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Don't neglect the marketing power of the postcard!

By John Jantsch

When small business marketing fails, it's because the small business owner breaks non-negotiable laws of small business marketing.

You know I like repetition and consistency. How about sending an attention getting message once a month to your entire list of suspects for around 4.00 per lead per year. Nothing can compete with it, not the Yellow Pages, not print advertising.

Postcards get opened too. Since there is no envelope to open, it is more likely that your message will at least be seen, even if the reader only casually scans his or her mail.

One of the keys to success with postcards is to use them in the right way. You can't make a sophisticated, information rich, sales pitch on a 3 x 5 card. Postcards are the perfect tool to use in conjunction with a two step advertising technique.

In other words, use the postcard to grab your target market's attention and get them to respond for more information, attend a free seminar, or subscribe to your free newsletter. Then you can concentrate on providing them with all the information they will need to determine if they want to do business with your firm.

Some thoughts on doing it right

Use color. You only have 2-3 seconds to get your point across. Color will help you get attention. By color I mean a full color photo or image. Digital printing has made color printing, even in small quantities, very affordable.

Short, impact filled headline. You only have a small space to get your message across. Grad your reader by the throat and make them sit up and listen. Here is a great book to help you learn this important writing skill.

Mail often. Postcards, and any direct mail for that matter, are more effective when the message is delivered over and over. Your credibility increases as they receive your mailing over several months.

I have located a wonderful resource that will give you entire system for putting this marketing strategy to work for you. It's called Marketing With Postcards and you can even download the first 3 chapters for free. At least do that!

A couple of other uses

While I really like postcards for generating prospects, there are many other great uses with your existing clients.

Special client offerings
Coupons
News announcements
New product announcements Send a mailing to your list and request "return service" from the post office. This is one of the least expensive ways to clean up your mailing list. Check with the post office for the latest information on using postcards. They have some very useful info!

Using postcards in any these manners also makes it easy to track your results. By adding a "bring this card in for 10% off" gives you some very accurate information.

Finally, I love to use postcards to test several messages and offers. They are so inexpensive and simple to develop that you can create several different versions, mail them to a portion of your mailing list and then roll the winner out to a much larger group.

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John Jantsch is the owner of Jantsch Communications, a marketing consulting firm located in Kansas City, Mo. He is the creator of Duct Tape Marketing, a fully-customizable turn-key marketing system. You can reach him at 816-561-3931 or john@ducttapemarketing.com

You may reprint and distribute this article freely as long as you print it in its entirety including the author's bio.