Postcards are wonderful ads for your business.

We all know that direct mail, is one of the most effective advertising methods that is available to any business…large or small.  A way to make direct mail even more successful is to put your message on a postcard. 

I’ve used them in various stages of building my companies.  Here are a few reasons why I recommend them.

1. They are small enough, that your customers will keep them, especially if you give them a coupon or other discount.
2. They are easy to read. And since they are small in size, you are forced to rework your message, until it will fit in such a small space.
3. There isn’t an envelope to come in between you and your message, so your message will be read immediately.  You aren’t putting the individual in a position to have to open an envelope.
4. Since postage has been increasing over the years, marketing with postcards lowers your cost to reach a prospect or customer. Therefore your ROI is much higher.
5. Here’s the best reason.  They are personal. 

Here are some tips to have a successful Postcard Marketing Program.

1. Make sure that your postcards are to prospects and customers that are likely to be interested in your offer.
2. Create a postcard that looks like a personal message from a friend, instead of a printed ad.
3. Get to the point to capture the recipients attention immediately.
4. Try not to make it a sales pitch.  Remember that I always say to create a relationship with your prospect and/or customer.  So don’t try to sell them immediately.  Offer them something, so that they will respond.
5. Here’s something I learned by reading someone’s statistics.   Send the postcards so they arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday.  Why?  Because the volume of mail that the post office is delivering those days is lighter and your postcard won’t have to compete with other mail.
6. Always send them First Class.  If your postcard is 3 ½ by 5 inches, it costs about half of what a regular first class envelope would cost.  If you make your postcard larger, than the cost will be higher.  There were times when it was very cost effective for me to send large postcards.   I did this to catch their attention. Sometimes I even created postcards that were not rectangular, but were round, or looked like characters. 

Experiment with Postcards.  Remember the prime objective is to get the individual to read it and respond to your offer. 

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