Trying to decide which awesome direct mail strategy to use in your marketing? One great way to generate leads is sending business postcards.
Sure, like any marketing effort, you have to know what you’re doing. But that’s not hard! Sit down and plan your postcard campaign today. We promise, it won’t take long!
Ask The Right Questions Before You Send Business Postcards
First thing — ask yourself, “What is the goal for this campaign?” Are you going to sell something? Improve your retention? What kind of action do you want your prospects to take? Having trouble coming up with ideas? Here are a few great ones, on the house:
- Introduce a product or service you just started offering.
- Get immediate sales by announcing a promotion or coupon.
- Find qualified leads you can convert to customers.
But it’s not enough to have a purpose behind the campaign; you should also have a SMART goal with an evidence of success (EOS).
For example, you may want to see a response rate of 1%, or a $5,000 return on investment (ROI), or total sales of 500 from the mailer. Realistically, you should expect between a 0.4% and 1% response rate for a prospect list, but these numbers give you something specific to shoot for as you design and implement the campaign.
Target Your Audience
The next step is to define your target audience, because you can’t send your postcard to everyone!
Fortunately, you can consider the demographic factors your customers share and pinpoint the prospects who are most likely to respond to your campaign. For example, if you’re offering financial planning services for people with young children, you’ll want to target ages 20–35. Here are a few other demographics to consider:
- Age
- Gender
- Income
- Location
- Marital status
- Homeowner/renter
- Occupation
Which of these fits the bill for your services? Which are irrelevant?
In addition, if you’re doing a B2B campaign, you should also consider …
- Industry
- Number of employees
- Gross revenue
Keep in mind, the tighter your target market is, the better your response will be. Once you have your target market identified, you can look into using a list broker service to help you find individuals who fit within those parameters.
We have a few favorite list brokers you might look into, including List Giants, InfoUSA, and Melissa Data. Once you’ve defined your demographics and ordered your list, there are only a few more planning steps to take.
You want to develop a compelling offer that will move your target audience to act, so think about it from their perspective: What do they want? What are their problems and pain points? What can you offer that will motivate them to respond?
Customers should see the offer they’re getting as a great deal with a limited time frame to take advantage of it, especially if you’re trying to make it valuable and irresistible.
Then, Write The Best Darn Postcard Copy You Can
This is your chance to hook them and reel them in. It all starts with an excellent headline. A great postcard headline needs to command attention and speak directly to your audience: “Tired of sleepless nights? The SleepEasy Herbal Remedy Helps You Fall Asleep Naturally!”
All you want to do is make your ideal reader keep reading, but don’t underestimate the importance of the headline. If it doesn’t grab your target audience, they’re not going to keep reading, and they’ll never even see the compelling offer you put together.
Most postcards should emphasize the benefits (not features) of your product or service, because that gets right to heart of why your prospects should care — and a typical consumer isn’t going to sit down and carefully read every piece of direct mail like they might a book or magazine. A bulleted list is one way to make your postcard scannable, but the important thing is making it clear what the end user will get and making it easy for them to get it.
Here’s an example: “You’ve worked your whole life, just as hard as anybody else. And you deserve to retire — you can retire. Don’t believe us? Contact Fiscal Planning, Inc. today.” That’s a perfectly respectable piece of copy. It highlights the pain point (not being able to retire, financial stress) and agitates it before offering the benefit: being able to retire like everybody else.
Compare that to: “At Fiscal Planning, we offer IRA, Roth IRA, 401(k), and other retirement planning advice. We can also help you plan your estate.” Great — that explains features. And it’s also going straight into the trash.
Include your special offer — one that leads to a strong call to action. Focus on just one call to action, and repeat it at least twice — ideally on both the front and the back of the postcard.
When appropriate, consider including a sense of urgency by saying supplies are limited or the promotion will last for a short time.
Like we said at the beginning — not too complicated, right? With the right audience, the right offer, the right copy, and a strong call to action, you can fulfill the purpose of your campaign and get the results you desire.
Spend the time planning and send out a kick-ass postcard campaign that will wow your customers and drive business your way.
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