Harness The Power Of The Postcard!
by Josh Amidon
Ask any of my clients and they will tell you, I’m a huge proponent of digital advertising. It needs to be a part of your marketing strategy – but contrary to what Google, Facebook and other tech-minded folks tell you, traditional marketing isn’t dead! Not all of it, anyway….
What if I told you sending an attention grabbing postcard once a month to your entire potential customer base would cost around $3.00 per lead per year? Would you call me crazy? No need to answer that….No other form of traditional marketing can compete with it, not the Yellow Pages, not newspaper/magazine advertising, not radio advertising, not even the all-powerful TV advertising.
Postcards get opened too - well, sort of. Since there is no envelope to open, it is more likely that your message will at least be seen, even if the reader only casually scans his or her mail.
One of the keys to success with postcards is to use them in the right way. You can’t make a sophisticated, information rich, sales pitch on a 3 x 5 card. Postcards are the perfect tool to use in conjunction with a two-step advertising technique.
In other words, use the postcard to grab your target market’s attention and get them to respond for more information, attend a free event, or subscribe to your free newsletter. Then you can concentrate on providing them with all the information they will need to determine if they want to do business with your company.
Some thoughts on doing it right
- Use color. You only have 2-3 seconds to get your point across. Color will help you get attention. By color I mean a full color photo or image. Digital printing has made color printing, even in small quantities, very affordable.
- Short, don’t ever underestimate the impact of a well written headline. You only have a small space to get your message across. Grab your reader by the throat and make them sit up and listen.
- Mail often. Postcards, and any direct mail for that matter, are more effective when the message is delivered over and over. Your credibility increases as they receive your mailing over several months.
A couple of other uses
While I really like postcards for generating new customers, there are many other great uses with your existing base.
- Special Customer Offerings
- Coupons
- News Announcements
- New Product Announcements
Send a mailing to your list and request “return service” from the post office. This is one of the least expensive ways to clean up your mailing list.
Using postcards in any of these manners also makes it easy to track your results. By adding a “bring this card in for 10% off” gives you some very accurate information.
Postcards have long been the red-headed step child of marketing, but why? Sure they’re not as sexy as Pay Per Click ads, TV/Radio commercials or Social Ads – but they’re cheap and effective for the small business owner. Isn’t that what matters?
