When was the last time you remember getting a postcard?
Well, to most people, the answer would be during the Christmas season. And some may not have received one at all for the past several years. If you think about it, receiving a postcard is somewhat exciting to us.
Hence, it is no wonder that businesses have developed postcard marketing strategies to connect better with their customers. In this article, we will help you learn everything you need to know about postcard marketing.
Not only are we going to explain how to do postcard marketing right, but we will also give you some quick tips to help you. Additionally, you will learn some of the most effective postcard marketing strategies to get the best possible results for your business.
In simple language, postcard marketing is a marketing method that uses direct mail postcards as the channel of communication. We all know that a postcard is a form of direct mail. Similarly, postcard marketing is a type of direct mail marketing.
Direct mail marketing involves sending all types of mailers, including postcards, certified letters, brochures, and much more. On the other hand, postcard marketing exclusively uses postcards in its campaigns.
Using something as ancient as postal mail for marketing when literally everyone else uses email and social media may not sound like a smart move. However, on the contrary, it is precisely the reason why marketers should use postcard marketing.
Postcard marketing gives you a space that is least occupied by mainstream marketing methods. Additionally, you can also use promotional print pieces, including discount coupons and other offers in postcard marketing.
Yes, postcard processing can be time-consuming, but only if you are using a manual in-house process. However, it is a different story if you use an automated direct mail tool like PostGrid. Advanced tools like PostGrid enables you to automate the entire marketing process, including:
Hence, there is no need for any manual process anymore unless you choose to have one. It means you can save time and avoid all unwanted errors and optimise your postcard marketing campaigns.
One of the best things about automated postcard mailing is that it can work flawlessly alongside your digital marketing campaigns. Better yet, it can even be an integral part of your digital marketing efforts.
How?
PostGrid and other advanced direct mail marketing tools support multi and omnichannel marketing campaigns. For example, you can use postcard marketing as the first touchpoint of a multi-channel marketing campaign.
Here, the significantly higher response rate of postcards can help you boost the campaign’s initial response. More importantly, you can use a QR code or PURL (Personalised URL) on your postcard to take them to your website or landing page.
Most people take their time to look through their postal mail rather than ignore them altogether like marketing emails. Hence, if you are having trouble getting your target audience to open your marketing emails, you would have better luck using postcards.
People who receive a postcard or direct mail look forward to opening their mailbox every day. Receiving and opening postcards/direct mail is exciting for most of us. In comparison, receiving a marketing email is rarely exciting to anyone.
The thing about digital marketing efforts such as email campaigns is that the customer can easily ignore them. Your audience can leave the message unread in their inbox for as long as they want. At the same time, postcard recipients are intrigued when they get a postcard in their mailbox. And they end up reading the mailer if for nothing but curiosity.
According to a recent study, direct mail marketing brings in 10% more new customers when compared to email marketing. Therefore, no matter how good you are at email marketing, you will have better odds if you switch your communication channel.
A whopping 75% of people that receive direct mail like postcards could recall the brand after seeing the mailer. On the other hand, only 44% of people could place the brand after viewing a similar email as per the study.
As we have mentioned above, you can use postcard marketing to complement your digital marketing efforts or drive traffic to your website. You can use a discount code that the recipient can redeem online. Additionally, printing a QR code or PURL in the postcard can conveniently allow customers to access your website/landing page.
Compared to other direct mail types such as letters, postcards use much stronger paper. Therefore, they are more sturdy and resilient to wear and tear during transit. As a result, they remain clean and undamaged most of the time until it reaches their destination.
We have already explained, using postcards is the most effective way for acquiring customers and retaining them. However, it doesn’t hurt to learn a few tips that can help you get the desired results from your direct marketing campaigns. The tips provided below will help your postcards grab the recipient’s attention and compel them to take the desired action.
The last thing you want your marketing postcards to do is to confuse the recipient with its headlines. It usually happens when businesses try to get too abstract with the headlines, and the reader is left second-guessing themselves.
Instead, try to use clear-cut headlines that directly outline the product or service you are offering. You can also use the headline to show how your brand can solve a problem that the audience’s problem. Additionally, you can also try using actionable headlines to further reinforce the action you want the recipients to take.
Call-to-Action or CTA is an integral part of postcard marketing. Do not skip the CTA on your direct mail under any circumstance. A relevant CTA specifies what action you want the reader to take after reading your direct mail or postcard.
The desired action can vary based on the unique campaign you are running. However, the most convenient step you can present to the recipient is to visit your website or landing page. Once the audience reaches the page, they can fill a form or redeem a discount code online.
You may also use the CTA to ask the recipient to call your business or go into a nearby store to redeem a discount coupon. The only thing is that you must make sure that the CTA specifies the action the recipient needs to take. You can use the CTA multiple times for reinforcing the move but make sure you keep it short.
One of the most significant advantages of using postcards as your marketing medium is that they include attractive images. The image printed on the front of the postcard is not just used to grab the user’s attention. It also allows you to communicate the purpose of the postcard to the reader.
There are a few things that you should note when choosing the imagery for your postcard, such as:
Most of the popular real estate marketing postcard ideas use authentic images of the property. It allows the recipient to know what you can offer them. Furthermore, real estate buyers will always prefer raw pictures of the property over doctored images to get a realistic view.
The offer you pitch to your target audience can ultimately make or break your postcard marketing campaign. Try to come up with an offer that is relevant and attractive to the target audience. To do this, you must put yourself in your customer’s shoes.
Ask yourself what is an ideal offer for you? Would you give a pass to that offer? What would make you want to fill out a form or buy a product? The more questions you ask yourself, the more clarity you can get on what the customer wants.
A common mistake new marketers make when creating postcard campaigns is that they tend to focus on the features of the product/service. Although this might seem like a good idea at first glance, however, that is not the case. The customer couldn’t care less about the features if it does not directly benefit them.
Therefore, you should stop trying to list out all the ways your product or service is better than your competitor’s. Instead, try explaining how those features can benefit your customers. For example, instead of elaborating on the technical details of a new washing machine, explain how it can clean the clothes faster and better.
Don’t try stuffing too much information into your postcard. Remember that postcards are relatively small, and they can only contain so much information. Furthermore, the reader is unlikely to be interested in reading too much information. Hence, you should stick with one key message and one desired action from the reader.
Just like any other marketing strategy, you must measure and track the performance of your postcard marketing campaigns. There are different ways to measure or track the performance of your postcards. Some of the more popular methods for postcard performance tracking includes:
QR codes are now the most popular way for businesses to track the performance of their direct mail campaigns. It uses significantly less space, is convenient, and can even give you advanced insights based on the type of analytics tool you are using.
PURLs or Personalised URLs are precisely what their name implies. You can provide each of your audiences with a personalised URL. Seeing their name on the URL piques their customer’s curiosity, and they visit the page. You can then use your website’s analytics tool for tracking and insights.
One of the oldest yet still effective ways to track the performance of a postcard campaign is to use a dedicated or toll-free number. The number of responses should give an idea of how well the campaign is doing. However, the tracking capability and insights you can get through this method are very limited.
The address list plays a vital role in the success of your postcard marketing campaign. An address list of inferior quality will not just fail in yielding the desired results but incur losses on your company. Let’s say that your address list consists of a lot of bad data.
What would happen if you used this address list for your direct mail campaign? You will end up spending a lot of money on printing, processing, and mailing postcards to invalid addresses. As a result, your business can incur significant losses.
Targeting is a part of your marketing campaign where you shouldn’t slack off. Proper targeting can often have surprising results for your marketing campaigns. Even if your targeting list is small in numbers, it can still generate a better result if the quality of the list is good.
You can target your campaigns better using tools like PostGrid. It allows you to validate your address database and neglect undeliverable addresses in it. As a result, the deliverability rate of your direct mail campaign increases, and the return rate of mail gets significantly reduced.
Never underestimate the importance of personalisation in postcard marketing. Personalisation is the only way you can ensure that your postcard does not get thrown inside the wastebasket. The more personalised your postcard, the better it can connect with the target audience.
Think about it? Would you rather read a postcard that addresses you by your name or by something like “Dear customer”? Another thing worth noting is that you can use systems like PostGrid and connect it with your CRM for easy personalisation of your direct mail.
Eye-catching postcard ideas alone are not enough to guarantee the success of your postcard marketing campaigns. Compliment your eye-catching postcard ideas with attractive marketing strategies that can entice the customers.
Below, we will list five postcard marketing secrets that can help you create more effective postcard marketing campaigns.
Who doesn’t enjoy getting free vouchers? As far as promotional materials in postcard marketing go, vouchers are the best way to your customer’s heart. The voucher can be a discount code or a special offer the customer can redeem at your store. Additionally, they are also ideal for direct mail tracking.
Unlike what you might think, sending invites (even Facebook invites) can get better results when using a postcard. Receiving an invite via postcard makes it look more exclusive, and the extra effort you take does not go unnoticed either. The same applies to the events your company conducts, as the recipients feel special when they get a personalised invitation.
Much like vouchers, gift certificates are always welcomed by the customers. Additionally, the A6 size postcard is perfect for branded gift certificates. The customers can either get it from your website or your physical store.
Suppose your goal is to enhance customer satisfaction and ensure customer loyalty. In that case, sending postcards is the best option for you. A personalised thank you letter shows how much you appreciate your customers and leaves a lasting impression on them.
Getting valuable customer feedback should ideally be a standard process for your business. Postcards are the perfect medium for getting this feedback. You can include the postcard along with your products or lead them to an online form using a QR code in the postcard.
There are several postcard marketing strategies out there, each one better than the other. We have listed some of the major ones above. However, some different postcard marketing strategies are also worth exploring, and they are listed below.
The automated direct mail system of PostGrid enables you to automate every aspect of your postcard marketing process. It includes personalising, printing, and delivering your postcards. You can even connect PostGrid to your CRM software for easy and convenient personalisation of your postcards.
Additionally, PostGrid also offers an address validation service that enables you to ensure the deliverability of specific addresses. As a result, you can minimise the direct mail return rate and save you valuable resources and money.
Postcard marketing campaigns are no longer a simple operation. Most businesses now deal with a vast number of customers. And sending personalised postcards to each of them is not practical using a manual process.
Hence using automated systems like PostGrid is inevitable if you want to run successful postcard marketing campaigns. Even if you know all the postcard marketing secrets, it won’t help you if you cannot effectively implement them.
PostGrid enables you to implement eye-catching postcard ideas with ease. It also lets you personalise, print, and mail postcards according to your convenience. Hence, businesses should use automated direct mail systems like PostGrid to efficiently implement their postcard marketing strategy.
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