How 3 Businesses Generated ROIs of 998% and MORE

If you didn’t grow your business as much as you thought you would last year…

I have something that will help!

Back in September, we held our bi-annual Growth Summit live event here at PostcardMania.

To prepare for this event — a 2-day educational seminar for 100 PostcardMania clients that focuses on marketing training — I asked my marketing team to collect our most successful client case studies.

When I speak at events, I love referencing cold, hard data that’s been PROVEN to work.

So, I wanted to share some of these case studies with you here, whether you attended the Growth Summit or not.

These 3 case studies show (very clearly):

• What 3 of my clients did to generate returns on their investments (ROIs) of 998% and even 14,000%
• The 3 successful marketing tactics they used that you can replicate
• Key digital marketing elements that create trust and credibility for your business

No matter where your business is today, I hope these clients’ campaigns inspire you to expand even more starting now!

Successful Action #1: Market MORE than you think you need to

I know this may seem slightly self-serving given I’m the owner of a marketing company, but hear me out…

Or rather:

Take my client Dominique Nelson’s word for it.

Dominique owns Nelson Construction & Renovations in the Tampa Bay area with her husband and master contractor Greg.

Before Dominique joined her husband’s business, she worked at a local school. At the time, Greg fully managed and ran the business with 1 truck and a few other contractors — literally working out of this 1 truck!

So it’s fair to say that these were not trained marketing professionals.

But Greg and Dominique wanted to grow their business, and they knew that meant spending more time on the business.

So Dominique left her job to dive full throttle into the family business and figure out how to take it to the next level…

And that she definitely did! 

Today, Nelson Construction & Renovations is a multi-million dollar, award-winning company…

But if you’re asking:

“Yeah, well, HOW did they do it?”

I’m going to tell you.

When Dominique dug into the business she realized that, besides organizing their files and cataloging their entire client base, they needed to push marketing much more.

Here’s what Dominique said from an in-depth interview I did with her:

“At the time I entered the business full time, we were getting some leads from our website, but not nearly what we needed to reach the next level.

“We had BIG plans to expand the business, but what was missing was really the marketing and needing to increase the outflow.”

Soooo… the golden question:

How much marketing do you need to generate the right amount of leads you need to grow?

More than you think you need.

I always tell small business owners that if you want to GROW your business and actually affect your bottom line, however much promotion you think you need to send out —

Prepare to multiply that # by at least 5.

Remember:

You’re not only trying to generate leads…

You’re trying to out-market your competitors so that when your prospects need a product or service that you provide, they think of YOUR business directly —

And they don’t hesitate to contact YOU.

Here’s what Dominique did with Nelson Construction’s marketing out of the gate:

• She wrote a weekly newsletter to send to their client base
• She took over the social media content management for the company
• She mailed a MINIMUM of 6,000 postcards every single month

Basically:

She committed to a repetitive, year-long marketing strategy to ensure prospects saw their business many, many, many times.

Here is her postcard design…

Front:

And here’s the back:

I love the use of not one but 2 special offers on their postcard! (This strategy also works great for dentists!)

Once Dominique increased her marketing and maintained it for months, she noticed a direct correlation between the amount of promotion that went out as the leads that came IN.

And because she and Greg were set on truly expanding Nelson Construction —

She hit the gas on her postcard mailings (doubling them!), plus:

She went all in and added matching Google, Facebook, and Instagram ads to her campaign — with NO effort from her — using Everywhere Small Business.

Here’s their Facebook ad (which matches their postcard):

Their Instagram ad:

And finally, their Google follow-up ad, which follows website visitors after they leave the Nelson Construction site to continually remind visitors of their initial interest.

Integrating Google, Facebook, and Instagram ads into their postcard campaign catapulted their reach within the Tampa Bay community —

Check out their numbers:

• Google ads seen 2,803,398 times across hundreds of different websites online
• Facebook and Instagram ads viewed 147,508 times online and in mobile devices
• And 3,483 interested leads have clicked those online ads to visit their website

All that on top of mailing over 125,998 postcards all year!

That’s an average of 12,000 postcards EVERY month.

Plus, and honestly the MOST important part of this whole story:

Nelson Construction generated a 14,000% return on investment (ROI).

So what am I getting at??

It’s the repetition of your marketing that puts your business in front of your prospects enough times for them to:

• See you
• See you again (and again and again!)
• Remember you
• And, ultimately, contact you when they need you.

Today the biggest problem Nelson Construction has isn’t generating quality leads —

It’s servicing them fast enough.

So they’re hiring new staff members, and they’re on target to generate more revenue than ever before!

You can watch Nelson Construction & Renovation’s full case study video here.

Successful Action #2: Boosting your online presence across multiple channels

When Dr. Sean Goolsby, DDS, and wife Becky purchased Borealis Dental Studio in the cozy town of Lindstrom, MN, they quickly realized they were not generating enough new patients.

Like the Nelsons, they had big plans to grow the practice (and hire an associate doctor within 2 years), so the 14 new patients per month they were getting on average from referrals and insurance providers just wasn’t going to cut it.

They attended our live Dental Practice Owners Summit event at PostcardMania and took to heart lesson #1 above about repetition and consistency in marketing.

Here’s what Becky (who manages the business side of the practice) said:

“You can’t just send out mailers one time and expect your business to be where you want it to be. You need to be willing and able to be repetitive with your marketing.”

Seriously —

I can’t tell you how hard it is to get small business owners to really GET how important it is to be consistent with your marketing!!

In addition to mailing 6,000 postcards per month for 6 months — and then doubling to 12,000 cards per month — the Goolsbys hit their online marketing strategy from a few angles.

First, they revamped their website to be more responsive across multiple devices —

By responsive, I mean that, whether someone viewed their website on an iphone, android, ipad, desktop computer, or satellite on the moon —

Their website would look legible and be easy to navigate on ALL devices.

This was smart, considering 61% of smartphone users are unlikely to return to a website that’s hard to access on a mobile device.

In fact, 40% will turn around and visit your competitor instead. Yikes!

With their website recalibrated for mobile, the Goolsbys then addressed their Google reviews.

Let me point out something about the importance of Google reviews today —

Namely, these recent statistics about reviews: 

• 97% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses
• 85% of consumers trust reviews just as much as word-of-mouth
• 68% say positive reviews increase their trust in a local business

All to say, reviews REALLY matter!

I know I personally read reviews — and many businesses today rely on reviews (such as Amazon sellers or restaurants on Yelp!).

The Goolsby’s set out to get as many 5-star reviews as possible.

Let’s say when someone receives a postcard from Borealis Dental Studio, they Google their practice to see whether or not they’re legit.

Here’s what Google will show them:

That’s 70 positive reviews — up from ZERO — culminating in an illustrious 4.9-star rating!

When a prospect considering a new dentist (which can be scary!) receives a gorgeous postcard in the mail with smiling faces on it, and they also see 70 happy reviews online, they’re more likely to trust that practice over a competitor that hasn’t reached out to them.

In addition to publishing a new website built to capture leads and proactively generating Google reviews, Borealis also added Google ads to their 12,000 postcards-per-month marketing plan.

Their results? 

• 1,187 total calls into their practice to date
• Google ads viewed over 1.7 million times on countless internet websites
• A return on investment of 998% in their first year alone
• And a 143% increase in monthly new patients

Their year-long marketing strategy has enabled the Goolsbys to do what they originally set out to do:

Hire an associate doctor to join the Borealis team within 2 years!

In fact, they’re ahead of schedule by a year.

With a new doctor on board, they knew they needed to keep up the flow of new patients.

So:

They added Facebook and Instagram ads to their proven 1-2 marketing punch (postcards-Google).

It just so happens that adding the social media component was easy, because just this year we launched a new product that bundles all of this together called Everywhere Small Business.

Here’s their brand spanking new postcard design, which introduces their new doctor to the community:

You can watch Dr. Sean and Becky’s case study video here.

And lastly:

Successful Action #3: Plan your lead generation strategy for the entire year

Whether or not you can commit financially to a year-long campaign up front is not the point —

You should minimally lay out a month-by-month calendar of with planned promotions ahead of time, so you have a plan of attack written down.

Plus…

We small business owners, who wear multiple hats within our business (and in life!), need to assume we’re going to get busy as the months roll out…

So it’s important to know ahead of time:

You CANNOT let your marketing dip — or you risk your leads and revenue declining.

I promise you this is true!!! I learned it the hard way when I was growing PostcardMania from nothing…

The ONE time I decreased my budget (a few %) on marketing, that was the only time in 20 years my company’s revenue ever sunk! So don’t do it!!

You can also check out my client, Great American Art —

The owner, Anne, mailed postcards sporadically and saw leads increase here and there, but her overall company was not growing to the degree she needed it to.

But when she started mailing consistently — a minimum of 5,000 postcards per month! — Great American Art’s sales went up 50%…

In just ONE year.

You can watch Anne’s case study video here.

It’s only February, so I’m giving you fair advance warning that:

• My most successful clients mail consistently EVERY single month
• They mail the entire year long — no fail!
• And they integrate minimally Google and, ideally, Facebook ads into their mailings

If you’re not sure what your marketing budget should be to grow your business, grab this:

FREE report: The Be-All, End-All, Finally Get-It-Right Marketing Budget Calculator

If you want more examples of clients who’ve grown their businesses using direct mail (with REAL results), there’s an entire case study gallery — just locate your industry!

Or if you’re a hands-on kind of person (like me), join us for our next LIVE Growth Summit event happening April 1-3rd here in Clearwater, FL! I’d LOVE to meet you in person. Plus, you’ll learn even more useful marketing tactics you can use to grow your business this year.

Lastly, if you have any questions about planning a marketing campaign that grows your business, do not hesitate to contact one of my marketing consultants at 800-628-1804.

Their advice is 100% FREE to you!

Best,

Joy