DirectMail.com recently launched an online print portal for ServiceMaster Brands enabling its Merry Maid franchisees to build targeted mailing lists and piggyback their print orders onto the main office’s regular high-volume print runs with DirectMail.com, thereby reducing print costs for franchisees. What makes this program unusual, according to Price Anderson, VP sales and marketing at DirectMail.com, is ServiceMaster Brands upfront commitment to a year-long, high-volume direct mail program for the 100 corporate-owned Merry Maid offices. The corporate print jobs will run every two weeks on DirectMail.com’s offset presses. Any orders from franchisees via the online portal will be batched with the corporate runs. As a result, franchisees get the benefit of high-volume pricing. “This is a unique setup,” says Anderson. “Not many companies want to step in and commit to inventory on the shelf,” even though this brings down the cost of print orders for franchisees and, therefore, is likely to increase the uptake of an online marketing portal, he continues. With the new program, franchisees “get the benefit of buying in bulk, but can execute when they need to on an every-two-week basis,” says Stefan Figley, VP marketing at Merry Maids. Plus, they can add more customization than previously. As a result, Figley predicts “there will be an increase in the use of the direct mail by franchisees.” Prior to working with DirectMail.com, ServiceMaster Brands gave franchisees very limited time frames during which they would drop direct mail, notes Figley. The first phase of the project went live on April 9, giving the 600 Merry Maid franchisee-owned offices the ability to pick from predesigned mail and collateral marketing pieces that can be customized with their own messaging and contact information. It is DirectMail.com’s “biggest launch” for an online portal in two years, according to Anderson, referring to the amount of participation in the portal by franchisees its first three weeks. The portal also includes access to DirectMail.com’s proprietary technology GeoSelector, which enables franchisees to custom build mailing lists and order them. Using a Google Map interface, users can type in an address and pick a radius around that address to create a mailing list. Or, they can draw a line around a more specific region, such as a neighborhood, and get a list just for that area. They can also generate a demographic report for the selected area. The patented technology uses Experian’s household database and enhances it with geocoding. “The ability to choose an audience on GeoSelector is winning over more franchisee owners than anything else,” says Figley. Phase two will make ServiceMaster’s lists of top prospects available for franchisee purchase, giving offices access to the top 30% of names in each market. DirectMail.com is in negotiations with ServiceMaster to provide custom marketing portals for its other brands, which include TruGreen, Terminix and American Home Shield.