You finally found them.  The pond owners you've been trying to reach.

They're in your service area. They own a pond. They are exactly the type of customer you're looking for.

And now, thanks to a targeted direct-mail campaign, your postcard is sitting in their mailbox.

The postcard has a compelling offer. Maybe it's a free pond consultation. Maybe it's a discount on an algae treatment, aeration system, or annual maintenance program.

And there's a QR code.

The homeowner scans it.

Where do they go?

If the answer is "our website," you may be missing one of the biggest opportunities in the entire campaign.

The QR Code Shouldn't Just Go to Your Website

Your website is important. It tells people who you are, what you do, and why they should trust you.

But your website wasn't necessarily designed for the person who just scanned your postcard.

That person has already seen your offer.

They've already shown interest.

They don't need to start at your homepage and figure out where to go next.

They need to see the same offer they just responded to.

If your postcard says:

Own a Pond? Get a Free Pond Assessment

then the QR code should take them to a page that says, in effect:

Own a Pond? Get a Free Pond Assessment.

Schedule your assessment today.

Not:

"Welcome to Smith Pond Management. We offer a full range of aquatic services..."

That's a completely different conversation.

Think of the Postcard and Landing Page as One Advertisement

A direct-mail campaign works best when the postcard and landing page feel like two parts of the same thing.

The homeowner sees a postcard with:

• The same headline

• The same offer

• The same imagery

• The same branding

• The same call to action

Then they scan the QR code and see that same message on their phone.

That consistency is important because it tells them:

"Yep, I'm in the right place."

You don't want them wondering whether they clicked the wrong link.

This Is Where LakeMapper Can Make Direct Mail Even More Powerful

One of the advantages of using LakeMapper is that you're not simply mailing a postcard to "people in the area."

You're able to identify ponds and lakes and the owners associated with those properties.

That changes the equation.

Instead of saying:

"Let's send 5,000 postcards and see what happens."

You can build a campaign around a very specific audience:

• Pond owners in a particular county.

• Lakefront property owners in a particular service area.

• Owners of larger ponds that may need aeration.

• Properties that fit the type of customer you want to pursue.

• Small pond owners who may want to dredge or enlarge the pond.

Now you have a targeted audience.

And when you combine that targeted audience with a targeted offer and a targeted landing page, the campaign becomes much more focused.

For Example...

Let's say you're a pond management company serving three counties.

You use LakeMapper to identify thousands of private ponds and their associated property owners.

You decide to run a campaign promoting pond aeration.

Your postcard says:

Does Your Pond Need More Oxygen?
A properly designed aeration system can improve water quality, circulation and overall pond health.
Schedule a Free Aeration Consultation.

There's a QR code on the postcard.

Instead of sending the homeowner to your homepage, send them to a dedicated landing page:

Does Your Pond Need More Oxygen?

Schedule Your Free Aeration Consultation

Then show a photo of an aeration system operating in a pond.

Explain, in simple terms, what aeration can do.

Maybe include three or four benefits.

Then give them one obvious button:

Schedule My Free Consultation

Include a sign up form directly on that page, not a link to your Contact Us page.

That's a much cleaner customer journey.

Don't Make the Homeowner Work

This is particularly important with direct mail.

The homeowner didn't ask to visit your website.

They didn't search Google for "pond aeration companies."

They didn't click on a Facebook ad.

You put the postcard in their hands.

You created the opportunity.

So once they scan the QR code, make it incredibly easy for them to take the next step.

Don't make them hunt around your website.

Don't make them search through five different service pages.

Don't give them 14 things to click.

Give them the information they need to make a decision about the offer that brought them there.

Create a Landing Page for the Campaign, Not Your Company

There's another reason this works so well.

Your company might offer:

• Pond management

• Algae and weed control

• Aeration

• Fountain installation

• Lake management

• Fish stocking

• Water testing

• Dredging

• Shoreline management

That's great.

But your postcard probably isn't promoting all of those things.

It's promoting one thing.

Your landing page should do the same.

If the postcard is about algae treatment, build the page around algae treatment.

If it's about aeration, build it around aeration.

If it's about a free pond assessment, build it around the assessment.

One postcard. One offer. One landing page. One action.

Simple is good.

And Don't Forget to Track It

There's another big benefit to using a dedicated landing page. Using Google Analytics or your site's analytics system, you can see what your campaign actually produced. Add it to LakeMapper’s SiteVU system, and you can actually see and track who came to the page, even if they did not fill out a form. 

Then utilize LakeMapper’s dynamic QR codes and reverse append process to track who scanned and when, and append their name and email address (in about 50% of the responses). 

Now you have something much more useful than a stack of postage receipts.

You have data. Data that you can import into your CRM sales funnel.

And that data can help you improve the next campaign.

Maybe the next time you change the offer.

Maybe you test a different headline.

Maybe you target a different county.

Maybe you change the postcard design.

Maybe you discover that pond owners respond much better to a free assessment than a percentage discount.

That's how direct mail gets smarter.

LakeMapper Gets You to the Right People. Your Landing Page Helps Convert Them.

At LakeMapper, the goal is to help lake and pond management companies identify the people they want to reach.

But finding the right pond owner is only the first step.

You still have to give that person a reason to respond.

That's where the combination of targeted mailing + compelling offer + QR code + dedicated landing page can be so effective.

LakeMapper helps you answer:

Where are the ponds?

Who owns them?

How can I reach them?

Your postcard answers:

Why should they pay attention?

And your landing page answers:

What should they do next?

That's a pretty powerful combination.

One Last Thought

The QR code on your postcard is not the marketing campaign.

It's simply the doorway to the next step.

So don't spend all your time making a beautiful postcard and then send the homeowner to a generic homepage.

If you took the time to find the right pond owners, create the right offer and put that offer in their mailbox, take the final step.

Give them a landing page that picks up exactly where the postcard left off.

Because getting the postcard into the right mailbox is only half the job.

Getting the pond owner to take action is the other half.