Is Valpak advertising worth it for a service business?
Valpak can be worth it if the jobs it brings in cover what it costs, and only your own records can show that. Valpak sells printed coupons in a shared envelope mailed to chosen neighborhoods, plus postcards and digital ads. Give your ad its own phone number or code, log every lead it produces, and judge it by booked jobs, not by how many envelopes went out.
What Valpak says it sells
Valpak's advertiser page lists products that include the Blue Envelope, postcards, digital ads and data. On its Blue Envelope page, Valpak describes coupon inserts as "mini-billboards" inside the envelope, and says an advertiser can "choose your ideal neighborhoods". A Valpak blog post, dated October 2022, says the envelope is one "where local businesses and national brands share the cost to mail". So your offer arrives alongside other businesses' offers.
How it differs from your own mailer
A mailing of your own carries only your message, and the related answer on door hangers, flyers and direct mail covers that route, including the Postal Service's Every Door Direct Mail. A coupon in a shared envelope competes for attention with the others, and it can draw people mainly looking for a deal. That may suit a recurring or seasonal service with a clear first-visit offer, and suit a premium service poorly. Decide what the coupon offers before you decide where to mail it.
Judge it by booked jobs
Valpak's page says an advertiser can add a unique phone number or QR code to the ad to track results. Use that, or your own code or number, and ask every new caller how they found you. Record each lead, then follow it to won, lost or still open. The related answer on tracking leads from flyers, signs and vehicles shows how to log it as a campaign.
Valpak's pages quote its own audience figures. Ask how they were measured, and trust your tracked jobs over them.
What to ask the sales rep
Ask which areas and how many homes you would reach, how many mailings are planned and how often, how long the contract runs and how to stop, who else in your trade is in the same envelope, and what reporting you will get. Ask for these in writing before you agree to anything, and compare the answers with what your own lead record shows after the first run.
Sources
- Valpak, "Advertise Your Business in the Valpak Blue Envelope"
- Valpak, "Direct Mail, Digital Advertising & Data from Valpak"
- Valpak blog, "How to Choose the Best Valpak Advertising for Your Local Business" (October 27, 2022)
Related answers
- Do door hangers, flyers and direct mail still work for a service business?
- How do you track leads from flyers, yard signs and truck wraps?
- How do you know if your marketing is working?
Lead generation and lead tracking
A lead that waits a day goes cold, and a lead with no source teaches you nothing. Ascent Vision fixes both.