EDDM Tool

by Joshua Botello

In this video, I'll be reviewing the EDDM tool from the United States Postal Service. The Every Door Direct Mail tool, from the United States Postal Service, is worth taking a look at if you are just starting out in your business or if you are just not into digital marketing for your local area. This isn’t for businesses that are primarily online. While this tool can be used online, more tech-savvy and digital marketing savvy businesses can forgo the EDDM in exchange for search and video ads.

You just set up your business in a new city or you opened up a home business and want to advertise to the local community, here is a relatively simple and inexpensive option. It’s called Every Door Direct Mail and it's powered by none other than your US Postal Service! The basic idea is that you create a mailer, coupon or offer and blast is out to the local market.

The catch is you do need to have an idea of your target market but once you have that it's super simple. So let’s dive in. Alright here is my browser and we are going to search for EDDM (google and type EDDM) and we will choose the top here from USPS.com

We will be sent to the Postal Service page for the “Every Door Direct Mailer” and we’ll click on this big button here to use the EDDM online tool. So, I just recently moved to Glendora, California and I want to start doing business in my local area before I branch out.

I started a small advertising company that works primarily online but this is an older community and reaches them when they are in the office. So let’s type in Glendora, Ca, and see what we get. Ok so Glendora is made up of 2 different Zipcodes and each zip code has a few routes they deliver to.

So, I know from living here a few weeks that all the major businesses within the city limits are along Route 66 and Glendora Ave. I have chosen 3 routes to target those areas. I can now check each route to see how many businesses that are my potential customers. So let’s see some of the information that’s available.

This area I highlighted includes the route, in this case, 91741-C004 has 182 businesses and 2.48 people per location. The median personal income of each location is about $52,000 and it's gonna cost me $86.39 to mail this stuff out on this particular route.

Now I just want to start out. I could just choose the best one of the 3 routes and go with one that is the best bang for my buck. In which case, I can stop right here or choose more routes based on my budget. Ok, so now that I found my route and I know the cost. How can I go about getting this stuff printed? At the top bar above the map, we want to find a printer to print our materials.

Here are some online providers that the post office partners with. With these links, you can design, print, and have them automatically send out to your target audience based on that research we just did.
I don’t have to use these printers that the post office is offering. It may be more convenient since they can all take care of the mailing for you.

You can also get something designed and printed at a FedEx Office or Staples and then go through this whole procedure and mail it out for your prospects. Whatever you decide to do will be based on your budget and your level of experience or comfortability in handling this all on your own.

Funded in part through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, conclusions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.