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Postcard marketing is the ideal way for many small businesses to reach out to their prospective customers because it’s typically less expensive than other forms of direct mail. Yes, it costs more than email, but as email marketing becomes more and more challenging, postcard marketing is a viable alternative worth serious consideration.

In addition to the postage being less than traditional direct mail, there’s less paper involved and no envelope. Postcard marketing can also be more effective than sending a letter or brochure in an envelope because you’re avoiding one of the biggest hurdles to direct mail marketing success, namely: getting the prospect to open the envelope! With postcard marketing, there IS no envelope to open.

However, the challenge with postcard marketing, as is the case with any kind of advertising or marketing, is to present a message that gets noticed and that gets acted on. Your prospective customers are bombarded with hundreds, if not thousands of advertising and marketing messages every single day, so they tend to filter out 95% of them– otherwise, we’d all suffer from information overload.

That’s why it’s important to come up with an attention grabbing message in your postcard marketing campaign, which is accompanied by incentives and a clear “call to action”. Of course, you have to make sure that you’re sending your offers to a targeted, almost pre-qualified audience that would most likely be interested in your product or service.

Here are some tips to help you get the best results with postcard marketing:

1. Decide what you want to accomplish with your postcard

For example, do you want to generate sales from existing customers, or new ones? Announce a “preferred customers only” sale? Send a friendly reminder to past customers? Announce the launch of a new product or service? Thank people for doing business with you?

Your postcard should have one goal and one goal only. Try to do too many things at once and you will confuse your reader and dilute response. So rule number one: only one call to action per postcard.

2. Focus on benefits, not features.

For example, if you’re promoting a seminar, emphasise the end result your seminar will deliver, as well as the features such as dates and location.

3. Make ‘em an offer they can’t refuse.

These days, we’re inundated with offers, so it’s worth taking time to make your offer IRRESISTIBLE. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes and think about what they really, really want. Then find a way to deliver that.

4. Tell people what to do next.

Should they pick up the phone and place their orders now? Or visit your website to get the Internet-only special? Bring the card to your store no later than the 15th of this month? Getting the postcard into their hands is only the first step in your postcard marketing. You must get your recipients to take the next step, and you need to tell them what that step is.

5. Give them several ways to respond.

Put your address, phone number, e-mail, and Web address on your postcard. Having multiple ways to respond will increase conversion- but remember, there should only be ONE call to action. So if your postcard invites them to book a coaching call, then they can do so by phone, by website or by fax. Note that is different from saying ‘phone to book the call, or visit our website to join our mailing list’. See the difference?

Make a point of adding postcards to your marketing mix and follow these simple rules and you are sure to see a great return on your investment.

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