Four Simple Postcard Strategies That Work

Postcards are an effective and economical way to reach out to your customer base – especially when you do it right. Like most marketing efforts, there is a right way and a lot of wrong ways to send out postcards. You need to make sure your plan gives you the most bang for your buck, bringing you the highest amount of return for your time, money and effort. Here are a few strategies to get the most out of your postcards.

1. The 40/40/20 direct marketing rule

You are probably already familiar with the ]]>40/40/20 rule]]>, but it is smart to reacquaint yourself with the idea, because it works! The 40/40/20 rule says that 40 percent of your success comes from reaching the quality of your mailing list, another 40 percent comes from your offer, and the remaining 20 percent comes from the creative aspect of the promotion.

2. Call to action

Make sure that your message has a clear and compelling call to action, whether you're asking customers to visit your place of business, call a phone number or browse to a website address. You want to emphasize urgency to the customer so they act quickly in response to your postcard. Give them a reason to pick up the phone, go to your website or pay a visit to your retail location now by combining your call to action with a time-limited offer.

3. Premium printing

Another thing to consider is the quality of your printing. You may be tempted to ]]>print postcards]]> on the cheap, thinking they will just end up in the garbage anyway – but that is a sure way to have your postcard do just that without being seen or read. Premium printing gets you noticed, and combined with a great message and design, it can help motivate customers to take the next step in the purchasing process. A postcard with full-color premium printing impresses your customers and encourages them pay attention to your postcard.

4. Focus on your brand

Everything you do should back up your brand image and reinforce it to your customer base, no matter what incentive or message you try to send. Be sure that when your customers see your postcard they automatically know it is from you. You do this by being consistent with your message and always including it with your logo, color scheme and marketing slogans. It is easy to go astray from this if you’re not careful, but you need to do all you can to establish your brand image and keep it consistent as much as possible.