Postcard Marketing Is A Creative Direct Marketing Tool
Building a successful and profitable business with a postcard marketing campaign is one of the best techniques that you could employ.
How Does Your Business Benefit With Marketing Postcards Strategy?
- low-cost alternative to email
- works for any type of business
- postcards always get read
- delivers information quickly with minimal effort
- generates immediate results that can be measured
- effectively generates website traffic for business
- creates viral marketing via sharing with friends
- can narrow your target market for higher response rate
- conceal marketing efforts from your competitors
- builds credibility and brand awareness
Develop A Powerful And Compelling Postcard Marketing Campaign:
Plan
1) Advertising Goals
Build a solid foundation for your campaign that will ensure you marketing success.
To get started, you should first ask yourself the following questions, . . .
-- What is my purpose for a mailing campaign?
-- Who is my target market?
-- What will my message be?
-- How will I attain a mailing list?
-- Do I plan to test market initially?
-- What is my advertising budget?
Objectives
- increase your product and service awareness
- target only interested and qualified prospects
- build business logo and brand awareness
- plan a followup marketing postcards campaign
- maintain database with profile specifics
2) Postcard Marketing Message
Use persuasive words to make people feel something.
Present your message as if from a friend, instead of an ad. Write it with passion and make it engage your readers emotions. This will definitely create a pleasant emotional response.
Copy Writing Tips
- Be specific in your message
- Use captivating phrases and headlines
- Present powerful immediate call to action
- Include your USP in your promotional offer
- State main benefits to establish reason to buy
- Give outstanding offer such as a 50% discount
- Create an urgency in call to action, such as deadline
- Always proofread for typos and grammatical errors
3) Postcard Marketing Design Layout
The presentation and appearance of your postcard is everything, and will mean the difference between catching your readers interst or not.
You will only get that first glance - so make it count!
The overall factors that must be considered in designing your postcards are:
-- Message
Need to provide a compelling reason for someone to respond to your marketing postcard. Mention the main benefits and features, and show how they will solve a problem or fill a need. Be specific.
-- Graphics
It's a known fact that everyone is drawn to colorful images or grapics and pictures. You can also use the image to convey your message or establish your business logo.
-- Postcard Size/Printing Requirements
This seems a bit redundant, but is vital to your campaign success.
They need to be between 3 1/2" x 5" to 4 1/2" x 6". To save money, you can print your own postcards individually on blank 4 x 6" index cards or print 4 postcards on 8 1/2 sheets of index card stock and cut each sheet into quarters.
You can find ready-made perforated postcard sheets at office supply stores.
U.S. Postal Service Guidelines
The United States Postal Service (USPS) has different postage guidelines regulated by various factors such as size of postcard to type of mailing service.
Check out the offical website of usps.com for more details.
4) Target The Postcard Market
Identify who your most likely prospects are.
You will need to conduct some research to see what kind of people are interested in your products and services.
One of the easiest ways to find this out, is by checking out your direct competition. Find out who they are selling to. Then it's just a matter of developing a database with profile specifics.
Try to find out what their purchasing history is. What do they buy, and how often to they buy it?
Where do they search for what they are looking for - and how often do they search for it?
A highly regarded list broker can assist you in finding these qualified prospects by using multiple factors such as geographical, annual income, credit status, purchasing history, response to direct marketing material, and so forth.
With this data, based upon what you are looking for, the list broker (or professional data company) can create an opt-in mailing list for your postcard marketing campaign needs.
Also, if applicable, be sure to use your own opt-in mailing list of qualifed and interested prospects. They are like gold to your marketing success.
5) Test Marketing
An effective campaign must have some test marketing done, to ensure postive results.
Postcards are great for measuring and tracking results, because they are quick to deliver and usually are responded to within 3 days or so. Small elements of the design layout or message can be changed and adjusted accordingly, to achieve the desired results.
When your testing returns the response rate that you set for yourself, then it's time to get serious with your postcard marketing.
6) Full Marketing
The average conversion rate for a good direct mail piece is between 1-2%.
Most readers will lose interest at the end of a page, so the challenge (or objective) is to pre-sell your message through your benefits and features.
Your postcard is not meant to directly sell something, or close a deal. They are best utilized to attract a prospect by getting stirring their interest, and then giving them a reason to want more information.
Motivate them to respond by checking out your website or blog, and then present them with your offer after you have them presold.
7) FollowUp Marketing Postcard Campaign
You need to repeat your key messages, by sending your offers out periodically.
Most people need to be exposed to your offer anywhere from 7 to 12 times before they respond.
Most everyone will read a postcard, because it's nearly impossible not to see the message at first glance. This ensures your postcard marketing campaign a higher readership resulting in an even bigger response.
PostCard Marketing Strategy
The best strategy is to know what you are doing, so that your marketing efforts will generate sales.
Here are some direct mail postcard techniques -
- Big ideas with incentive motivate people to respond
- Strong headlines that are interesting & suggest value
- Mail to in-house lists of qualifed prospects first
- Use eye-catching image that's relevant to message
- Only use one message per postcard
- Market postcards to prospects with history of acting on offers
- Use special offer, news flash or announcement
- Put descriptive value of offer in the headline
- Address wants, needs, fears and concerns of readers
- List how you can satisfy readers wants and needs
- Use eye-catching specifics and numbers when possible
- Follow offer with specific call to action
- Repeat call to action on both sides of the postcard
- Offer optional ways for reader to contact you
- Restate reason to respond, with value of offer
- Rent mailing list from noncompeting data companies
- Rent paid subscriber lists used by targeted prospects
- Don't close the sale - only generate the sales lead
Printing Services
Evaluate and compare sevices in a systematic way, in order to choose the best company for your printing needs.
Key Criteria
- Background and experience
- Working staff of company
- Unique skills and abilities
- Knowledge of printing and direct mail postcard marketing
- Offer educational tools as part of service
- Published relevant articles in magazines or internet
- Kind of design options offered
- Web-based design tools offered
- Design templates to personalize postcards
- Type of stock images they use
- Customers allowed to proof designs online before purchase
- Customers can upload their own database list
- Offer way to build an online mailing list
- Will print and mail your postcards for you
- Two-sided color or postage is part of base price
- Offer volume discounts or special deals
- Offer ability to place order from home or office computer
- Service is user friendly
- Service is effective and professional
- Offer customized service to create own card or logo
To Your Postcard Marketing Success !
From Postcard Marketing To Response Marketing
From Postcard Marketing To 101 Marketing Strategies


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