Background – Why you should read this?
This white paper is for anyone who uses advertising to sell products or services to existing pool owners. Whether you conduct internet sales, are a service/renovation business or have a retail location, the target audience is the same – existing pool owners. These are the people you are trying to reach, whether you advertise online with Google ads, through broadcast media like radio, via outdoor signage or in print media such as local newspapers. But Xmente found that pool companies have a problem in comparing and intelligently choosing advertising methods. If you would like to solve the puzzle of choosing the most effective advertising methods for your product promotions – read on!

Advertising Reach – Why Bother?
Think of advertising as a means to get your message communicated to as many pool owners in your trade area as possible (targets). Comparing the effectiveness of different advertising methods begins with determining how well each does at reaching this target audience. But why bother? Because any message sent to a non-pool owner is wasted money. And any pool owner in your trade area that does not receive your message is a missed opportunity that limits your growth and supports competition. Neither is a desirable outcome.

The Problem
Comparing advertising methods requires answering three key questions:

1. How many potential customers (targets) exist for your particular offer?
2. Where do they live?
3. How well does a specific advertising method reach targets?

The rest becomes simple math. However, while the calculation may be easy, identifying all the pool owners in each specific geographic area is a huge problem. The information does not exist outside of proprietary databases belonging to companies like Leslie’s and In the Swim. And that puts independent pool companies at a big disadvantage. So began Xmente’s journey to solve this problem.

Process and Solution
Finding that existing commercially available address lists were not suitable for defining a pool owner target market, Xmente began researching sophisticated consumer databases containing thousands of demographic and psychographic selections. Xmente’s solution is based on using multiple sources to compile a list that is accurate, sufficient, current and qualified based on criteria such as tax assessor and realty records, permits, consumer data and self-reporting.

We then tested this against well-known pool lists and respected market research. Eureka! Results confirmed that Xmente developed the most complete, accurate and current list of pool owner addresses available today. Based on creating this missing piece to the puzzle, we were able to compile a comparison of advertising methods using real examples from our consulting practice.

The Results
Based on the fact that only 5% of an average population owns a swimming pool, it should not be surprising that traditional advertising methods such as broadcast, print and outdoor are extremely inefficient - reaching only a maximum of 11% of pool owners in any geographic area. When presented with this chart, a well-respected pool industry expert commented, “I will never understand why so many pure-play pool products retailers rely on mainstream media when their average target audience is less than 10% of the general public. Your comparative table certainly reinforces the point.”

What about digital advertising methods?
It may initially be surprising that online and email advertising are also inefficient when it comes to reaching existing pool owners. The research results below could explain the situation:

• Only 13% of pool owners currently buy pool products online.
• Only 40% of the names and physical addresses in our “best practice” clients POS database also have email addresses. The average is much lower.
• At 8% to 14%, email open rates are also a factor.
• Pool business email addresses are based on people who have made a purchase and do not include prospects who own a pool but have not made a purchase.

When to stop what you are doing?
Certainly we agree that having an effective mix of relevant advertising methods maximizes the potential that a pool owner will receive your message. Today the buzz word for this is omni channel marketing. But, if you are primarily depending on broadcast, print, outdoor, online or email advertising – STOP – the facts confirm you should seriously consider direct mail as a key element of your media mix. Need more proof? Leslie’s, the 800+ store pool retail giant says they use direct mail and email to all customers in a five mile radius of a store almost exclusively.

Conclusion: Direct mail is the #1 choice for targeted, efficient marketing.
With an average open rate of nearly 80%, direct mail is a marketing mainstay. No digital method can approach that. Some experts say it has to do with how humans react to something tangible in their hands. Engaging their tactile senses helps reinforce the message. And research confirms each dollar spent on direct marketing yields an average return of $11.65.

Xmente’s research has shown that nothing reaches swimming pool owners more completely than direct mail based on a comprehensive target list. Using direct mail to reach an accurate and complete pool owner list can touch more than 90% of the pool owner market and result in 10 times better reach. Now you can reach more pool owners and compete more effectively with Leslie’s and In the Swim.

To receive a free pdf file of this paper or to inquire about our services, contact Steve Carlyle: stevecarlyle@frontier.com