How to send fax DM to businesses in Hokkaido and Sapporo | Building a Hokkaido list and when to send
Why fax DM works in Hokkaido
- Travel cost per visit is an order of magnitude higher than on Honshu — several hours one way is normal, so cold-call visits are extremely inefficient
- Large trade areas, and many industries where fax is still in active use — construction, civil engineering, agriculture, fisheries, transport, tourism and more, where many offices don't keep a PC open all day
- One fax becomes "a first contact without traveling" — travel only to those who respond, and you can cut travel costs dramatically
Split Hokkaido lists into "Sapporo" and "outside Sapporo"
According to the 2021 Economic Census for Business Activity, Sapporo has 72,730 private establishments — 32.8% of all of Hokkaido. By number of employees, the share is 38.6%, even higher. One third of establishments are concentrated in one city: that is Hokkaido's structure.
| Area | Features | List-building tips |
|---|---|---|
| Sapporo | 32.8% of establishments are concentrated here. So is the competition | You can get the volume, so make the difference with precise filtering by industry and size |
| Outside Sapporo | Fewer entries, but competitors' sales efforts haven't reached them either | Easier to manage when split by subprefecture (Ishikari, Sorachi, Kamikawa, Tokachi, Kushiro, Okhotsk, Oshima, etc.) |
Rather than sending "10,000 to all of Hokkaido" in one go, splitting it up, like "300 construction firms in the Ishikari area," lets you tailor the copy to the recipients, so you get more responses.
Don't miss the timing (unique to Hokkaido)
If you send on a nationwide calendar, you will definitely miss in Hokkaido.
| Industry | When it gets read | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Construction, civil engineering, exterior work | Before the snow melts (Feb–Mar) | Planning and ordering for the next season happen now. In midwinter, sites shut down, so faxes get read in the office |
| Agriculture-related | Winter (Nov–Mar) | In the busy farming season (May–Sep) people aren't in the office during the day |
| Tourism and lodging | The off-season, avoiding the time around peak season | During peak season, they are too busy on the floor to consider anything |
Sending time and on-the-ground realities
- Don't send early in the morning or at night — the paper just piles up in an empty office and causes complaints
- In industries with lots of site work, the office may be empty in the morning — faxes arriving around noon or in the afternoon tend to get picked up more
- Keep it to one page — paper and ink are the recipient's cost. This matters all the more for small businesses in Hokkaido
For the practical rules you must follow, such as handling opt-out requests, see our article on fax DM and the law.
Start small within Hokkaido
Rather than a nationwide campaign of tens of thousands, a test of a few hundred within Hokkaido works better in Hokkaido. The reason is simple: the number of businesses per industry in Hokkaido is limited to begin with, so if you blast carelessly, you'll have no one left to send to next time.
Nojima Giken Marketing is based at our garage workshop in Kiyota-ku, Sapporo. We can handle everything from building a Hokkaido list filtered by subprefecture, municipality, industry and size, to copywriting and sending. Business lists from ¥20 per entry, fax DM sending from ¥10 per fax; minimum lots are negotiable.
FAQ
Related reading
What response rate does fax DM get? How many replies 1,000 faxes bring, from a practical viewpoint →
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