Why Postcard Mailers Are King

Lately our team has been really busy creating some awesome postcard mailing campaigns, and in return our clients are seeing great results. Which isn’t surprising considering USPS has publicly stated the postcard is the most widely read piece of marketing material.

According to 79% of professionals involved in business-to-business marketing, direct mail marketing is seen as “effective” or “very effective.”

If you are considering adding direct postcard mailers to your marketing campaign, you may be wondering how much the initial investment will cost, as well as how quickly you can plan to see results. The answers to these questions are largely based on the overall quality of your postcard. Here we provide information and tips about direct mailers to help you succeed in your marketing venture.

Why Postcard Mailers Are King

The initial investment for postcard mailers can be difficult to muster up, especially for a small business. But when done correctly the results are proven to pay off. Not to mention, postcard marketing is one of the cheaper forms of mass marketing. As reported by the Marketing Association, the 2012 Response Rate Report states that postcards are far cheaper per-lead than print ads, telemarketing, or email campaigns. (Reference)

The bigger expense just might be ignoring direct mail marketing, and assuming other forms of advertisements are good on their own.

Mail Marketing Tip #1—Postcards Must Be Relevant & Familiar

Just like Internet marketing, postcards need to be relevant to those receiving them in order to be effective. 23% of consumers will respond to a postcard that has relevance to them, this is why knowing your target audience is so important.

Even more telling, 46% of consumers are more likely to respond to a postcard if they are familiar with the company mailing it out. You may originally send out a mailer in order to introduce yourself to the community, but over time your mailers, company name, and logo will become recognizable, so that those receiving them feel familiar with you. This means mailers can increase the number of leads they generate over time.

Mail Marketing Tip #2—Skip The Envelope, Stick To The Postcard

You want to skip out on the whole ‘envelope’ if you can. Only 7.9% of consumers are going to open letter-sized envelopes that come in the mail. Everyone else simply tosses them out without even catching a glance at the message hidden beneath the envelope.

On the contrary, well-designed postcards are easy to see and can capture attention before they find their way in the recycling bin. In fact, 52.5% of consumers read postcards they get in the mail, that’s a whole lot compared to the nearly 8% willing to open envelopes.

Mail Marketing Tip #3—Pick the Right Mailing List

How do you plan to get mailing addresses for your campaign? Depending on the address list you access the results of your postcard mailers will vary. There are 3 main types of mailing lists available for purchase today:

• Specialty list: gives you the chance to identify and select your target audience.
• Custom mailing list: gives you the option to select the criteria that best fits your target audience.
• Cloned list: gives you the chance to discover costumers that are similar to the costumers you currently do the most business with.

It is very important to take this consideration seriously, after all you don’t want to waste money sending out mailers to people that are far from interested in your product or service.

Mail Marketing Tip #4—Offer Something Extra Special

Simply saying “hello” in your direct mail marketing is not going to win you any favors. Instead, you need to give your customers something to get excited about, a reason to come and visit your location. For instance, if you are a dentist office and you offer a small 5% discount, that’s likely not enough to get new customers in the door, let alone grab their attention. It’s all about offering something consumers will notice as uniquely special, for instance free is the most powerful word you can use to capture attention.

Mail Marketing Tip #5—Leave It To The Trusted Professionals

Just because direct mail marketing produces great results time and time again, doesn’t mean every single postcard wins new sales and clients. In order to create a postcard mailer that really works it takes a lot of time, testing and experience.  Just like anything related to marketing, it is a honed skill.

There is also a certain level of confidence necessary to create a bold campaign that works without stepping over any lines. As Forbes reports via The Kern Organization, “It comes down to a matter of training and experience…. Few marketers these days have had the training required to produce winning packages time after time.” Finding a marketing team with a track record for successful campaigns is one way to help ensure your investment in direct mail marketing pays off and then some.