Postcards are great tools to develop and enhance your relationships with your customers. Often overlooked by marketers, postcards have become a fast, easy and reliable way to increase your sales and profits without spending too much on advertising or promotion. It is a marketing tool that through content and design could break through the noise and clutter, while capturing mind share and instilling top-of-the-mind awareness.

Postcards can be used in a number of ways. You can use it to generate leads, attract more web site traffic, get new customers, and increase sales from your own customer base. It is also a great tool for announcing major changes in your business or events in your company.

If you have limited budget to spend on advertising your business, here are 5 great advantages of using postcards to market your products and services.

2. Unlimited creativity potential.

Your goal in sending a postcard is not only to get the customer to read your message, but to keep your message! And you can achieve this goal by designing a creative postcard that could elicit the response you need.

One advantage of postcards is it allows you to experiment with size, shape, and artistic design – without cost getting too much in the way. You are not constrained by the letter size and the formal rules of etiquette. It is a medium designed for creativity and fun!

Some postcards are so creatively designed or have funny sentiment or useful information that customers pin them in their boards or in their refrigerators. Imagine a customer seeing your card (and reading your message) every day! Even better, a postcard’s staying power may mean that it can have the opportunity to be seen by the receiver’s business colleagues, family and friends.

3. Savings, savings and savings.

Postcards are more economical than a direct mail campaign. By using postcards, you can send up to four times (in full-color) for about the same price as just one traditional direct mail package. You can realize savings in printing costs, paper, and labor costs. Plus, no envelopes!

Rising postal rates have also made direct mail expensive. A first class mail in the US costs 37 cents; postcards on the other hand cost only 23 cents to send – a savings of 14 cents per piece. You can reach a wider customer base with postcards compared to direct mail.

With postcards, there are also no security issues to think of. Direct marketers were hit hard with the anthrax scare of the post-911 world. Post-anthrax, it's very important that people know exactly what you're sending and who is sending the mailing.

4. Bite-sized information.

Postcards are quick and to the point. There are only a few words to read – and you need to ensure that you say your marketing message gets across to the prospect reading the material. With the glut of marketing materials faced by consumers, it is important to shape your message briefly yet catchy enough to get your prospect’s attention.

However, therein lies the challenge you will face when using postcards. You must have a unique selling proposition (USP) that you can craft in your message that will distinguish your business favorably apart from every other competitor. Why should the customer use your product or service? What is the unique benefit that you could offer? Customers want a company that offers them the best selection, the best prices and the best guarantee. In a few words, you must be able to write that message in a postcard.

5. Can make a big impression.

One advantage of doing postcards is its novelty relative to other marketing tools. While an increasing number of marketers are discovering postcards, postcards have not become too commonplace that it has turned to be an irritant. Many consumers already consider direct mail a scourge, and many direct mailings go to the wastebasket without even being read. Customers are also becoming inundated with emails as a result of spam that even legitimate emails are dumped into the virtual trashcan.

One advantage of postcards is its “openness.” Unlike direct marketing letters, you need not worry about customers simply throwing your mailing without even opening the envelope. With postcards, there is no envelope to open! The customer immediately reads your message. The more eyeballs, the more prospects, and the more customers you will have.

The key to finding success in marketing with postcards is to create the right postcard, mail it to the right audience and craft it with the right offer. The humble postcard can be a great tool to enhance your relationship with your customers. Best of all, postcards may be within your budget’s reach.

November 25, 2003