMailer.ie at an An Post GrowMyBusiness conference. They were one of the service’s first customers. They first tested AdMailer.ie to see how it drove new listings and customer enquiries, and now run AdMailer.ie campaigns regularly.

A template for McGuirk Beggan was created on Admailer.ie, so they do all of the work themselves and always see a response. The property company sends out two types of messages: ‘We are selling in your area we have disappointed cash buyers’ and ‘1% fees’ They say Admailer.ie makes the phones ring and the rest is up to them.

Rom Massey & Sons used our Publicity Post service to get a direct message out to the public about its very competitive funeral pricing.The company wanted to make people think about the awkward question of death and the unavoidable costs it involves. A printed leaflet was a cost-effective way of reaching its target market, who tend to have more time to read direct marketing material. Rom Massey & Sons used an easy-to-read four-page leaflet, which contained information on prices, as well as a €200 funeral voucher.

The company targeted 47 of Publicity Post’s delivery areas, mainly those located near its Dublin offices, tailoring the location map on the leaflet to show its nearest office in each delivery area. As a result of the leaflet drop, Rom Massey & Sons achieved 20-30 phone enquiries a day, with 15-20% making bookings or physically calling into the offices. Within 10 days of the campaign landing, 13 funerals were booked. Many people held onto the leaflets for use several years after they were distributed.