After a rumor circulated that he had passed away, Mark Twain famously declared, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” The same could be said about direct mail marketing.
With the advent of digital marketing technologies, many small businesses have assumed that online marketing is the only successful strategy. And social media and email can be good marketing tools. But more than half of customers report that they want to receive mail from brands they’re interested in.
If you would like to add direct mail to your company’s marketing strategy, you should consider postcard marketing. Postcard marketing is an effective and affordable way to reach customers with information about your product.
What is Postcard Marketing?
Postcard marketing is a form of direct mail marketing. Direct mail entails any marketing campaign based on sending printed materials to prospective clients. Unlike buying ad space, direct marketing gives you the advantage of knowing exactly who’s getting your promotional materials.
To start a postcard marketing campaign, you will need a list of contacts. These should be individuals who you believe will be interested in your product or service. You can use lists of previous customers, or prospects identified from your website to get started.
Why Postcards?
So if you’re looking to start a direct mail campaign, why should you choose postcards? There are a few distinct benefits.
Affordability
One of the best benefits of a postcard marketing campaign is affordability. Since a postcard is a minimalist mailing approach, it has very few costs associated with it.
For instance, a postcard is printed on a 4″X6″ piece of cardstock, which leads to low printing costs. You also will not need to purchase an envelope. Additionally, postage for postcards is less expensive than for standard mail.
Convenience
How many times have you received a marketing offer in the mail, and thrown it out without even opening the envelope? If you’re anything like me, more times than you can count.
The great thing about a postcard is that the prospective customer does not have to open it in order to read the promotional message. Even if they only glance at the postcard while they’re walking back from the mailbox, that’s enough time for them to take in the details.
Printing Your Postcards
Once you have decided run a postcard marketing campaign, the first step is to get some postcards. Here are some tips on how to get postcards that look great and won’t break the bank.
Explore Printing Options
For your marketing campaign, you will want to print custom postcards. This is a great way to emphasize your brand and make an impression on potential customers.
While you may think you could save money by printing the postcards in-house, using a professional printer is usually the better option. Professionals tend to have higher-quality printers, so your colors will come out looking more vibrant.
Additionally, using a professional printer will also save time. Don’t forget that, in addition to printing, the postcards will need to be cut down to size. Paying a professional is more than worth saving yourself the hassle.
Online Printers
Many professional printers have websites that allow you to customize your order. You can design the layout of your postcard, and see a preview of what the finished version will look like. Also, most sites have templates you can use to design your postcard.
Order in Bulk
While postcards are already inexpensive, ordering postcards for your marketing campaign in bulk will save you even more money. Many printers offer substantial discounts to customers who order in certain increments.
Design Options
If you are going to pay to have postcards professionally printed, and you plan to order them in bulk, you want them to look great. So before you move forward, you should take the time to consider the design features.
Balance Text and Graphics
In today’s technology-driven culture, we are bombarded with images every day. For this reason, you need to make sure that your postcard looks engaging so that it will catch your customer’s attention.
Overloading your postcards with too much text can overwhelm the customer, or bore them. To make the card more interesting, consider featuring relevant graphics or images on one or both sides. You could even practice some photography in order to feature a custom image.
Color Scheme
The color scheme you choose is important for several reasons. For one, you want to make sure it communicates your brand effectively. Customers should be able to quickly identify your company based on the colors and design.
Additionally, you should also consider how the design will affect the printing process. Most printers recommend using a color scheme based on no more than four colors. More colors could make the printing more expensive.
Also, make sure the colors you choose will look aesthetically pleasing when printed. For instance, some blues look different on the computer screen than they do when printed, and may even look different from one printer to another.
To make sure that your postcards look the way you want them to, request to have a test card printed before you get the whole bulk order. This way, you can tweak the design as you please.
Message
Postcards are fairly small, and people tend to read them quickly. In order to be effective, you want to make sure that your message is concise and easy to understand.
Don’t try to communicate too much with your postcard. Instead, identify one promotion or sales opportunity that you want your prospective customers to know about, and highlight this on the postcard. Also, make sure that the postcard includes a clear call to action that you want the customer to take.
Get Started with Postcard Marketing Today
With these benefits in mind, postcard marketing can be a great way to take your marketing campaign to the next level. So what are you waiting for? Get started and send a postcard today.
Have you used postcard marketing for your business? Has it been successful? Let us know in the comments!
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