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How To Create an Effective Postcard Campaign
Strategy
Determine your goal. A goal is not: "I want to mail a postcard," but rather: "I want to increase traf fic to my website," or "I want people to visit my store more often," or "I want to earn more from current customers."
The strategy should align with your broader goals for your business.
Implementation
A direct marketing campaign is driven by three important elements:
- The list - who are you mailing to?
- The offer - what are you offering?
- The creative - what does the postcard look like?
Not surprisingly, the offer and list impact about 80% of a campaign's effectiveness, while t he creative about 20%.
What this means is that your offer must be valuable to the recipients and the recipients must be interested in your offer. A good design will contribute to the success of the campaign, while a poor creative will have a substantial detrimental impact on the result. In other words, a bad creative has a much larger negative impact than the positive impact of a good creative.
In detail
The list Use your customer, rent a list or partner with another company for a joint mailing. When you mail to customers you are deepening the relationship with them and growing your business with them. When you rent a list, you are seeking new customers. Today one can rent lists with "selects" that allow you to pinpoint prospects by dozens of parameters (from income to type of car they drive). The offer If the offer does not answer the WIIFM question (What's In It For M e?) and provide real value to the postcard recipient, the response to the campaign will be weak. The offer should be driven by your goal and can include discounts, free trials or white papers, special invitations, classes, upgrades and even a simple "thank you," it all depends on what you are trying to achieve from a strategic perspective. The creative The "look and feel" of the postcard is judged by the recipients in the first 2-3 seconds, so the design must by in line with how you want your company to be perceived. Ensuring that the postcard is consistent with your other marketing materials is crucial. Size, color, photography, layout, glossiness and paper weight all contribute to the success of the campaign. The copy (text) must be brief and to the point, clearly highlighting the benefits of the offer. Use the right words to elicit a desire in the reader's mind and make sure there is more than one call to action and multiple ways to respond.
Other
A postcard campaign has several other elements that must be considered. From postage (first class or standard?), to printer (which printer is is most cost effective?) to versions (should an A/B test be conducted?) to timing (when should the postcards mail?). Knowing what questions to ask is just as important as knowing the answers.
Measurability
As with any other marketing effort, measuring the performance of the postcard campaign is important to value the return on investment and gain insight for the future. For that reason, using a trackin g tool is crucial. It could be as simple as using a keyword or source code or even asking the customer to bring the postcard to the business to take advantage of the offer.
Once the campaign ends, a simple tally will provide insight into the number of desired outcomes and the type of recipients that responded. For example if most respondents came from a particular zip code, are a certain gender or end up purchasing a particular product you have market intelligence to help guide you in future campaigns.
Effective postcard marketing has components that all work together and must follow best practices to ensure success. If you're considering improving or introducing postcards in your marketing, it's a good idea to have a professional marketer provide the advice and know-how to increase the chances that your campaign achieves your goals. | 
