IRT SERVICES Marketing Plan

Project Manager: Dwight Donahue

January 18-April 30, 2015
Table of Contents
Executive Summary.......................................................................................................................1
Company Description....................................................................................................................1
SWOT Analysis..............................................................................................................................2

Objectives.......................................................................................................................................2
The Challenge of Selecting the Target Audience.........................................................................3
Selected Marketing Strategy (4Ps)..............................................................................................3
Product........................................................................................................................................3
Price............................................................................................................................................3
Promotion...................................................................................................................................3
Place/Distribution......................................................................................................................4
Identified Issues of EDDM:...........................................................................................................5
Additional Estimates.................................................................................................................8
Budget.............................................................................................................................................8
Evaluation.......................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion......................................................................................................................................9
Appendix A...................................................................................................................................10
Appendix B...................................................................................................................................11
References.....................................................................................................................................12

Executive Summary
IRT Services is looking to use a mailing initiative to solicit new residential customers for its
home pressure washing business. The organization is particularly interested in exploring the
possibility of using USPSs Every Door Direct Mail service. For this mailing initiative any
distribution method may work so long as it is effective and cost efficient. Should the mailing
initiative prove successful additional mailing initiatives may be considered for the future.

Company Description
For more than 40 years, IRT Services has been providing Eastern Iowa (Cedar Rapids, Marion,
Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty and surrounding communities) with quality, professional,
customer service for both residential and commercial customers. (www.irtservices.com) IRT
Services is owned and operated by Greg Truman.
Listed below are services offered by IRT Services:

Krueger's Carpet Care

House Washing

Carpet Cleaning

Window Cleaning

Upholstery Cleaning

Siding Washing

Area Rug Cleaning

Roof Washing

Spot Removal

Gutter Cleaning (exterior)

Odor Control

Driveway & Sidewalk Cleaning

Auto, Boat, or RV Carpet Cleaning

Deck & Fence Washing

Mobile Pressure Washing

Parking Lot Line Striping

Commercial Fleet/Truck Washing

Parking Lot Line Striping - any size,

any color

Concrete & Driveway Sidewalk

Cleaning

New Parking Lot Layout

Building Washing

Parking Lot Cleanup & Sweeping

Parking Garage Cleaning

Existing Paint Removal Services

Gum Removal

Graffiti Removal

New Masonry Brick Washing

Heavy Equipment/Farm Equipment

Cleaning

Dumpster Pad Cleaning

Specialty Painting Options:

Basketball Courts, Playgrounds, Etc.

SWOT Analysis
Strengths
40 years of experience in providing
quality services, with over 20 years of
pressure washing in particular.
Multiple service offerings to both
residential and commercial customers.
(See the services offered list above)
Services offered in a wide scope around
much of eastern Iowa.

Weaknesses
The current web presence consists of a
small basic informational website. The
site does very little to make the
company stand out.
Few marketing/advertising initiatives.

Opportunities
Threats
Establishing a stronger online presence.
Cheap pressure washers bought by
Increasing marketing/advertising.
homeowners for personal use is taking
up a share in the job market.
Appealing to residential customers with
These personal pressure washers may
incentives such as deals and discounts.
increase the number of inexperienced
Promote the businesss 20 years worth of
contractors, or may be lent out to others
professional pressure washing experience
who do not own one and has no
over personal pressure washing and
experience.
inexperienced contractors.

Other competition spans across several

When using an inexperienced, underdifferent markets: (pressure washing,
equipped and untrained contractor you
carpet cleaning, line striping)
run the risk of permanent damage to
Other competition may have a larger
your homes siding, roofing, or concrete
and better established online presence.
or wood surfaces.

Other competition may offer more

(www.irtservices.com)
frequent marketing/advertising.

Objectives
The main objective of this marketing plan is to solicit potential customers for IRT Services
pressure washing business within carefully targeted neighborhoods using mailers by utilizing an
Every Door Direct Mail service. Should this initiative be successful in seeing a significant ROI,
additional mailing initiatives may be considered for the future. This marketing plan and
evaluation materials can serve as documents to help guide those future plans.
An original goal for this mailing initiative was to send out 5,000 mailers, yet after initial research
regarding EDDM and its inflexibility on route selection paired with the criteria of proper target
homes, a more appropriate goal to aim for is 2,500 mailers being sent out. Additionally, 5,000
mailers may have pushed the limits of the budget close to the $2,000 dollar absolute maximum.

The Challenge of Selecting the Target Audience

The main challenge of this plan is to tactfully select which neighborhoods and addresses to
target, and coming up with an efficient and precise means of delivering the promotional
materials. Rather than directly targeting an audience alone, the homes themselves must also be
taken into consideration. The main target for this mailing initiative are relatively newer homes
with vinyl siding in need of cleaning. Areas with lots of shade also may present a suitable target,
as mold may be growing on the building.
Not all addresses are suitable candidates for cleaning, such as apartments, duplexs, multiplexs,
and trailer homes, and because the number of addresses selected directly correlates to the cost of
the printing and distribution of the initiative, a careful evaluation and conservative selection of
homes is key. Any addresses selected that are not suitable for cleaning or even mistakenly
selecting addresses that are another type of building such as apartment buildings that do not
apply, simply squanders funds and materials.

Selected Marketing Strategy (4Ps)

Product
IRT Services residential pressure washing business is an insured professional cleaning
contractor with over 20 years of experience cleaning homes. IRT Services pressure washing
business can tackle dirt, mildew, mold, and algae. Pressure washing a home can prevent
premature aging and reduce maintenance costs. Comparing high costs of home repairs to the
relatively low cost of preemptive cleaning, it is undoubtedly clear how valuable it is to have your
home regularly pressure washed.
Services provided include: window cleaning, siding washing, roof washing, gutter cleaning,
driveway & sidewalk cleaning, and deck & fence washing (note: window cleaning is offered
solely on the side).

Price
Prices for pressure washing can vary from job to job. Job prices average from a hundred to a
couple hundred dollars. IRT Services offers free job estimates.

Promotion
In the past IRT Services has used Groupon, as well as occasionally offering discounts on its
carpet cleaning business. Other than that, very few other deals or promotions have been offered
in the past. For this marketing initiative the business is interested in using an EDDM service to
distribute promotional mailers to residential customers and is open to the possibility of offering a
deal or discount of some kind on the mailing materials.

Place/Distribution
Place
The scope of IRT Services business operations covers from Iowa City to Cedar Rapids. For this
project the client is interested in specifically targeting addresses in areas anywhere around Iowa
City, Coralville, or North Liberty.
Distribution
The planned distribution method for this mailing initiative is using the Every Door Direct Mail
(EDDM) services offered by the USPS. The Every Door Direct Mail services mails mail pieces
en-masse to all addresses along a selected mailing route.
EDDM services offer many benefits including:

The primary benefit of EDDM is reduced postage rates, which allows for an economical
means of mailing out great numbers of materials
A variety of mail piece sizes is supported by EDDM, and the main benefit to this is the
option of sending larger mail pieces (still at a low rate) that stand out amongst the crowd
With EDDM there is no need to buy or rent a mailing list
Online mapping tools are offered to assist in the creation of EDDM mailing lists, free of
charge
The ability to submit your mail pieces at the local post office of your target area

There are two options when it comes to configuring EDDM services: EDDM-Retail and
EDDM-Business Mail Entry Unit (EDDM-BMEU). EDDM2go.com explains the differences
between the two options below1:
EDDM - Retail is designed for businesses that want to send 5,000 flyers/postcards and are
willing to do all the steps themselves, including taking their campaign to the local post office(s)
that serve the carrier route(s) selected.
EDDM - BMEU is for businesses that either want to mail more than 5000 flyers/postcards or
less but dont want to do the necessary prep and legwork themselves. Some vendors that offer
BMEU service will also prepare the postal documentation for you, but not all BMEUs offer
everything you need to do your EDDM campaign.
What is not mentioned here is that EDDM BMEU requires buying a permit. As established
earlier, the initial goal of 5,000 mail pieces being sent out would be the maximum number of
mailers possible to be sent without requiring the purchase of a permit. However this is no longer
1 "Every Door Direct Mail Retail or BMEU Which One Is Right for You?" EDDM2go. 1 Jan. 2015. Web. 22
Mar. 2015. <https://eddm2go.com/about_eddm/bmeu>.

a concern after fully realizing the less than optimal compatibility between EDDM and the target
audience criteria, and adjusting the goal to 2,500 mail pieces.

Identified Issues of EDDM:

After initial research about EDDM and viewing the actual mailing routes, some issues were
identified that may impact the effectiveness of this mailing initiative when paired with the
precise criteria of selecting target addresses. There is very little room for flexibility when it
comes to selecting addresses other than selecting between Residential addresses only, or
Business addresses and Residential addresses only. EDDM is very well suited for certain
businesses that target a wider audience, however for businesses that need to target a more
specific audience EDDM may not always be a viable option. Several of the reference sites made
this clear:
Every Door Direct Mail will work for you if everyone in your local neighborhood is a potential
customer. It will not work for you if, instead of reaching everyone, you need to target your
message to individual households based on a demographic profile (income, age, family size,
etc.). (Every Door Direct Mail simple, affordable direct mail for local business)

The mail routes themselves are divided up into all kinds of odd shapes and sizes. More often than
not, the odd groupings of address were for the worst, as it was discovered while initial locations
were scouted. For example, clusters of suitable homes were often cut in half by seemingly
imaginary lines, and when they were cut in half the other half was grouped with invalid targets
such as large trailer home developments across the street, or with duplex and multiplex
developments.
Another big issue are apartments. Apartments are looped into the residential address lists, and
result in unavoidable sinkhole losses should routes be selected for mailing that contain them.
Some routes have no apartments at all while others only have a small percentage, which is a
basis to use to even begin considering a route for selection. However it just throws another
crutch into the planning process.
One other important note to consider here is the possible negative impacts of sending EDDM
mail pieces to invalid, and unsuitable addresses. For example, if mailing materials advertising
home pressure washing were sent to multiple addresses within the same apartment building, the
residents would scoff at the mistake, and would largely consider it spam mail, not to mention the
load of wasteful spending.
A possible alternative: Targeted Mailing Lists
After the overview of issues EDDM presents, the possibility of using a targeted mailing list may
be simpler, more economic, and more effective. Sarah Kicinski of the postcardmania blog
reccomends targeted mailing lists in the event that EDDM is not flexible enough for selecting
your businesss target audience. However she also states that optimally a cost comparison
between the two should be conducted.
Targeted mailing lists generally specialize in targeting customers based on customer
demographics such as gender, household income, maritual status, personal interests etc. There

are hundreds of criteria that targeted mailing list databases can call up, however there are much
fewer controls to be applied in the case of targeting buildings. The few possible criteria that
could be used in this case include the year the building was built, estimated home value, home
ownership status, and the length of residence.

Price of Printing
Price quotes were initially quoted at 5,000 mailers. Several sites were considered, including
Vistaprint, Printplace, Imagemedia, as well as all in one mailing and printing services such as
EDDM.com. The original printing quotes and notes can be found within the project binder. The
client has used both Vistaprint and Printplace in the past. Vistaprint is quite expensive, yet they
do offer frequent discounts, however they do not offer Every Door Direct Mail materials, instead
they offer postcards. Targeted postcards were considered for this project but when compared to
EDDM, EDDM proved to be a more efficient option. Printplace offers Every Door Direct Mail
materials as well as design support. For 2,500 6.25x9 Printplace EDDM materials the cost would
be $236.17 (Appendix B).

Price of Mailing
According to the USPS website, under the Direct Mailing Information the price per piece for
Flats up to 3.3 oz is $0.175. Therefore the goal of 2,500 mailers equates to $437.50 in mailing
costs ($0.175 x 2500). The difference between going with an EDDM service and using a targeted
list to mail standard-size postcards is 3 cents per piece1 plus the potential cost of creating a
targeted mailing list. This means at a certain point, when a certain percentage of your total mail
pieces are not hitting their mark, a targeted list may be more economical, and will most likely
look better than filling many mailboxes full of unwanted spam.
A ~15% loss of mailers not hitting their mark might prompt a switch to a sending out targeted
postcards, yet a targeted mailing list is likely take additional time to create, and depending on the
method of its creation, (most likely) additional money to create.
A mailing list based on anywhere from 1000-2500 leads could cost a couple hundred dollars.
This couple hundred dollars with greatly raise the price difference when comparing EDDM to
Targeted lists. However it is important to keep in mind the possibility that a well-researched and
executed targeted list may lead to a much better response rate.

1 Kicinski, Sarah. USPS Every Door Direct Mail (E.D.D.M.): A Potential Disaster for Small
Businesses? 27 April 2012. Web. 22 March 2015.

Comparison Chart
Method

Mailing Cost

Cost x2500

Mailing list

Accuracy Controls

Issues

EDDM Mail
Pieces

$0.175 cents

$437.50

Free and easy

to generate.

Limited flexibility and

controls clashes with select
target audience.

Targeted
Postcard

~$0.205 cents

$512.50

Most likely
will cost
$200+

Little flexibility for the

mailing list creation;
(Residential or Residential
and Business)
Targeted based on selected
criteria.

Method of generating list

likely too costly.
Accuracy Controls though
flexible, possibly has few
criteria that cover physical
homes.

Short Breakdown:
For example if 375 of our 2,500 addresses were invalid (~15%), and we resorted to using EDDM
this would amount to $65.625 dollars wasted, which could either be saved (and save face from
sending out spam) or used instead productively on targeted addresses.
$0.205 x 2125= $435.625 Targeted mailing costs. VS $0.175 x 2500= $437.50 EDDM costs
Any losses from here on, over ~15% would technically justify switching to a targeted list
(however there is most likely some cost in generating the targeted list) However as stated above,
the cost of generating the targeted list is an issue. On a small scale such as this, the list may
simply cost too much, especially compared with EDDM. Unless the method of generating a
targeted mailing list can be reduced or is created somehow without cost, a targeted list seems out
of the question.
At roughly 9 cents a lead x 2500 mailer (Appendix B), the cost of generating a targeted list
would be $225. The cost per lead can vary a cent or two. It is worth noting that cost per lead may
decrease in bulk.
Thus the Final Estimated cost of Targeted Mailing would be:
(435+225)=$660 Targeted Mailing VS $0.175 x 2500= $437.50 EDDM

The final decision after comparison of EDDM and Targeted Mailing Lists: Find a handful of
choice EDDM routes, narrowing the scope, yet enabling an efficient and effective procedure.
To view the scouted routes see the Scouting Locations sheet within the project binder.

Additional Estimates
According to Direct Mail News, in 2012 the average response rate for direct mail was 4.4% for
both business-to-business and business to consumer mailings.
With this average, a goal number of mailers, the rough cost of the mailing campaign, and the
average cost of a pressure washing job, we can do some quick calculations. The cost of a
pressure washing job could vary between a hundred to a couple hundred dollars. In the table
below, a low average and high average estimate per job are given.
Estimate Chart
Response Rate

x Average per job

Profit

Printing/Mailing

ROI
dollar/dollar return

Average 4.4% of 2500 mailers= 110 responses

Half Avg. 2.2% of 2500 mailers=55 responses
Quarter Avg. 1.1% of 2500 mailers=22.5 responses

High Job
Average
$200

Average 4.4% of 2500 mailers= 110 responses

Half Avg. 2.2% of 2500 mailers=55 responses
Quarter Avg. 1.1% of 2500 mailers=22.5 responses

$22,000

31.689

$11,000

15.344

$5,500

$11,000
Low Job Average
$100

Cost of
Investment
$673.67

7.922

15.344

$5,500

7.922

$2,250

3.96113

*Referring to printing costs & Appendix B, an estimate given by Printplace.com for 2500 6.25x9 EDDM materials would cost
$236.17 and, as established earlier above, the estimated cost for mailing 2,500 EDDM costs $437.50, totaling $673.67

Budget
The organization is does not have a strict budget, yet they projected anywhere between $1,000$2,000 in funds was available should the plan be compelling enough. With that said, the costs of
this mailing initiative may be no more than $2,000, until the business ultimately starts seeing
payback. This budget is inclusive of all costs for both printing and mailing the promotional
materials. Based on preliminary research done looking into the costs of printing and delivery, the
revised goal of sending out 2,500 mailers could be reasonably achieved within approximately
$1,000.

Evaluation
Evaluation of the marketing initiative will be based on two simple steps:
The first step will be tracking which newly generated jobs were a result of the mailing
initiative. Any new jobs with addresses within the targeted neighborhoods are assumedly
generated by the mailers, however to be certain, customers will be polled when they are
scheduling a job, asking if they received a mailer and if it played a role in persuading them into
contacting IRT Services. If a discount is included in the mailer, the customer could then present it
during payment, this would also confirm the impact of the mailer. From this step precise
numbers such as the number of newly generated jobs and total profit could be discerned.

A simple call sheet will be created to jot down the job information, including the mailing
route. This call sheet can be found within the project binder. Later when routes are selected
addresses can either be entered directly into the EDDM online map to pinpoint which mailing
route exactly that address lies within, or a quicker solution would be to print 8.5x11 sheets of
each mailing route for easier reference. Identifying routes should not be too big of a difficulty as
since the scope of the mailing initiative has been reduced to 2,500 mailers and much fewer routes
will be selected.
The second step compares statistics gathered in the first step with statistics of previous
years. Variables measured include comparing the number of residential jobs total that year to
previous years as well as profit comparisons in dollars and percentages. Additionally, a cost and
benefit comparison for the marketing initiative will be done.
This means comparing the budget spent on printing and mailing vs. the payback of the
initiative and also determining the total number of mailers sent vs the number and percentage
that effectively paid off. These measurement will be broken down into an excel spreadsheet
(See appendix A) with built in functions and live charts. All of these measurements can also be
broken down within targeted areas to see which areas responded the greatest to the initiative.

Conclusion
IRT Services is looking to solicit new residential customers using EDDM. EDDM presents great
value yet the mailing routes must be carefully selected. The EDDM campaign has a goal of
sending out 2500 mailers within a $1,000 budget. With the given printing and mailing estimates
documented within this plan, the total cost would equal $673.67. Should the EDDM campaign
prove successful in providing a significant ROI future mailing campaigns may further be
considered.

Appendix A

Appendix B

Print Place 2000 6.25x9 EDDM materials with

shipping.

Leads quote
leadsplease.com gives a rough quote on targeted
mailing lists. Price per lead was 9 cents

References
Every Door Direct Mail simple, affordable direct mail for local business. 2015. McCarthy &
King Marketing, Inc. Web. 24 March 2015. <http://www.mccarthyandking.com/everydoor-direct-mail>.
Every Door Direct Mail Retail or BMEU Which One is Right for You? 2015. EDDM2go.
Web. 24 March 2015. <https://eddm2go.com/about_eddm/bmeu>.
Kicinski, Sarah. USPS Every Door Direct Mail (E.D.D.M.): A Potential Disaster for Small
Businesses? 27 April 2012. Web. 22 March 2015.
<http://www.postcardmania.com/blog/2012/04/usps-every-door-direct-mail-e-d-d-m-apotential-disaster-for-small-businesses/>.
Understanding Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM). 2015. Satorisoftware. Web. March 2015.
<http://www.satorisoftware.com/support-article/understanding-every-door-direct-maileddm/>.