Sending A Marketing Postcard

Before I talk about marketing with postcards, do you know what prospecting is?

It’s the marketing methods you use to find potential customers. Ads. Websites. Sales Letters. Radio. Television. But like everything else, there’s also a problem here.

The ugly truth about prospecting today is simply this: People are no longer paying attention to your marketing messages.

I mean, do you find yourself working harder and and paying more and more for each incremental gain in market share? Isn’t it getting more difficult to distinguish your business image and strategy from that of your competitors?

If you’ve answered “YES” to any of these questions, then chances are your current marketing strategy is on life support. But you’re not alone.

The most challenging problem in marketing products these days is getting your prospects to pay attention to what you have to say.

Did you know that postcards are one of the most inexpensive, effective, and targeted marketing strategies available to you today?

Let’s think about it for a moment…

You live in an over-marketed over-communicated society that makes it absolutely impossible to pay attention to the 3,500 or more marketing messages you’re exposed to every single day. That’s 24,500 advertisements each week. Or, a whopping 1.27 million advertising messages per year … and growing!

Consumer attention has spread so thin because brand choices have exploded in virtually every product category. Here’s what happened over the past 25 years. Our
choices have increased:
• From only 4 running shoe styles to 285!
• From just 17 pain relievers to 141!
• From 20 soft drink brands to 87!
• From 4 types of milk to over 30!
• From just 13 choices on the Burger King’s menu to 53!

No wonder customer “attention” has become the most precious resource in the New Digital Economy.

Postcards are one of the ways left for the little guy to deliver full-color, personalized marketing messages to a prospect’s front door cost-efficiently. And unlike e-mail, postcards are not subject to “DELETE” or “BLOCK SENDER” keys with a simple click of the mouse!

Every day people get mail. Many of them are white envelopes with words imprinted in
black ink. But if there’s a full-color postcard that catches the recipient’s eye, it gets that precious 3 seconds first. If you do everything right when marketing with postcards, your prospect will decide to take action in 80 seconds, or less. Here’s the rhythm of a successful postcard solicitation:

First 3 seconds: Prospect glances at postcard’s billboard side
Next 5 seconds: Prospect then turns over to read return address
Next 7 seconds: Prospect reads headline
Next 45 seconds: Prospect reads body copy
Next 20 seconds: Prospect takes action if message is interesting

The wonderful thing about marketing with postcards is that it plays a distinct attention-getting role. The message is physically in your prospect’s hand. The hand comes up. The hand looks. And the hand decides whether or not to throw it away. If the hand stops, it’s because something in your message has triggered the prospect’s attention. Logical, right?

People think in pictures, not words. Color often adds vibrancy and brilliance to your marketing message. It’s been scientifically demonstrated that colors and pictures improve human recall and concentration, amplify motivation and bolster the overall thinking process.

The single most important activity of your business is your ability to craft effective marketing communications. Increases in success and wealth are possible when sending the right message, to the right audience, with right timing, at the right price. Period.

Don’t waste words on your next postcard marketing campaign. Remember: You have only have 3 seconds to capture your prospect’s attention with your billboard side.

With traditional direct mail, it often takes 90 seconds just to open the outer envelope and organize the contents of what’s inside! Imagine, a postcard can deliver your complete sales message in the same time it takes to open and begin a direct mail letter!

Why torture your prospects with long, arduous copy when you can serve them delicious, bite-sized, idea nuggets so they can respond more quickly?

So some of the ingredients you need for a great postcard are :

• An eye-catching picture
• Great text that really gets to the point.

By the way, the copywriter is probably the most critical person for a great postcard. Don’t skimp on this. What is written on the card is what response you are going to get, and you’ll need words that are economical, but action oriented (when called for).

So check out this page for 4 eye-popping ideas below:

(on the back of the card) To work with you. To satisfy your needs. To give you value. To earn your business.

(on the back of the card) Valuable clients like you! Exclusive offer at ….. until January 14th…..

(on the back of the card) We’re so happy to have met you! We’re glad you joined our exclusive circle. You’re the reason we are here. Thanks, and enjoy the ride of a lifetime…

(on the back of the card) With our product and service? We’ll be there for you even after the job is through! Feel complete satisfaction as we fulfill our obligation to you.

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