Postcard marketing is a simple, flexible and inexpensive direct mail marketing tool and works to put a promotional message in front of a prospect or existing customer. According to Forbes, 57% of people say postcard marketing makes them feel valued and creates authentic relationships. Postcard marketing can be an effective way of enticing prospects or past customers to your website, particularly when part of an integrated digital marketing strategy.
There is no doubt that postcard marketing campaigns boast effectiveness, but only if they are done right. Here we detail the best tips and tricks to ensure your postcard marketing gets the results your business needs.
Set Specific Goals
As with any marketing strategy, before you start out is it vital you set out your goal of what you want to achieve from the campaign. Are you sending out a postcard to recruit new prospects and generate new leads? Are you trying to influence sales by offering a discount code? Is your mission to motivate existing customers to repeat purchase?
In order to measure the effectiveness of your campaign, it is important to convert these goals into measurable figures. For example, if you are setting out to prompt existing customers to make a repeat purchase, your goal may be increasing repeat purchase by 20% for the month.
Identify a Targeted Audience
The next step is to decide who you are going to target for your campaign whether this be targeting a list of existing customers, or creating a new list to target new prospects. Alternatively, you might want to send a postcard to every address in a defined geographic area whereby you use a print EDDM (Every Door Direct Mail) service. In order to increase your success rate, make sure your data is cleansed to avoid any wasted sent mail.
Create a Compelling Message
Once you have decided on your goal and who you are targeting, it is important to figure out a compelling message which will help your prospects and customers take action. Put yourself into your customer’s shoes- is your message compelling enough to motivate action as soon as they pick up the postcard? Perhaps you could propose an offer with a limited-time period to take action, or include a freebie if they take action on the same day.
Get Creative with Design
After you have confirmed your copy and compelling offer, your design is the next most important thing to create as this is what will catch your prospects initial attention. In order to make sure your postcard stands out from the rest there are a couple of things to bear in mind.
- Ensure your design commands attention- use a choice of bold headings, bright and contrasting colours, unique and interesting images, and strong typography that is easy to read and follow.
- Create a desire and need for your service/product– Use interesting images that help demonstrate the benefits of what you are offering. You could also look to include charts or graphs that show why your product is better than the competition.
- Visually guide your prospect to your CTA (call to action) – make sure it is clear in your visuals why you are trying to grab their attention by pointing them clearly in the direction of your offer/CTA. Remember to only use graphics that have a purpose and have a direct link to your CTA.
Printing Specifications Matter
From choosing the perfect size postcard to the choice of the paper stock you decide to use, the way you choose your design is an essential aspect of your campaign to making it stand out against other pieces of mail that your prospect might receive that day. A postcard too small may get lost amongst the rubble, whereas a postcard too big stands the chance of being thrown out for being too large to handle and taking up space on counter tops.
4” x 6” is a small enough size to make a straightforward and easy to read compelling offer.
5” x 7” this width allows for the right balance among several images and compelling copy.
6” x 9” is the biggest option among the popular postcard sizes.
When it comes to the finish of your postcard, choosing a glossy finish is great for a cutting-edge brand wanting to grab attention, whereas a matte finish postcard is perfect for an elegant and premium brand. Alternatively, if you are all about promoting sustainability you could opt for an eco-friendly 100 percent recycled matte paper stock.
Will a Postcard Marketing Campaign be Your Next Move?
A postcard marketing campaign is without doubt a highly effective way to acquire and retain customers. They allow a company the opportunity to make a powerful first impression with a target audience at a low cost.
If you would like to discuss your next postcard direct mail campaign or simply find out a little more about the different direct mail campaigns we offer, contact us today for a free no obligation quotation.
For more information, please use our contact form or call us on 020 8492 5858 and one of our mailing specialists will be in touch soon.