Your marketing needs two advantages to succeed. It must get
attention and it needs to be cheap enough to fit your budget over
the long haul. Marketing that blends in with ads around it or is
too expensive to do more than a few times will get you into
trouble fast.
Postcards carry the day on both points. Because a postcard
doesn't need an envelope, your message has a head start when
grabbing attention. Today's bright, full color postcards
practically jump out of your prospect's stack of mail.
Postcards are far cheaper than regular mail. They compare in
price to opt-in email. And you can make small, targeted postcard
campaigns that bring the results of an expensive print or
broadcast campaign.
First, figure out what you want to achieve with your postcard.
Are you looking for leads? Do you need to get more people into
your store or to your web site? Are you trying to boost sales of
a featured product or service?
Your postcard's main message needs to be simple and direct.
Create a sentence or two that zeros in on your main objective.
If you want your postcard to get people to do more than one
thing, consider sending a series of postcards. Each card can
concentrate on motivating readers to do a single task.
For example, Mary's antique store might first send a postcard to
addresses in an upscale neighborhood letting people know her
store is open for business. Next she might want to send a
postcard that focuses on a single item or line.
Notice we didn't just say Mary mailed her postcard. She mailed
them to "an upscale neighborhood." Mary focuses her marketing
budget on a specific audience that she feels is highly likely to
buy. Targeting like this can increase response by 60 percent.
When you target consumers, consider these ways of categorizing
your audience: where they are located, what they do for a
living, family size, income range, ages, men or women, how much
education they have, and the lifestyle they embrace.
Targeting a business is a bit different. Business-to-business
audiences can be classified according to industry, wholesalers
vs. retailers, number of employees and annual sales, and industry
groups they may belong to.
You can also target to past customers. Target one mailing to
people who buy often. Have a different postcard go to customers
who buy less frequently or haven't purchased in a while. Unhappy
or one-time customers could comprise a third and fourth list.
Building your own house address list will be invaluable.
Get mailing lists from list brokers in your area (check the
Yellow Pages) or from the firms in SRDS.com's Directory of List
Brokers (have your local library can get it for you.)
Now that we have a big picture, let's get back to how to write
and design your postcard.
Like any marketing document, start with a headline. Begin with an
action word. Promise a main benefit customers will get when they
buy from you. Cut out extra words.
Headlines work best when they are black, bold type on a white
background. White on a dark background works well, too. Avoid
colored type. It can easily blend into the background making
your headline less attention-getting.
Write in a mixed case like this sentence. Capitalizing The
Beginning Of Each Word or PUTTING YOUR HEADLINE IN ALL CAPS makes
your headline harder to read.
Use a full-color photo to make your postcard look more impressive
and stand out from the other mail. That used to be expensive,
but now online suppliers like ModernPostcard.com give you a vast
catalogue of stock photos to choose from at a low price. We
have a card we send to advertising agencies that need help
writing copy. The full-color photo shows an ad agency creative
director pulling his hair out in frustration. Any ad exec will
immediately identify with the story our photo tells.
Finally, take advantage of the many sizes postcard come in. 4.25
by 5.5 inch cards are small, perfect for short messages and
fitting in a customer's pocket or purse. Many people like to use
the larger 5.5 by 8.5 card. It gets attention, can hold more
information, and can still be mailed cheaply. Cards as large as
8.5 by 11.5 inches are still relatively inexpensive to print.
If you are only sending a few postcards each week, you can get
best results by hand addressing your cards and affixing a stamp.
It gives your card a personal touch customer's appreciate.
Cheap, effective postcards are a great way for a very small
business to gradually build its customer base and sales.
Postcards are also a good way to augment a larger company's print
and broadcast campaigns. By following these simple tips, you can
insure your postcard gets noticed and brings results.
About the Author
Ron Sathoff and Kevin Nunley provide marketing advice, business
writing, and promotion packages. See all their helpful tips and
ideas at http://InternetWriters.com Reach them at
mailto:service@InternetWriters.com or 801-328-9006.