7 tips for successful marketing of postcards

Simple low-cost postcards have become a valuable business tool for modern sellers. They can produce a surge of traffic to your website or an avalanche of high quality sales leads.

Tip 1: Focus on the mailing list

Make sure your postcards go to potential customers who are interested in your offer ... and also have a proven track record of acting on offers that interest them.

For example, send them to non-competitive business customers who sell in your target market, subscribers of publications read by prospects in your target market or to prospects who previously requested information on products or services similar to those you offer.

You can get all these lists from most mailing list brokers.

Tip 2: Be a friend

Set up your postcard so that it appears at first sight as a message from a friend instead of as a magazine ad printed on a postcard. It will increase the number of responses you receive.

A postcard that looks like a friendly message produces a pleasant emotional reaction from readers instead of the hard emotional reaction that most people have to advertising.

Tip 3: get rid of the sales launch

Do not try to close sales directly from your postcard. You do not have enough space to provide all the information that most prospects need to make a purchase decision. Instead, use your postcard to generate sales inquiries.

Tip 4: go straight to the point

The postcards are delivered "ready to read". Take advantage of this. Go directly to the point to capture the reader's attention immediately. This makes it difficult for prospects to avoid reading your postcard, especially if your complete message is short and easy to read.

Tip 5: go first class

Send your postcards by first class mail. It costs only 23 cents in the United States if you make them at least 3 1/2 by 5 inches but not more than 4 1/4 by 6 inches.

This gives you all the benefits of first-class mail for only a few cents more than standard mail ("bulk mail") ... and produces many more responses.

Tip 6: Take care of your time

Send your postcards to arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday. The volume of mail delivered in the US UU. In those days it is generally low and your postcards will not have to compete with many other emails delivered at the same time.

Try to avoid being handed your postcards on Monday. It is usually the largest mail delivery day of the week and is a very busy day for most people.

Tip 7: save on design and printing

Do not spend much to design and print your postcards. Using an elegant design with colorful graphics can be expensive and rarely improves your response rate, unless you sell those services.

Simple postcards designed to resemble a friend's message can be printed on your own computer for only 1 or 2 cents per card ... or you can have a commercial printer do the job for only 4 to 7 cents per card.

The next time you want to generate a surge of traffic to your website or generate an avalanche of new potential customers, send postcards. And be sure to follow the 7 tips revealed in this article to get the maximum response to your postcards at the lowest cost.