Postcard Marketing

You may want to consider one of my favorite advertising strategies ... the simple and cheap direct mail postcard.

You can use postcards to generate leads, close sales, convince customers to buy more and encourage prospects to give you a try.

I asked my friend and client, Markus Allen for his top 20 postcard promotional ideas. He has an online, step-by-step program to help you launch a monthly, multiple-exposure postcard marketing campaign with very little expense, and that's always a plus.

Check out his free information at: http://www.markusallen.org/ezpostcards

Here's his list of postcard marketing ideas that almost any business can put into immediate action:

• Copy and paste a picture of your Web site on a postcard. The mere mention can bring a rush of visitors to your site.
• Mail to a list of people who've recently moved into your community. Offer a great deal to get them to try your product or service.
• If your average customer usually spends $1,000 with you, offer a discount for purchases over $1,500.
• Remind customers it's time to come and see you. Dentists often mail "It's time for your next cleaning" postcards, while auto shops remind you, "It's been 6 months since your last oil change."
• Tell customers about new products and services. For example, many software firms mail postcards to promote program upgrades.
• Announce a price increase. Let customers buy as much as they want, at the current prices.
• Hold holiday promotions. For example: "Bring Mom to lunch for Mother's Day, for only $14.95."
• Offer a lifetime membership program to generate quick cash flow.
• Announce a private sale. One retailer, with a 21-cent postcard, invited her 12 best clients to a one-day sale. She generated over $20,000 in new business.
• Collect customer info - name, address, and birthday. A few weeks before each person's birthday, send a postcard offering a free birthday dinner. Most customers who come for the free dinner will bring friends or relatives (who will pay full price for their own meals).
• Promote clearance or used-equipment sales.
• Invite prospects to order your product by faxing back the postcard.
• Mail postcards to announce a contest.
• Send The World's Smallest Newsletter on a postcard. (A great example of this postcard is in Allen's Instant Postcard Marketing ToolBox.)
• Give customers your new address when you move.
• Promote your Web site or fax-on-demand system.
• Announce new staff. Example: "George Model has joined The Clip Joint. Call him today to make your appointment."
• Mail help-wanted postcards to local residents when you need to increase your staff ... everyone likes to work close to home.
• Send a postcard about an upcoming trade show ... one lucky winner receives a valuable prize.

Once you're ready to send a direct mail postcard, here's some great news. Professionally created postcards are now easier than ever to create on the Internet.

AmazingMail makes it super easy to send direct mail postcards. Just visit their Web site, pick a template (or submit your own design), and your custom-printed, full- color postcard is in the mail (First Class) in just a few days. And the best part is, there's no minimum. Send just one postcard or 500,000 postcards, for less than doing all the work yourself.

Visit this Web page and try it out. at no charge: http://www.amazingmail.com/trial.html

If you're looking to grow your business fast at a low cost, now's the time to use the post office's best- kept secret. Postcards will relieve any anxiety about opening a strange envelope and can be read quickly by today's busy consumer.

www.printinghut.com