7 Postcard Marketing Tips Your Business Needs to Try

Despite the rise of everything digital, postcard marketing continues to thrive.

It’s affordable and personal. Mail traffic has slowed significantly in the past several years, giving you a visibility boost.

Best of all, it gets results.

In fact, the Direct Marketing Association’s annual findings indicate over half of consumers have revealed they read postcards. For comparison, a mere 33% read sales letters. In addition, nearly a quarter of recipients will respond to a postcard marketing offer if it applies to them.

Simply put, direct mail marketing deserves a place in your budget. These seven postcard marketing tips can help you get the most from your next campaign:

Tip #1 – Prioritize Your Mailing List

It’s logical enough: the better crafted your mailing list, the better chance you have of successful deliveries and higher responses.

Your mailing list is a critical component of your postcard marketing. Every postcard you send costs your company money. It’s important you use your mailing list to target your prospects to get the best possible ROI.

You’ve got a few options when it comes to your mailing list:

First, there’s always the option of purchasing a list from a company that specializes in consumer data. These companies can help you customize your list in a number of ways, such as giving you names of people who have purchased something through direct mail in the past.

Your other option is to create an in-house list using your CRM or other data. This option is usually far cheaper than purchasing a new list. It also means you’ll need to comb through your own data to ensure it’s up-to-date.

Tip #2 – Personalize Your Postcard Marketing

Postcards have long been considered the neighborly, personalized form of marketing. It’s like getting a message from a friend rather than a company.

However, this effect is lost if you address your postcard to Current Resident.

Take the opportunity to personalize your postcard mailing, both in the address and in your design. You can include their name somewhere in your message. Or, craft your message to include a common factor they share with other recipients.

For example, if you’re targeting homeowners who have recently moved into their new home, you could say something along the lines of “Welcome, Neighbor!”

This gives your marketing a way to connect with your audience on a personal note. They won’t be able to ignore it.

Tip #3 – Keep Your Message Simple

The phrase “Less is more” has never been truer when it comes to postcard marketing. Considering the fact that you’ve got limited space on your postcard, you’ll want to keep your message short and to the point.

Having too much text or too many graphics on the same mailer can distract from what you want your recipients to do.

Be clear as to what you want your audience to do after they read your postcard. If they have to guess, they likely won’t do anything.

Tip #4 – Design is Important, but It’s Not Everything

Many companies believe that hiring a professional designer is critical to postcard marketing success. It’s true that a good design can make your mailing more attractive. But the ROI doesn’t always justify the cost of hiring a professional designer.

There are plenty of free design tools and templates you can use online to create a standout postcard. Sumopaint.com is a free online version of Adobe Photoshop. Canva.com is also free, offering simple design tools, free images, and pay-per-image options to give your postcard a professional look.

Another idea is to use an authentic picture of your business as your design. Storytelling and authenticity are hot topics in marketing for 2018. People love seeing the human side of companies.

However, if your products or services rely on a good design, then hiring a professional makes sense.

Keep this in mind: the less money you spend on designing your postcard, the sooner you can enjoy a positive ROI. Read more about different postcard design options.

Tip #5 – Hire a Proofreader

Postcard marketing costs time and money. Don’t blow your efforts by allowing a typo to creep into your message.

Even a single error can ruin your postcard’s professional image. Misspellings, grammatical errors, missing punctuation, and minor formatting issues are easy mistakes to make.

It doesn’t cost much to hire a proofreader. Sites like Fiverr or Guru can connect you with a professional copy editor to give your postcard a read-through for just a few dollars.

Ensuring your postcard is error-free can go a long way in boosting your brand image.

Tip #6 – Timing is Key

One of the toughest challenges of postcard marketing is getting your postcard to stand out against mailbox filler. While a good design can certainly help you do this, you can give your campaign an extra boost by timing it just right.

Try to send your mailing to where it will arrive in Tuesday’s or Wednesday’s mail. These days are usually lighter on mail traffic, meaning you’ll likely have less competition in your recipient’s mailbox.

If possible, avoid having your postcard arrive on a Monday. Mondays are usually the heaviest mail days. For many people, it’s also a day for catching up, meaning they may not have time to read what you’ve sent them.

Tip #7 – Don’t Stop With Just One Postcard

In general, direct mail is usually more successful when you have repeat mailings. This type of marketing is based on building relationships, not transactions.

You can build trust by regularly sending messages to your audience. This is your opportunity to introduce yourself and show them why they should do business with you.

Remember, just because someone doesn’t take advantage of an offer doesn’t mean they’re not interested. It may be that they didn’t need it at the time.

Staying top of mind is key so you can be the first person they call when they do need your product.

In Closing

Now is the perfect time to start using postcard marketing. Mail volume has significantly decreased in the past decade, which means you’ll have less competition in your audience’s mailbox.

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