The #10 envelope package remains the core format of direct mail. But self-mailers have come back since 9/11 and the anthrax scare — with magalogs for long messages and standard postcards for short ones now leading the way.
Postcards Are Best When You Have a Simple Offer
Postcards don’t work in every situation. A postcard is, by definition, one piece of paper.
Postcards are best when you have a simple offer - one that’s easily stated and understood. It’s an offer, not a story.
Sometimes, you aren’t trying to make sales. Your purpose is simply lead generation. You want someone at the company to raise a hand and say, “I’m interested. Give me more information.”
An offer for a free brochure, catalog, CD or demo disk is a good postcard candidate. That’s because the offer is so simple, it can be expressed in one sentence.
Advantage
What advantage does a postcard offer over a classic direct mail package or tri-fold self-mailer?
Postcards make an instant impact on the reader, says Perry Frank of Modern Postcards.
Because a postcard is not in an envelope, the complete front side of the mailpiece hits the recipient instantly - with NO effort to open.
It’s easy to read on the way to the wastebasket or the desk. So even on the way to the trash bin, they’ll see who you are and how to contact you.
Since the anthrax scare, as Sean Lyden noted on Entrepreneur.com, mail openers have been wary of envelopes for fear that they contain “stuff” from businesses they don’t know. A postcard has no “stuff”. The message is right on the surface. And the envelope is an obstacle in itself. All bets are off if your piece doesn’t get opened.
Because of the simple format, postcards take less work to create. That’s less cost as well. There’s no envelope. No buck slips. No letter or other inserts.
Postage, thanks to its size, is cheaper than a regular sized direct mail package. The first-class rate for a standard 4 1/4 by 6 inch postcard is 23 cents versus 37 cents for a first-class 1-ounce letter. If you use First Class Mail, you save $140 per thousand pieces.
With a postcard, there are no folds or mailing panels. No bindery. No stuffing. You simply print on both sides.
A postcard is like a mini direct-mail test. Why spend money on a more expensive mailing piece, when you don’t know if they are even prospects? A simple postcard mailed to a quality prospect list gives you an inexpensive way to qualify prospects. A postcard announcing your upcoming catalog can also let recipients opt out - saving you postage on catalogs to those who aren’t interested.
Someone sends you a folded self-mailer. Or a direct mail package. After reading them, you throw them away. That’s not true with many postcards. They end up on refrigerators or stuck on the walls of your prospect’s office. Think of it like a mini billboard.
Postcards that get attention get kept, and some even become collectibles, say Perry Frank and copywriter Roscoe Barnes. But that only happens when the image is striking. What kind of visual makes people stick postcards on walls? Funny cartoons. Beautiful photos.
Art by a famous illustrator or cartoonist is a huge plus.
Postcards can be used as coupons, invitations, bookmarks, tickets to special events, reminders or mini-newsletters, among other things.
In addition to a toll-free phone number and regular mail, a postcard might offer a Web site address for more information. For mail replies, add a perforated tear-off business reply card. It’s similar to a buck slip, but better, because the recipient doesn’t have to stuff it in an envelope. That format is called a double postcard.
One postcard can gain response. Multiple postcards on the same theme can get you noticed. Create a series of cards with the same theme, Frank advises. He cites a series where a different postcard with a new trivia question is sent each time. Then people look forward to the next card. And postcards make a series like that cheap to run.
Five Recent Examples
Who has used postcards successfully? Here are five recent examples.
Haag Engineering Company does failure and damage consulting. Think of them as construction detectives. They’ll tell you why bridges collapse or buildings fall down. Its clients include law firms, insurance companies and manufacturers.
Haag is accredited to teach continuing education in several states. It mailed 20,000 postcards promoting its seminars. The postcard directed prospects to courses on their website.
Cheryl Markstahler, Haag’s marketing manager, says one of their engineers saw the card pinned on the wall of a client’s office. Response rates to the mailing averaged 10 to 25 percent.
Then there’s the USA Rice Federation, a trade group that promotes rice consumption.
For National Rice Month, which falls in September, the federation mailed 6,800 food professionals. By phone or e-mail, they could request free brochures, posters and recipes.
The federation has a library of rice and food photos, so design costs stay low. A postcard campaign is easy to handle for a small staff with a limited budget.
Kimberly Park, the federation’s director of national consumer education, says postcards sustain relationships and keep rice top of mind. The mailing drew nearly 3 percent response.
Coopersmith List Consultants is a small list consulting firm. Clients include business-to-business mailers who aren’t true direct marketers, such as industrial manufacturers and high-tech firms.
These clients may need hard-to-find, niche lists. But they’re too small to get attention from the big list brokers.
The firm’s earlier 1,000-piece mailing resulted in two inquiries and no clients, or 0.2 percent. Its later educational postcard brought 250 inquiries from 10,000 pieces, or 2.5 percent, over 10 times better. But what really counts is the clients it attracted from those new prospects.
Gail Coopersmith, president of CLC, says the postcard format is inherently brief. That makes it good at uncovering a prospect’s first, initial need.
Peter Miserendino is an acoustic guitarist promoting an acclaimed CD, Well Strung & Solo.
He figured that most of his sales would come at his performances.
Miserendino is also a professional illustrator and designer, so he could design the card himself. He mailed it to upscale clubs that book acts.
He mailed the card three times, with three weeks between each mailing.
Calls started coming in just three days after the first mailing, with people who wanted to book him at their locations. The second and third mailings of the identical card drew inquiries as well.
The lesson is a familiar one. Consistency and frequency drive results in direct mail.
But good design, tight copy and full color also help boost response.
Apogee makes model rocket kits for hobbyists. They tested postcards by mailing 500, selling a single kit: a Saturn V.
The cards came off a digital press, with a four-color photo of the rocket on the back. The fronts were personalized.
Tim Van Milligan, of Apogee, says he wanted every card to look as if it had been hand-penned.
To pull it off, he chose a specific handwriting-style font, varied the spacing and skewed the paragraphs slightly. It’s the imperfections that make the cards look handwritten.
Digital printing ran $1 a card for 500 cards. The postcards sold a $200 kit, and 25 of the 500 recipients ordered one, a 5 percent response.
Would he do it again?
Yes, says Van Milligan, he would do it again. Recipients really believed the cards had been written by hand. So the effect worked.
About Delancey Street
Delancey Street is a premier, and award winning, business debt settlement company that helps business owners nationwide. Our goal is simple: help you escape debt in a safe and legal manner. Based out of New York, we can help in 49 of 50 states. We tell you how it is; because your business and future is on the line.
