By Joe Farinaccio

Postcard advertising works for many businesses.

Which ones?

You have to test in order to find out. But its not hard. And if postcards will work for you, then youll probably save a lot of money on advertising and get much better results.

If you’ve got a local service business then postcard advertising might be a good way to begin direct marketing. One of my friends owns a tire-sales/auto-repair business in Delaware. He began using postcards to attract new customers when he first opened up his shop 7 years ago.

He purchased a mailing list of new homeowners in the area and offered them a free-oil change with a discount coupon towards other services as a gift for moving into the community.

He did this every month for about 3 years. Then he stopped.

Why?

Because he couldnt handle all the work he was getting from those mailings anymore. You see, he didnt want to expand his business beyond the size it had grown into. He didnt want to hire any more people. And he was content with his level of business and income.

The point here though, is that he built his WHOLE business on the back of simple postcard advertising. The lowly little postcard worked for him in a HUGE way.

With this in mind, here are some tips for your own postcard advertising:

1) Remember to use the rules of good sales copy — the primary one being your need to offer benefits to customers instead of just telling them about the features in your products and services.

2) Always try to spell out a few outstanding benefits on your postcard using bullet points.

3) Offer a desirable gift or premium of some sort.

4) Make your postcards stand out. Use solar-yellow or goldenrod color with black type. (A few direct marketers Ive spoken with say this generates higher responses than any other color schemes theyve tested.)

5) Use follow-up mailings to customers who respond to mailings so you can create your own in-house mailing list. Then develop a relationship with these individuals. Get them to know you, like you, and trust you.

6) Periodically send your best customers special offers or discounts, simply for being your best customers.

7) Always put a headline on your postcards.

8) If you discover postcard advertising works for your particular business then do it regularly like clockwork.

9) Dont assume postcards only work for lower-priced items or services. One robotics company I read about mailed 250 postcards to a very targeted group of engineers and it resulted in a quarter-million dollars worth of sales.

10) Postcard advertising can be used for sequential mailings in a full-blown direct marketing campaign. The last one, for example, might contain a message like This is your LAST chance to take advantage of this offer.

11) Keep the sentences in your postcard advertising short and to the point. And only promote one major offer per postcard mailing.

12) Use first-class stamps on your postcards. That way, if anyone on your mailing list has moved, his or her postcard will be returned. Remove those names from your in-house mailing list to keep it clean.

13) Make sure you put all of your contact info – – including website – – on the postcard.

14) Use postcard mailing services for convenience. Check out the U.S. Postal Services Online Postcard Mailing Service, for some more ideas http://www.usps.com/netpost/postcard.htm

Why not give postcards a try?

If they work for you then you may never have to think about paying for pricey advertising space in a newspaper or magazine ever again. If youd like to profit thru postcards and want help then give me a call. I typically offer a strong guarantee on the work I do for my clients.

About the Author: Joe Farinaccio helps businesses and entrepreneurs solve their marketing problems thru direct response advertising. To find marketing solutions for your business … visit his website at …

sales-letters-and-marketing.com

Source:

isnare.com

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