Direct mail marketing is nothing new. Since the printing press, companies have been using circulars to promote their products and services. Gives new meaning to the phrase “Everybody’s doing it!” At some point in your professional career you will inevitably jump on the bandwagon. The question is, what are you going to do to make his direct mail campaign a success?
Three words: direct mail postcards. Direct mail postcards are the latest wave in direct mail marketing, guaranteed to grab the attention of your customers and take your marketing campaign on a new track. Until now, companies have been encouraged to launch their mailing campaigns with a) a mini-newsletter or other circular containing advertisements, coupons and other types of promotional materials or, in the absence of funds for this, b) various variations of the traditional brochure.
Densely packed, colorful circulars are certainly an attractive method of direct mail marketing, and a customer who receives one of these mini-newspapers is likely to at least take the time to peruse them; however, they are expensive to distribute, and if they don’t attract business in the first two months of your campaign, they can take a big chunk out of your already beleaguered marketing budget.
The flywheel, on the other hand, is simple and inexpensive to produce. It can be done anywhere, by anyone; in fact, with modern computer software, marketers can produce these gems from the comfort of their living room. They provide many opportunities for information, certainly many more than their smaller counterparts. Why, then, do direct mail postcards send the flyer into the dark?
Because brochures are boring. Ruffles are boring. The ruffles are not inspired. Anyone can make or submit a flyer. You probably won’t be thrilled when you walk out and find a flyer under your wiper blade, taped to your door, or sitting on your mailbox. In fact, if you’re like most of the population, you’ll hardly bother to glance at them before you ball them up and throw them away! The sellers who made these brochures could have gone to the bank, withdrawn their money, and used it as fuel for their fireplace. It would have been more useful that way!
On the other hand, who does not like to receive a postcard? Postcards make consumers dream of exotic vacations and eccentric family members who take them, and when they pull the postcard out of their mailbox, they’ll feel the same familiar tingle they felt when they were little when they first received one. Postcards are fun! A brightly colored postcard will grab their attention much faster than a flyer, and even if they eventually end up throwing your postcard away, guess what they’re going to do first?
Good. read it. Whether they keep your postcard or not (and chances are they will, especially if it contains coupons; postcards are much more convenient to keep, store, and file than their bulkier compadres) they’ll have heard of you, and once they’ve heard about you is one small step to your front door.
