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Getting the Most from Postcard Marketing
by: Eric Young
One of the most popular forms of direct marketing is the use of postcards
to reach your target audience. Postcard postage is much cheaper than standard
first class postage and the postcards themselves are relatively inexpensive
to produce. However, if your direct mail campaign is not properly planned,
and the postcards are not strategically designed your response rate will
suffer. This article will outline how to effectively plan a direct mail campaign
that will yield favorable results.
First and foremost you have to ask yourself if direct mailing is worth it
for you. Marketing experts agree that the standard response rate for a direct
mail campaign is 1-2%. Let’s break this down a little bit: If you spend
$350 on 5000 postcards, $1200 on postage and $200 on a mailing list of 5000
prospects your expenses total $1750. If you yield a 2% response rate that
means you have 100 positive responses or sales. How much you make per sale
will be the final determining factor in deciding whether or not direct mail
campaigns are a worthy investment.
Let’s say you sell novelty t-shirts and make a profit of $10 per sale.
At a 2% response rate that’s 100 sales yielding $1000. This is $750
less than it cost to run the campaign and it is a major loss. However, if
you sell custom furniture at $50 profit on each sale, the postcard campaign
will yield 100 positive responses totaling $5,000. This particular scenario
shows a major gain and would be quite worth the investment.
Once you’ve crunched the numbers and figured that a direct mail campaign
might be worth your while, it is time to plan your campaign. Setting up the
right plan is the key to making sure you achieve at least a 1-2% response
rate. The basic elements of the plan include selecting your mailing list,
writing effective marketing copy, including a special offer, and making a
strong call to action.
Selecting the right mailing list is the cornerstone to overseeing a successful
direct mail campaign. There are many list brokers that sell leads that can
be custom tailored to your needs. For example, if you sell high end automobiles
you would most likely want to target those with a specific income range.
Most list brokers make it possible to narrow down your mailing list according
income range as well as many other criteria.
Once you’ve selected your target market and purchased your mailing list
it is time to actually design your promotional piece. This is where most
campaigns go wrong. Most people aren’t familiar with the proper marketing
techniques that ensure a better response rate. For example, they tend to
highlight the features of their product or service rather than emphasizing
the benefits the consumer will reap by purchasing this product or service.
Prospects are not really interested in YOU, they are interested in THEMSELVES.
By highlighting how your product or service can alleviate a burden they might
have or save them some money you are on your way to grasping their full
attention. For example, if you are a landscaping company you do not want
your headline to read “Over 20 Years Experience!” This headline
does not appeal to the needs of the prospect. Try instead, “Spend your
weekends relaxing, not weeding!”
This particular headline uses the alleviation of a burden as its marketing
approach and would be much more effective than the former.
Including a special offer in your message is crucial to its success but you
don’t have to give away the farm. A simple discount for first time customers
is enough to cut through the competitor’s offers and give your prospect
the incentive to consider you first. Again, it is important to first crunch
the numbers and calculate how much you can afford to discount and still come
out ahead. Other special offers might include the offering of small gifts,
coupons or gift certificates.
The “call to action” statement is a phrase in which you urge your
prospect to be proactive. CALL NOW, ORDER NOW and SIGN UP TODAY are just
some of these phrases that we hear everyday. Often times these statements
will be tied in with the special offer to give them some more teeth- ORDER
NOW AND SHIPPING IS FREE!
Though these statements may seem superfluous countless marketing experts
agree that they work. They motivate the prospect to take that extra step
and move beyond just considering your offer to acting on it.
Once you decide that postcard marketing is for you, adhering to these guidelines
will help to ensure greater response rates which ultimately lead to more
sales.
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