Landscaping direct mail in El Cajon:
a neighborhood-by-neighborhood plan

Fletcher Hills (92020)

On the west side next to La Mesa and Grossmont College, Fletcher Hills has postwar single-family homes on curving streets that climb into the hills, many with sloped front or back yards and long-time owners. Many of the lawns and shrubs are as old as the houses.

• Turf replacement. A card about trading a thirsty lawn for heat-tolerant, water-wise plants, with the rebate from the SoCal WaterSmart program, fits these yards well.
• Slope planting and erosion control for the hillside lots.
• Monthly maintenance plans for owners who no longer want to climb the slope with a mower.

Granite Hills (92021)

East of downtown, Granite Hills rises toward the open hills on the city's edge, with homes from the 1950s through the 80s on larger lots, granite boulders, and natural brush on the streets next to open land. Much of it is unincorporated county land with El Cajon addresses.

• Brush clearance and fire-safe landscaping, mailed in spring before fire season. Homes in high fire hazard areas will also have to follow California's new rules for the 5 feet around the house once they take effect.
• Large clean-ups, tree trimming and hauling for big, overgrown lots.
• Desert and rock gardens that work with the boulders and the heat instead of fighting them.

Bostonia and the north side (92021)

North El Cajon, around Bostonia, is mostly 1950s and 60s ranch homes on flat, regular lots, with mobile home parks and apartments along the main roads. The yards are simple: a front lawn, a few shrubs and a backyard that bakes in July.

• Flat-price mowing and clean-ups. A clear price, like a set monthly rate for a standard lot, works well here.
• Irrigation tune-ups before summer: fixing broken heads, adjusting timers and converting beds to drip.
• Shade trees for west- and south-facing yards.

The mobile home parks are run by park management, so skip those routes when you mail homeowners, or reach the parks with a business list.

Central El Cajon (92020)

Around downtown, Main Street and the civic center, small houses from the 1940s and 50s share the streets with apartments and duplexes, and many homes are rented. EDDM® here spends much of the mailing on renters, who rarely hire a landscaper.

Use a homeowner list to reach the owners, including landlords who live elsewhere, with a card for monthly rental yard care and clean-ups between tenants. The apartment complexes are commercial prospects: reach their managers with a business list.

Rancho San Diego (92019)

South of the city, Rancho San Diego was built mostly from the 1970s through the 90s around Cuyamaca College and Jamacha Road. It has single-family tracts, many with an HOA, plus condo and townhome complexes, and some homes back onto canyons and open hills.

• Monthly maintenance routes. Tracts of similar homes close together are ideal for a tight, profitable route.
• Backyard projects for 30- to 40-year-old yards: patios, outdoor lighting, new planting and water-wise redesigns.
• Skip the condos for homeowner cards. In the condo and townhome complexes the association hires the landscaper, so reach the HOA boards and their managers with a list instead.

A first El Cajon mailing plan

1. Maintenance plans to the owner-occupied routes. Mail an 8.5 × 11 EDDM® postcard to the routes around your current customers, with a monthly price. Pick them in our EDDM® route planner for 92020, 92021 or 92019.
2. Turf replacement and irrigation before summer. Mail Fletcher Hills and Bostonia in late winter and spring, before the heat, with the rebate on the card.
3. Fire-safe clean-ups to the eastern hills. Mail Granite Hills and the canyon edges of Rancho San Diego in spring, before fire season.
4. Rental owners in central El Cajon. Mail a 6 × 11 postcard to a homeowner list, so every card goes to an owner, not a renter.

Mail each group at least three times, a few weeks apart. Use a different offer code on each card so you can see which neighborhood and which service brings the calls.

EDDM® or a mailing list in El Cajon?

Which one is better depends on the neighborhood. In Fletcher Hills, Granite Hills and the single-family tracts of Rancho San Diego, most homes are owner-occupied houses with yards, so EDDM® reaches nearly the same people as a list for less. In central El Cajon and along the main roads, where apartments, rentals and mobile home parks are common, a homeowner list wastes fewer cards. Compare the single-family and homeowner numbers for each ZIP Code in the table above, and tell us the areas you want and we'll recommend the right mix.

What to put on an El Cajon postcard

• Say you're local. "Serving El Cajon and East County" tells people you can get there and keep a regular schedule.
• Talk about the heat. "A yard that survives an El Cajon summer" is a promise every owner here understands.
• One service and one offer per card, matched to the neighborhood above.
• Your C-27 license number if you do installation work, plus "licensed and insured".

For the full list of services, offers and a 12-month calendar, see our landscaping direct mail guide.

Get a quote for your El Cajon mailing

Tell us which neighborhoods and services you want to focus on. We'll reply with a price for printing and mailing, and the routes or list we recommend.