So, you want to plan a postcard campaign. I don’t blame you. Direct mail is not dead! 55% of people actually look forward to getting and seeing what’s in their mailbox. If you aren’t versed on the whole direct mail marketing, allow me to help you. There are a few steps you should take in order to perfect your postcard campaign.
First and foremost, set your goals. What do you want to get out of your postcard marketing? What is your purpose for sending out a billion postcards?
A few reasons for postcard marketing are as follows:
- Motivating previous buyers to buy again
- Introduce new and old customers to a new product or service you offer
- Finding new leads who are in need of your product or service
- Influencing sales – this works really well if you include a discount right on the mailer
- Attract new customers who may not need your service, but will remember your name from the mail you sent them
These goals are general, so you might also want to set some more specific goals attached to your postcard. This can include a certain amount of calls received from the mailer, generating a specific amount of ROI, or making X amount of sales.
Next, you need to identify your target audience. You can send postcards out to every address on a postal route with Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM), or you can target a more specific demographic. Determine if you want to send a specific age, gender, class, etc. Or, with some tools, such as MapYourSales, you can choose a radius around a house that you’ve worked with or serviced before. Maybe you’re a landscaper and you want your postcard marketing to let the neighborhood know you’re the reason the Smiths’ lawn looks so pretty this summer.
This next step in creating the perfect postcard advertising is optional depending on your postcard and your industry, but if you have the opportunity to do so, you should put a special offer on your postcard. Offer some percent off if you’re in a business that allows you to do so – this is going to boost your response rate immensely if the postcard recipient is in any type of need for your product or service. These offers can include percent-off discounts, free inspections or quotes, or something of that nature. Basically, you need to figure out what your audience needs and how you can compel them to let you solve their problems.
Finally, you need to let your audience know what the next step is. If you don’t give someone instructions, they won’t take any action. The best postcard designs have that call to action easy to see, along with contact information like the business website or phone number.
Follow these steps, and you’ll be a pro at effective postcard marketing. If you aren’t confident in your postcard creating abilities, check out a service like MapYourSales that has pre-created templates for you to make your own. In addition to helping you create a postcard, these types of services will also send the postcards out for you. All you need to do is tell MapYourSales where you want the mailers to send, and they’ll do it for you!
