A little known direct mail program from the U.S. Postal Service could be the perfect marketing solution for your business.

Let’s face it. There have not been a lot of positives for the U.S. Postal service to hang their hat on these days. They are often on the receiving end of jokes on how not to run a business; however, they deserve a lot of credit for developing a new marketing service for business that is a more cost-effective way to reach potential customers than traditional direct mail. Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) allows businesses to geo-target customers that are physically located near their location based on specific cities, zip codes, or carrier routes without having to purchase a mailing list, obtain a mailing permit or address each piece. Their website makes it very easy to get started. Just go to www.usps.com/eddm and type in your business address. You can select a radius of 1 to 5 miles and it will display an interactive map of all mail carrier routes that touch your target zone. Select the routes you want to target, pay the delivery fee and you are ready to deliver the postcards to the local post offices.

EDDM is not perfect for every business since you are not able to target individuals by demographics like age, gender or income (though they do offer basic data averaged by mail carrier route). It is ideal for businesses that depend on a localized customer base like retail shops, restaurants, pharmacies and consumer-service professionals like real estate agents, heating & air technicians and plumbers. You can design large postcards or multi-page mailpieces to share a story, announce sales, or include coupons, menus, event calendars, and more. As long as your piece meets flexible size limits and includes the correct label and indicia, you can design it however you see fit.

Better yet, hire a design firm like Inspire and we’ll even manage every aspect of your EDDM campaign from design to drop.