Switched from Facebook ads to direct mail for a local campaign and felt like an idiot for waiting 3 years

I run a small landscaping business in Portland and was dumping $800 a month into Facebook ads that barely got me two leads. Last month I tried sending 500 postcards to specific neighborhoods for $150 and got 12 calls in the first week. Who else has realized they were using the wrong channel for their industry the whole time?

3 comments

3 Comments

max_hernandez2713h ago

I live in Portland too and that $150 postcard number sounds a little made up. 500 full color postcards with postage for $150? That's 30 cents each. I'd double check that math unless you printed them on napkins. Anyway, I agree with @ivan774 that Facebook ads are fading fast for local stuff. But I wouldn't call this some huge revelation either. Direct mail is just as annoying as pop-up ads if the person doesn't need landscaping. You got lucky with timing probably. People in Portland are more likely to look at paper than most cities though, so maybe it works here specifically.

ivan77418h ago

Man I feel that... spent way too long thinking Facebook ads were the magic bullet for my hvac business before realizing nobody clicks those things anymore?

caseythompson18h agoMost Upvoted

Nah I gotta disagree on that one. I'm still seeing solid leads from Facebook ads for my own service business, it's all about how you target and what you're offering. If you're just running a generic "click here for HVAC" ad with no hook you're gonna get ignored, but a before and after photo of a nasty filter with a "$49 tune up special" still works like crazy in my area. The key is keeping the ad fresh and swapping out the creative every couple weeks or people just scroll past it.