The marketing Power of Postcards!

How to Immediately Create More Business With Professional and Inexpensive Postcards

Postcards can be one of the most effective tools in an advertisement if you use them right. When I first started my business, Small Business Promotions, I literally had no money. I was going to college and my funds went towards tuition and books. I had a dream and was determined to give it a try.

My first experience of the power of a postcard came when I decided to print up a couple postcards on my personal printer and hit the streets to start my marketing campaign. These cards were just black ink on yellow paper, nothing fancy. I distributed approximately 50 cards to different business owners in a busy business community. I chose businesses because I thought they were my greatest prospects since I was in the graphic design and printing business.

I must confess that it was not easy, but I was motivated simply because there were no other alternatives for me at the time. It was more of a survival situation for me. Another motivating factor was that before I could make it back to my little home office, I got a couple of calls. People were already starting to show interest.

I could go on and tell numerous stories of how I used postcards to initiate business contacts, make sales, and build business relationships. However, I would like to summarize by giving some important facts:

I've never stopped using postcards. Why? Because after experimenting with many marketing methods over the years, I've come to the conclusion that postcards, whether by direct mail, distribution, or however you choose to use them are very effective marketing tools.
I don't use simple black ink anymore, because the cost of color postcards has gotten so cheap. It makes better sense to use a professional postcard with color and graphics.

Here are the reasons why you cannot neglect the postcard as a part of your marketing resource plan.

- Time is money and people are very conscious of the value of their time. The postcard addresses this perfectly because you can deliver a short message in a minimal amount of time.

- If you have an idea this very moment, you can take that idea from concept to distribution before the day is done. Postcards can fit any budget and you can produce any quantity that companies of all sizes can benefit from – small, medium, or large. You can save a lot of money on your marketing budget since these two-sided cards do not cost as much as other methods.

- You can purchase 5000 four-color, professionally designed postcards, for less than $200. In some cases, even less than $100.

In the U.S. the cost to mail a 4 X 6 postcard is only $0.24. You have companies who will design, print, and mail your postcards for you. Check out www.DesignsnPrint.com

Think about this, have you ever gotten a postcard in the mail and not, at least, looked at it? Postcards are true attention grabbers. They initiate the contact with your potential customer.

Here's how you can use postcards successfully and in a way that is beneficial to you:

a) Generate New Leads
b) Make announcements to your existing database of customers
c) Thank customers for their support and loyalty
d) Follow-up with prospects as a part of a campaign
e) Send traffic to your website
f) Offer specials or discounts to generate more sales
g) Seasons greetings with your personal logo and information

In the crowded highway of mail that your customers receive every day, you have to make your card demand attention. Yes, folks, that's the secret to having a successful mailing piece.

One side of the card should send a message so powerful that the prospect will want to turn it over and read the other side. On the other side of the card you will deliver the benefits of your company (just remember that the prospect is only concerned about what is in it for them). Provide a strong offer to create action. List your contact information clearly.

If I had to choose the most important part of the postcard apart from the contact information, I would have to say it's the headline. It must be Powerful. It must be Concise. It must be Bold.

Use graphics only if it is in relation to the message you are trying to get across. A nice clean graphics or image can be powerful, but overuse can be deadly to your marketing campaign. It all depends on your target market. When creating your text always think in terms of the benefit of your product to the prospects. Think about the product's unique advantages. One very important feature of the card should be the offer. Give your prospect a reason to Act Now!! Remember that "FREE" is the most powerful word in any offer.

If you are into selling real estate, you might not want to send your postcard to a group of teenagers. I am just saying, zero in on the right prospects and you will get greater results.

Many people make the costly mistake of producing their postcards but lack the will to get it to the prospects. In this case, you may as well not produce the cards in the first place. They are no good sitting in the box in your office.

I encourage you to test the power of postcards today with a new approach. Just take that extra step and follow the right guidelines. You will separate yourself from the competition and soar ahead.


Michael Reid – Marketing & Sales If you are interested in any product to increase your sales, visit https://www.DesignsnPrint.com.   Feel free to reprint this article on your website, so long as the about the author information and all the live links remain with the article.

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10 Low-Cost Ways to Promote Your Business In a Slowing Economy

Here are some very effective ways you can advertise your business online and it won’t cost you a penny. All that’s needed is a little of your time to implement these strategies.


As the economy gets tighter, many businesses find it more difficult to advertise their business and increase sales. It’s a struggle to find ways to promote themselves, get links, rank in search engines, and ultimately drive traffic to their websites or local businesses. With a limited budget, they are increasingly searching for free ways to increase business. If you are one of those businesses, here are 10 effective ways to promote at a low cost.


Google & Yahoo locals: You can set up a listing on yahoo for free. The good thing about this is that it is geographically targeted. So when someone searches from a particular city, they will find businesses listed locally. You want to be one of those listed. Set up the listing one time and you don’t have to worry about monitoring. Did I mention that people will have the opportunity to give you reviews? People with high ratings will receive preferred listings.

I hope you have business cards, postcards and other stationery. These should have some sort of consistency about them. A nice logo will do the job and it will help to harness your corporate identity. People will take your business more seriously and this will raise the level of your professionalism. Give your business cards to as many people as you can. It’s networking and it is powerful. Give them to family, friends, and your vendors; leave some at the local barbershop etc. You get the picture.

Make sure all your invoices, business forms and receipts have your company contact information on them.

Yellowpages.com Did you know that you can get a free listing in their directory? The most basic listing is free. Why not take advantage of that.

Write an article like this one. If nothing else, it will help in showing that you are a professional in your field. Distribute it to local newspapers, magazines, and social networking websites. Just make sure to include a little bio with your contact information at the end of the article.

Email signatures. This might seem insignificant but please don’t underestimate an email signature. You can also run a little promotion.

There is a website called scribd.com. Your can upload anything for free. After you create your account which becomes your personal page, you can upload articles, videos, PDF or jpg files, html etc. There’s almost no restriction. They get over 10,000,000 visitors per month. You can at least get some free link back to your website. I hope you have a website.

Your current customers. Send them thank you cards. The ones who like and trust you are your most valuable advertising tools. They will tell others about you. Let them know you appreciate their business. Don’t wait until it’s a holiday to do this, it will be more effective to send it when they don’t really expect it.

Do a video. Videos are becoming more important in what is now called the “attention age.” There is so much information out there people have to be more selective on what they spend their precious time on. Videos are great in capturing people’s attention. Place your video on your website; distribute it to youtube.com, sribd.com and other video sharing sites.

Add magnetic signs to your vehicle. Advertise your business on a 18 x 24 magnetic car sign and place it on the doors of your vehicle.

Press releases, newsletters, blogs all get the word out fast and they can all be free. Even if you are not a writer you can pay someone less than $20 to write a decent article for you.

These are all ways you can use to get the word out today. Set your budget and start promoting because the opportunities are great.

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