For a web designer, timing can make a huge difference when it comes to winning a new client.
Contact an established business and there is a good chance they already have a website, a domain name, email addresses, hosting and perhaps even an existing relationship with another web designer.
Contact a business shortly after it has been incorporated, and the situation can be very different.
They may have only just chosen their company name. Their website might not exist yet. They may not have registered a domain, set up their business emails or decided who is going to look after their online marketing.
That creates a very obvious opportunity for web designers and digital agencies.
At Selectabase, we help businesses get in front of these newly incorporated companies at one of the earliest possible stages – by sending them a professionally printed letter through the post.
And because the whole process can be automated each month, you don’t have to spend hours continually searching for new businesses yourself.
Reach New Businesses Before Your Competitors Do
When somebody incorporates a new limited company, their postal details are available from the outset.
Their other contact information often isn’t.
A brand-new business may not yet have:
- A website
- A registered domain name
- A published business email address
- A business telephone number
- An established LinkedIn presence
- A Google Business Profile
- Active social media accounts
This is one of the biggest advantages of using direct mail to target new business incorporations.
You don’t have to wait for somebody to find their email address or telephone number.
You can reach them through the post at a time when they may still be making decisions about exactly the services that **you provide**.
For a web designer, that could include:
- Website design
- Website development
- Domain registration
- Business email setup
- Website hosting
- Ecommerce websites
- Search engine optimisation
- Google Business Profile setup
- Branding and logo design
- Social media support
- Website maintenance
- PPC and digital marketing
You could be introducing your business at exactly the point they need you.
The Early Bird Really Does Catch the Worm
It is an old saying, but it describes new business marketing perfectly.
The early bird catches the worm.
If you wait six months before contacting a newly formed company, they may already have a website.
They may already have hosting.
They may already have somebody looking after their SEO.
They may already have a designer they trust.
Getting your business in front of them shortly after incorporation gives you an opportunity to start that relationship much earlier.
And the value of that relationship can go far beyond simply building their first website.
A company that starts with a relatively simple website could later need more pages, ecommerce functionality, SEO, advertising, design work, photography, hosting, maintenance or a complete redesign.
As their business grows, your relationship with them can grow too.
That is why the lifetime value of a new business client can be particularly attractive for web designers and digital agencies.
Why Send a Letter Instead of an Email?
Email is quick and inexpensive, but there is an obvious problem when you’re trying to contact a company that has only just been incorporated.
They may not have a business email address yet.
In fact, they may not even have their domain name yet.
That makes it difficult to reach businesses at the very earliest stage using email marketing alone.
Postal data is available much sooner.
This means a targeted letter gives you an opportunity to reach the company before many of the normal digital contact channels even exist.
There is another advantage too.
Business inboxes are busy.
Cold emails can be deleted in seconds, ignored or filtered into junk folders.
A physical letter is different. It arrives at the business address, has to be handled and gives you a tangible opportunity to introduce yourself.
This doesn’t mean direct mail has to replace your email marketing, Google Ads, networking, SEO or social media activity.
It can simply become another reliable way of finding new clients – and one that reaches prospects at a particularly useful stage in their business journey.
What Should a Web Designer Put in the Letter?
You don’t need to overcomplicate it.
In fact, one of the best approaches is often a straightforward introductory letter.
Start by congratulating them on their new business.
Then briefly explain who you are, what you do and how you help businesses like theirs.
For example, your message could say something along the lines of:
“Congratulations on starting your new business. We help new and growing companies create professional websites and establish a strong online presence. If you’re currently looking at your website, domain name, business email or online marketing, we’d be delighted to have a chat.”
Then give them an easy way to contact you.
That could be:
- Your telephone number
- Your email address
- Your website
- A QR code
- A booking link
- An introductory offer
- A free website consultation
The letter doesn’t need to sell your entire service.
Its job is simply to introduce you and start a conversation.
Let Selectabase Find the New Businesses for You
Of course, finding newly incorporated companies manually every month takes time.
You need to find the businesses, collect their details, decide which ones are within your target area, prepare your letters, print everything, fulfil the mailing and arrange the postage.
Then you need to do it all again the following month.
That’s where Selectabase comes in.
We can manage the whole process for you.
Our monthly new business mailing packages start from:
£299 + VAT per month for up to 250 letters
That price includes:
- The data for the new business incorporations
- Targeting within your chosen postcode area or radius
- Your letter
- Printing
- Mailing fulfilment
- 2nd Class postage
- Initial campaign setup
- Monthly processing
In other words, the data, print, fulfilment and postage are all taken care of.
Once your campaign has been set up, we can automatically run it every month until you choose to pause or cancel.
You don’t need to remember to send us another list every month or start the whole process again.
We simply identify the latest businesses matching your agreed targeting and send the next batch.
A Flexible Marketing Package That Works Around Your Workload
One thing we understand about web designers and agencies is that workload isn’t always consistent.
One month you might want more enquiries.
Three months later you could be completely booked up.
That’s why the package is designed to be flexible.
If your workload increases and you don’t need as many new enquiries, you can pause your campaign.
When you’re ready to start looking for new clients again, you can restart it.
If you want to increase your mailing volume or expand your geographical targeting, we can discuss that too.
The idea isn’t to tie you into sending mailings when you don’t need them.
It’s to give you another customer acquisition channel that you can use around the needs of your business.
You Can Target New Businesses in Your Local Area
You don’t have to target every newly incorporated company in the UK.
For many web designers, local targeting makes much more sense.
You might want to concentrate on:
- Businesses within a chosen radius of your office
- Specific postcode areas
- Towns or cities you regularly work within
- A wider regional area
- Multiple areas where you already have clients
For an independent web designer, being able to say that you’re based locally can also be a strong selling point.
Many new business owners like the idea of being able to speak directly to somebody nearby, particularly when they are setting up important services for the first time.
For larger agencies or businesses working remotely, the targeting can naturally be widened.
Could £299 Per Month Generate a Return?
This will obviously depend on your own prices, your letter, your offer and how well you follow up enquiries.
No responsible marketing company should promise that every mailing will produce a particular response rate.
But it is worth looking at the economics.
If you charge £1,000, £2,000, £3,000 or £5,000+ to build a website, you don’t necessarily need large numbers of new customers every month for a £299 + VAT marketing campaign to make commercial sense.
And that is before considering the longer-term value of the client.
A customer who initially asks you to create a website might later purchase:
- Hosting
- Website maintenance
- SEO
- PPC
- Graphic design
- Email marketing
- Landing pages
- Additional websites
- Ecommerce development
- Ongoing digital support
Winning the customer early can potentially create a relationship that lasts for years.
What Do Selectabase Customers Say?
When you’re trusting another company to handle your prospect data and monthly marketing, service matters.
Selectabase has been helping UK businesses with targeted data and direct mail for many years, and our customers regularly leave us 5-star Google reviews covering both the quality of our data and the service provided by our team.
Recent feedback has praised our helpful staff, straightforward service, accurate data and the convenience of being able to have mailing campaigns printed and posted without having to manage the fulfilment themselves.
Our Google rating currently sits at 4.9 out of 5 from more than 100 reviews.
For us, that’s particularly important because we’re not simply providing a spreadsheet of businesses and leaving you to work out what to do next.
We can look after the complete campaign.
One Supplier for the Data, Printing and Postage
This is one of the biggest differences between simply purchasing a new business mailing list and using Selectabase to run the campaign.
You don’t need to buy data from one company, find a separate printer, organise envelopes, arrange fulfilment and then work out the postage.
It’s all handled in one place.
You supply or create your introductory letter.
We agree the targeting.
Then Selectabase handles:
- Finding the relevant new company incorporations
- Preparing the mailing data
- Printing your letters
- Fulfilment
- 2nd Class postage
- Monthly campaign processing
Once it is running, you can concentrate on speaking to the businesses that respond rather than spending your time stuffing envelopes.
Direct Mail Can Work Alongside Your Existing Marketing
We’re not suggesting you suddenly stop everything else you’re doing to find web design clients.
Good marketing rarely relies on one channel.
You may already generate leads through:
- SEO
- Google Ads
- Referrals
- Networking
- Social media
- Email marketing
- Partnerships
A monthly new business mailing simply adds another route.
The difference is that it focuses specifically on businesses at a very particular moment:
They have just started a company.
They need to establish themselves.
They need to look professional.
They need customers.
And many of them are going to need help getting online.
For a web designer, that’s a very logical audience to introduce yourself to.
Start Mailing Newly Incorporated Businesses From £299 + VAT Per Month
If you’re serious about finding new web design clients from brand-new businesses, getting in front of them early can make all the difference.
Selectabase can handle the complete process.
Packages start from £299 + VAT per month for up to 250 letters per month, including:
- New business incorporation data
- Geographical targeting
- Letter printing
- Mailing fulfilment
- 2nd Class postage
- Initial setup
- Automatic monthly processing
You simply create a letter congratulating the new business, explain what you do and invite them to speak to you.
We look after the rest.
And once your campaign is running, it can continue automatically each month until you decide you have enough work and want to pause or cancel.
The early bird catches the worm.
If you want to start reaching new businesses before many of them have even set up their website, domain or business email address, speak to Selectabase about setting up your own monthly new business mailing campaign.
Call us on 01304 383838 to discuss your target area and available mailing options.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How can web designers find newly incorporated businesses?
Selectabase provides details of newly incorporated UK businesses and can use that data to run an automated monthly direct mail campaign on your behalf. This allows web designers to regularly introduce themselves to businesses shortly after they have been formed.
How much does it cost to mail new businesses?
Our packages start from £299 + VAT per month for up to 250 letters per month.
This includes the new business data, printing, fulfilment and 2nd Class postage.
Can I target new businesses near me?
Yes. Campaigns can be geographically targeted using agreed postcode areas or a radius, allowing you to concentrate on the locations that are most valuable to your business.
Why are new businesses good prospects for web designers?
A newly incorporated company may still need to arrange its website, domain, business email, hosting, branding and online marketing. Approaching them early gives a web designer the opportunity to become involved before those decisions have already been made.
Why use letters instead of emailing new businesses?
One of the main challenges with marketing to a newly incorporated company is that a public business email address may not exist yet. Postal details are available at an earlier stage, which means direct mail can potentially reach the business before many traditional digital contact methods are available.
What should I say in my introductory letter?
Keep it simple.
Congratulate them on starting their new business, briefly explain what you do and why it might be useful to them, then provide a clear way to contact you.
The objective of the letter isn’t to explain every service you offer. It’s to make a good first introduction and give the recipient a reason to start a conversation.
Can I pause the mailing if I become too busy?
Yes. The packages are designed to be flexible around your workload. If you have enough work and want to temporarily stop prospecting, you can pause your campaign and discuss restarting it when you need to generate more opportunities.
