Marketing plan · Encinitas

Landscaping direct mail in Encinitas:
a neighborhood-by-neighborhood plan

By Best Direct Mail, San Marcos · Numbers from USPS and the US Census Bureau

Encinitas is a gardening town. It has a long history of nurseries and flower growing, high home values and owners who care how their yards look. Most homes are lived in by their owners, which makes it one of the best cities in North County for design work and premium maintenance.

But a beach cottage in Leucadia, a 1990s home in Encinitas Ranch and an acre in Olivenhain need very different things. Below is what we'd mail where, starting with the public numbers for each ZIP Code: how many homes there are, how many are houses with yards, and who owns them.

Encinitas by ZIP Code

ZIP Code	Homes (routes)	Single-family houses	Owner-occupied	Median home value	New movers a month (average)
92024 Old Encinitas, Leucadia, New Encinitas and Olivenhain	21,422 (33)	59%	67%	$1,612,000	about 142
92007 Cardiff-by-the-Sea	4,716 (7)	58%	62%	$2,000,000+	about 36

What the columns tell you:

Single-family houses: the share of homes that are detached houses, most with a yard to care for. The higher it is, the fewer EDDM® cards go to apartments and condos, where the HOA or the landlord hires the landscaper.
Owner-occupied: owners decide on clean-ups, new plants and turf replacement. Renters usually don't.
Median home value: higher values point to design, installation and full-service maintenance. Elsewhere, clear flat prices for mowing and clean-ups work best.

These figures cover whole ZIP Codes, and single routes inside them can be quite different. Our EDDM® route planner shows homes, income and homeownership for every route before you choose.

Homes and carrier routes are from the USPS EDDM® route map. Single-family houses, homeownership and home value are US Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates for the ZIP Code area. New movers are a US Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimate: residents who moved into a different home in the past year, turned into households and divided by 12.

New movers: on average about 180 households move to a new home in these ZIP Codes every month. A new owner often wants to make the yard their own and doesn't have a gardener yet.

What a mailing costs: $2,721 for 5,000 homes with our recommended 8.5 × 11 EDDM® postcard, including printing and postage. See our EDDM® prices for other quantities.

What to mail in each neighborhood

Old Encinitas and Leucadia (92024)

West of I-5, from downtown up through Leucadia, are beach cottages and mid-century houses on small, often narrow lots, many of them remodeled or rebuilt. Salt air, sandy soil and ocean wind decide what grows here.

Coastal garden design: native and Mediterranean planting, succulents and small-space patios that suit a beach house.
Turf replacement, with the rebate from the SoCal WaterSmart program.
Flat-price maintenance for small yards.

Along the 101 and around downtown there are more rentals and vacation rentals, so a homeowner list works better there than whole routes.

Cardiff-by-the-Sea (92007)

Cardiff has its own ZIP Code, which makes it easy to mail on its own. Hillside streets with ocean views mix older homes with new rebuilds, and home values are among the highest in the city.

Design and installation for remodels and rebuilds: hardscape, lighting and planting that frame the view.
View-friendly tree and hedge trimming on the hillside lots.
Premium maintenance with a set crew, on a well-designed card with photos of finished local work.

Village Park and New Encinitas (92024)

East of the freeway, New Encinitas was built mostly in the 1980s and 90s. Village Park is known for its greenbelts, which the HOA takes care of, while owners take care of their own yards. Condos and townhomes along El Camino Real are a different story: there the association hires the landscaper.

Monthly maintenance routes on the house streets.
Turf replacement and irrigation updates for 35- to 40-year-old yards.
The condo associations, reached with a business list of HOA boards and property managers.

Encinitas Ranch (92024)

Planned in the 1990s around a public golf course, Encinitas Ranch has larger single-family homes in HOA neighborhoods, many with similar layouts. Original landscaping here is now around 25 years old.

Backyard redesigns: outdoor kitchens, fire pits, lighting and replanting overgrown beds.
Maintenance routes, where similar homes close together make an efficient day.
Help with HOA approvals for any visible change to the front yard.

Olivenhain (92024)

Olivenhain is semi-rural: large lots, custom homes, horse properties, eucalyptus and natural brush on the hills and canyons along the city's eastern edge.

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.
Tree work, hauling and large clean-ups.
Irrigation for large properties, where a leak or an old system is expensive.

Homes are spread out, so a homeowner list filtered by lot size reaches Olivenhain more precisely than routes that also cover denser streets.

A first Encinitas mailing plan

Design and installation to Cardiff. Mail an 8.5 × 11 EDDM® postcard to the house routes in Cardiff. Pick them in our EDDM® route planner for 92007.
Maintenance routes in New Encinitas and Encinitas Ranch. Mail the owner-occupied house routes east of I-5 in 92024 with a maintenance plan offer.
Coastal gardens and turf replacement to Old Encinitas and Leucadia, with a 6 × 11 postcard to a homeowner list west of I-5.
Brush clearance to Olivenhain in spring, with a list of larger lots.

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 Encinitas?

Which one is better depends on the neighborhood. In Cardiff, Encinitas Ranch and the house streets of New Encinitas, most homes are owner-occupied houses with yards, and EDDM® reaches nearly the same people for less. Along the 101, where there are more rentals, along El Camino Real, where condo associations hire the landscaper, and in spread-out Olivenhain, a list wastes fewer cards. Compare the single-family and homeowner numbers in the table above, and tell us the areas you want and we'll recommend the right mix.

What to put on an Encinitas postcard

Say you're local. "Serving Encinitas, Leucadia, Cardiff and Olivenhain" tells people you know the coast and the canyons.
Show your design work. Encinitas owners buy with their eyes, so one strong photo of a finished local garden beats a list of services.
Name the plants you use, like natives and water-wise gardens, if that is your style. It speaks to owners here.
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.

Landscaping postcard designs

Start from one of our ready-made landscaping postcards. We add your logo, offer, license number and photos, send you a proof, then print and mail it. Need a custom design, or have your own? Just let us know.

Landscaping marketing plans in other cities

Encinitas at a glance

Homes and mail routes: About 26,100 homes on 40 routes
New movers: About 180 households a month
Best areas: Design and installation: Cardiff and Encinitas Ranch. Maintenance routes: New Encinitas and Encinitas Ranch. Coastal gardens and turf replacement: Old Encinitas and Leucadia. Brush clearance: Olivenhain.
What it costs: $2,721 to mail 5,000 homes by EDDM®
Where to start: EDDM® with a design offer to Cardiff, plus a maintenance plan offer to the house routes east of I-5.

Frequently asked questions

How many homes are there to mail in Encinitas?

The table above shows the homes and carrier routes in each Encinitas ZIP Code, straight from the USPS EDDM® route map. Most landscapers don't mail the whole city at once: they pick 2,500 to 5,000 homes on the routes around their current customers or in the neighborhoods that fit the service they want to sell.

Which Encinitas neighborhoods are best for landscaping postcards?

Neighborhoods made up mostly of owner-occupied houses with yards, like Cardiff, Encinitas Ranch and the house streets of New Encinitas. The table shows the share of single-family houses and owner-occupied homes in each ZIP Code.

Can I mail Cardiff separately?

Yes. Cardiff-by-the-Sea has its own ZIP Code, 92007, so you can pick its routes on their own in the EDDM® route planner and send it a different card from the rest of Encinitas.

Do you mail in Encinitas?

Yes. Our print shop is in San Marcos, a short drive inland, so we print your postcards there and take EDDM® mailings to the Post Offices that deliver your routes in Encinitas and Cardiff.

Get a quote for your Encinitas 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.

Landscaping direct mail in Encinitas:a neighborhood-by-neighborhood plan