*** From the Archives ***

This article is from October 22, 2009, and is no longer current.

Create Better Marketing Postcards

Jared Tanner

This article originally appeared on Print Soup, the blog of PrintingForLess.com, CreativePro.com’s parent company.
Working for a print company, I get to see a ton of different postcards come through our presses. And from a direct marketer’s perspective, many of these make me cringe. There are some critical postcard marketing elements that need to be included to optimize your results and get a better return on your printing and postage investment.
Our service reps frequently ask for feedback on their customers’ creative to see if I might be able to provide suggestions to improve performance. Most of my feedback centers on three core elements that should be incorporated in most any postcard. They are:
1. Offer
2. Call to Action
3. Response/contact information
I recently collected a random sample of 50 different postcards from our production floor. I went through them to see how many cards had the different elements listed above. I was shocked to find out that 74% did not have an Offer. Additionally, 64% did not have a Call to Action. These are incredible numbers — I was amazed to see that the majority of customers are missing such critical elements to their success.
With the next postcard you create, give a sample to an unbiased friend and have them look at it for five seconds (and only five seconds), then put it down and ask them these two questions:
1. What is the product or service being offered?
2. What is the recipient supposed to do after receiving this postcard?
Postcards are like billboards on the freeway: You have a very short window of time to communicate your message. Keep your postcards simple and uncluttered. Use the headline to effectively answer the two questions above. Be sure to include a compelling offer — and call it out graphically so it grabs attention. And tell your customers or prospects exactly what to do (call us, go online, come to our open house, etc.). And don’t hide your contact information!
If you incorporate some of these ideas in your next postcard marketing campaign, I’m confident you’ll see better results and achieve a better ROI on your marketing dollars.
 

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Jared Tanner
  • Anonymous says:
    October 22, 2009 at 11:27 pm

    I think this is an oversimplification of the postcard issue.

    While this might make sense for a mass-mailed retail postcard, it is not the best way forward if you have designed a targetted postcard.

    The part that I particularly question was the bit about getting an unbiased friend view the cardfor five seconds. If a card is targetted at a particular demographic (eg. 35-45 year old managers who work in IRM, degree qualified in Psychology, who are aware of the company sending out the postcard) then the language and approach may not make sense to your friend (in my case, I might have used my wife who is 33 years old, doesn’t work in IRM and has a degree in accountancy who hasn’t heard of the company I am dealing with).

    In fact to, speak to certain audiencesyou deliberatly use language that outsiders may not use to show you are on the inside. ( I say recto and verso to graphic design friends, to clients I tend to say left page and right page so they understand what I’m saying.)

    So, my (long-winded) comment is to actually research your target audience and design appropriately for them.

    But I liked other parts of the article. You’ll have to guess which parts.

    Anyhoo,

    Reply
  • Anonymous says:
    October 23, 2009 at 11:29 pm

    Direct mail can be a fantastic way to communicate and postcards are one of my favorite ways to achieve a higher-than-average ROI.

    Many times, designers (and art directors!) get so wrapped up in the design that they lose the message. Recipients aren’t properly prompted, or don’t even understand the message (or lack thereof) and throw the card away. Clients are disappointed with the results (return) and marketing heads decree that “print is dead” or “direct mail doesn’t work”.

    A beautiful, full-color postcard, printed on a heavy stock, that also provides a clear offer and call to action, will get through the clutter and generate among the highest return of any advertising medium. You’re preaching to the choir! Keep up the good work.

    Chris DiAlfredi
    http://www.rubberbrandman.com

    Reply
  • vjohnson1138 says:
    May 5, 2010 at 3:30 pm

    As a photographer I’ve used post cards as just one other way to get my work in front of editors or art directors.

    While I guess my card can be looked at as having a “call to action” as I want you to remember me the next time you need a photographer with my skill set, I can’t say that having an “offer” is something I would ever do, since I’m not selling goods, or services like family portraits.

    My whole goal is to keep my name & work in front of the gate keppers, not work out hire me for one ad campaign & I’ll give you 1 years free of exclusive usages rights for every year you pay full price.

    I think this article was a little bit one size fits all and we all know that’s never the case. I’d like the writer to think about that the next time he’s on the highway and sees a billboard with a white Nike swoosh on a black background. It lacks all three of his core elements.

    Vincent Johnson

    Reply
  • Jamie Robinson says:
    September 11, 2017 at 4:44 am

    The direct mail market is becoming even more competitive and this is driving costs down. Direct mail is time and time again in my eyes proven to work. Used properly to the right people along with online campaigns it can have a huge impact on he smallest of companies!
    Jamie
    http://www.thedirectmailcompany.co.uk

    Reply
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