Market Doctors Direct is a Houston-based marketing firm that has found a niche in the high-tech world, combining traditional direct mail with innovative digital technology to deliver solutions for clients.

The company produces the iTextDirectory.com, a 16- to 24-page directory that promotes local businesses along with text numbers for coupons, offers and promotions. Recipients can use the directory to find an attorney, dentist, day care, car dealership or virtually any other service.

The directories offer an exclusive to advertisers (one attorney per issue, or one auto sales firm) and have a shelf life of about three months, which allows customers to use the book as a reference not just once or twice, but continually for several months, says Debbie Drury, president of Market Doctors Direct.

To get the directory into the hands of consumers, though, the company takes a very targeted approach, relying on Every Door Direct Mail^® from the U.S. Postal Service.^®

“We’ve had five times the response rate with Every Door Direct Mail, compared to e-mailed coupons,” Drury says. “And sometimes the rate has been higher than 7 percent, with the combination of adding in the mobile text coupon feature. People are busy and get so many e-mails that they can’t answer them all in one day. Today consumers want fast, instant, immediate answers and results.”

Every Door Direct Mail allows businesses of all sizes to target customers in specific geographic areas by ZIP Code,™ neighborhood or delivery route without the time or expense required to compile a list of the names and addresses of everyone in that area.

Under Every Door Direct Mail, all mailings can be distributed by Postal carriers as supplements along with that day’s mail to every door that businesses want to reach. The Every Door Direct Mail tool also lets advertisers see how many businesses and homes are within a certain area or radius of a specific location (see “Reach Every Door … Easily” below for details).

Market Doctors Direct uses ZIP Code locations to identify the specific markets it wants to target, then uses the Every Door Direct Mail online tool to pull together the paperwork for the mailing.

While regional companies like Market Doctors have been steady users of the service, large national companies also are finding Every Door Direct Mail can be an important asset to their marketing efforts. Many chains are using the service to test advertising campaigns in specific areas before deciding whether to take them nationally, or even worldwide.

One multinational fast-food restaurant chain has utilized Every Door Direct Mail to fuel its marketing success and continue its growth. The chain, which operates 320 restaurants in 10 countries, including 50 in the United States, has been so pleased with the program that it has made it part of its company-wide marketing efforts.

The company was looking for a delivery channel that could provide reliability. It wanted to make sure its promotional materials were reaching its customers and it wanted to know who was getting the mailers. All of that was accomplished by using Every Door Direct Mail. That was an assurance it didn’t find through other distribution channels, such as e-mail.

Typical of its marketing efforts was a recent mailing of 8,000 postcards offering special discounts on meals. The results were considered excellent with a 4% to 5% response rate, compared to the normal 1% for such efforts.

The initial mailing was in the Washington, D.C., area, but its success easily convinced the company executives to expand such campaigns throughout the chain. Officials knew the offer — a significant discount — would appeal to most consumers if the postcards reached the intended audience.

Thanks to Every Door Direct Mail, that was not a problem.

Reach Every Door … Easily

Using Every Door Direct Mail allows advertisers to reach key target markets, without having to compile – or maintain – names and addresses. Here’s a quick look at how it works:

1. The Every Door Direct Mail website houses the online tools needed for the process. You can choose to create the mailing and drop it at the Post Office™ or, if you’re already the holder of a mailing permit, to drop it at a Business Mail Entry Unit.

2. The website will capture your information, then present you with a tool that allows you to define the area you want to reach by city, by ZIP Code, by county or by using a location, such as the address of your store or business.

3. You can decide whether you want to reach city addresses, rural addresses or PO Boxes, and whether you want residential only, or business addresses too. You can even view the addresses selected in a map format that allows you to carefully designate the area you want to reach, right down to selecting specific carrier routes.

4. Click the submit button and the tool does the rest, furnishing you with a count of how many addresses are in the defined area and the cost to mail to them. The tool will even print out the correct forms for you to take with you to the Post Office when you drop off the piece you want to mail.

5. Need to know more? Visit usps.com/everydoordirectmail for more information.