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Write You - 55 Tips for Postcard Marketing Success
A business researching and developing a new product normally designs it first and the estimates the cost to determine the final price. If the cost - and the resulting price - are too high, the product will go back to the drawing board for more revisions, delaying the introduction of the new product.The Japanese approach is to start with a target cost based on the price that consumers are most likely to accept; then the designers and manufacturers engineer the product to meet that target. The Japanese system focuses on pinning down the key cost elements of the product in the planning and design stage. This concept is central to the entire process because that is the point at which virtually all subsequent costs of the product are built in - from manufacturing to service. Careful planning and co-ordination in this phase means lower costs and better cost control further down the manufacturing pipeline.The Japanes
38. Be original. Create a "purple cow," not just another brown one.
39. Design your postcard in a way that enhances your message and makes it more readable. Don't ever let the design obscure the message.
40. Create the kind of eye-catching postcard that bursts from the mailbox.
A Strong Offer
41. Create a strong postcard offer to motivate your readers and improve your response rates.
42. Build an offer that's related to your product or service in some way. Avoid offers that will attract unqualified prospects and "freebie hunters."
43. Make sure your postcard offer is relevant and valuable to the reader (your target audience).
44. Whatever you are offering, position it in a way that showcases its value.
45. Offer something different / better / more unique than what the "other guys" are offering.
46. With the offer in mind, revisit your headline to make sure it relates to the offer. Make the entire message cohesive and focused.
47. Follow your offer with a specific call-to-action (next item).
Evoking a Response
48. Tell people what to do next. Use your call-to-action to move the reader forward.
49. Make your call-to-action stand out from the copy around it.
Strategies For Aging ESOPs (Employee Stock Ownership Plans)
In view of the complexities of the financial accounting and federal tax rules governing ESOPs, many ESOP sponsoring companies lose sight of larger issues and become buried in the technical details of their ESOP and remain fixed on a single use for their ESOP. Short term benefits of a particular ESOP strategy should not overshadow longer term objectives of the company and alternative uses for their ESOP should be addressed every couple of years.Typical ESOP TransactionA very typical scenario in the life cycle of ESOPs is the case where the plan was originally adopted to provide a tax-favored means of buying out the equity of one or more major shareholders in a privately held corporation. This objective can be accomplished using borrowed funds from a bank lender or funds provided by the corporation in the form of a loan to the ESOP trust. Whatever the method, over time the buyout is
But as with any form of marketing, you only get out of it what you put into it. To help you get the most from your postcard marketing efforts, I've assembled 55 tips for success.
Obviously, some of these tips will not apply to your particular postcard marketing needs, but with 55 of them ... there's bound to be something in there for you!
Upfront Considerations
1. To keep yourself on track through all of the steps to follow, create an overall postcard marketing plan. After reading this article, you'll know exactly what to put into it.
2. To save yourself time, headache and hassle, turn the logistics over to a professional postcard printer.
3. To find the company that's best for you, create a list of postcard service providers and begin comparing them on the points that are most important to you (cost, services, easy of use, etc.).
4. Begin thinking about the various elements of postcard marketing and who will handle them (the copywriting, the design, etc.).
5. Track down some colleagues who have used postcard marketing in the past. Buy them a cup of coffee and pick their brain about lessons learned, vendor recommendations, etc.
6. Start reading up on direct mail marketing in general, and postcard marketing in particular.
7. Create a postcard marketing budget that allows for multiple mailings.
Goals and Objectives
8. Gather your marketing folks together to define your marketing goals.
9. Avoid generalizations. Be specific with your postcard marketing objective. Determine the type of response you want, as well as the volume of response.
10. Set realistic goals and objectives. Get an idea of what postcards can do for marketers, and set your goals within those parameters.
11. Set objectives that are based on some form of response (as opposed to branding, awareness, or some other immeasurable trait). Postcard marketing is a response generator, not a brand builder.
Powerful Ideas
12. Create a reason for sending postcards before you send them (a promotion, a special offer, a news flash or announcement).
13. Come up with a big idea that will get people's attention. Avoid mediocrity at all costs.
14. Strive to be different from other postcard marketing messages you've seen in your industry.
15. Build value into your message and your offer...
16. Just realize that true value starts with the product or service, not the postcard.
17. Make it your goal to make people say, "Gosh, I'm glad I got this postcard."
18. Don't rely on yourself to come up with a big idea. Get your top "thinkers" together.
19. Seek outside input on your ideas. Run them by some of your best customers. Make sure that what you think is a "wow" isn't really a "yawn."
List Considerations
20. Obtain your mailing list from a reputable source.
21. Find out how often your list provider updates their data. Make sure your list is as current as possible to increase deliverability.
22. If plan to use your in-house database, check the list for accuracy, duplications, etc.
23. Divide your mailing list into segments to allow for a more targeted message (current customers vs. prospects, for example).
Your Target Audience
24. Create an audience statement that outlines the people to whom you are mailing your postcards.
25. Expand your audience list to include their wants, needs, fears and concerns — everything you can think of that pertains to your audience.
26. Write down the various ways you (or your product) can satisfy their wants and needs.
27. Keep your audience statement handy as you develop your >postcard message (next item).
Marketing Message
28. Pull out your audience statement from earlier. Craft your message in a way that bridges the gap between your audience and your objective.
29. Take your big idea from earlier (item #13) and inject it into your message.
30. Remember, the better your product (or the bigger your idea), the easier it will be to write about.
31. Create a message that solves a problem, presents a solution, and offers value.
The Postcard Headline
32. Create a direct mail headline that directly identifies your primary audience. Call them by name, if necessary.
33. Offer a strong benefit with your headline. Describe the value of the message and offer that follow the headline.
34. Write your headline clearly and honestly. Avoid the use of jokes, puns and complex language. Keep it simple so people get it right away.
35. Make your headline interesting. You can't bore people into contacting you.
36. Whenever possible, use numbers and other eye-catching specifics. Avoid generalities.
Postcard Design
37. Hire a professional graphic designer to create your postcard design. At the very least, start with a well-designed template and then customize it. Don't ever mail a postcard that reflects poorly on your organization.
38. Be original. Create a "purple cow," not just another brown one.
39. Design your postcard in a way that enhances your message and makes it more readable. Don't ever let the design obscure the message.
40. Create the kind of eye-catching postcard that bursts from the mailbox.
A Strong Offer
41. Create a strong postcard offer to motivate your readers and improve your response rates.
42. Build an offer that's related to your product or service in some way. Avoid offers that will attract unqualified prospects and "freebie hunters."
43. Make sure your postcard offer is relevant and valuable to the reader (your target audience).
44. Whatever you are offering, position it in a way that showcases its value.
45. Offer something different / better / more unique than what the "other guys" are offering.
46. With the offer in mind, revisit your headline to make sure it relates to the offer. Make the entire message cohesive and focused.
47. Follow your offer with a specific call-to-action (next item).
Evoking a Response
48. Tell people what to do next. Use your call-to-action to move the reader forward.
49. Make your call-to-action stand out from the copy around it.
Who Were They Designing It For?
I am regularly amazed by brand new facilities that are obviously user-unfriendly. Huge investments of time and money...but who are they designing it for?!A new airport in the Middle East is an impressive and expensive building. It’s huge, packed with stainless steel and halogen lights and lots of fancy gold.But it takes six escalators, two moving sidewalks and 3,446 steps (I counted) to get from the aircraft door to the taxi door at curbside. And no baggage trolleys are provided.What were the architects thinking about? Size? Grandeur? Physical exercise? Who were they designing it for?!A sparkling new hotel opened in a major capital city. There is no clear signage directing guests from the ballrooms to the restrooms. The few signs that do exist are etched in muted gold on dark marble pillars.More obvious signage was considered inappropriate for such elegant decor. Very stylish, very chic. Bnd pick their brain about lessons learned, vendor recommendations, etc.
6. Start reading up on direct mail marketing in general, and postcard marketing in particular.
7. Create a postcard marketing budget that allows for multiple mailings.
Goals and Objectives
8. Gather your marketing folks together to define your marketing goals.
9. Avoid generalizations. Be specific with your postcard marketing objective. Determine the type of response you want, as well as the volume of response.
10. Set realistic goals and objectives. Get an idea of what postcards can do for marketers, and set your goals within those parameters.
11. Set objectives that are based on some form of response (as opposed to branding, awareness, or some other immeasurable trait). Postcard marketing is a response generator, not a brand builder.
Powerful Ideas
12. Create a reason for sending postcards before you send them (a promotion, a special offer, a news flash or announcement).
13. Come up with a big idea that will get people's attention. Avoid mediocrity at all costs.
14. Strive to be different from other postcard marketing messages you've seen in your industry.
15. Build value into your message and your offer...
16. Just realize that true value starts with the product or service, not the postcard.
17. Make it your goal to make people say, "Gosh, I'm glad I got this postcard."
18. Don't rely on yourself to come up with a big idea. Get your top "thinkers" together.
19. Seek outside input on your ideas. Run them by some of your best customers. Make sure that what you think is a "wow" isn't really a "yawn."
List Considerations
20. Obtain your mailing list from a reputable source.
21. Find out how often your list provider updates their data. Make sure your list is as current as possible to increase deliverability.
22. If plan to use your in-house database, check the list for accuracy, duplications, etc.
23. Divide your mailing list into segments to allow for a more targeted message (current customers vs. prospects, for example).
Your Target Audience
24. Create an audience statement that outlines the people to whom you are mailing your postcards.
25. Expand your audience list to include their wants, needs, fears and concerns — everything you can think of that pertains to your audience.
26. Write down the various ways you (or your product) can satisfy their wants and needs.
27. Keep your audience statement handy as you develop your >postcard message (next item).
Marketing Message
28. Pull out your audience statement from earlier. Craft your message in a way that bridges the gap between your audience and your objective.
29. Take your big idea from earlier (item #13) and inject it into your message.
30. Remember, the better your product (or the bigger your idea), the easier it will be to write about.
31. Create a message that solves a problem, presents a solution, and offers value.
The Postcard Headline
32. Create a direct mail headline that directly identifies your primary audience. Call them by name, if necessary.
33. Offer a strong benefit with your headline. Describe the value of the message and offer that follow the headline.
34. Write your headline clearly and honestly. Avoid the use of jokes, puns and complex language. Keep it simple so people get it right away.
35. Make your headline interesting. You can't bore people into contacting you.
36. Whenever possible, use numbers and other eye-catching specifics. Avoid generalities.
Postcard Design
37. Hire a professional graphic designer to create your postcard design. At the very least, start with a well-designed template and then customize it. Don't ever mail a postcard that reflects poorly on your organization.
38. Be original. Create a "purple cow," not just another brown one.
39. Design your postcard in a way that enhances your message and makes it more readable. Don't ever let the design obscure the message.
40. Create the kind of eye-catching postcard that bursts from the mailbox.
A Strong Offer
41. Create a strong postcard offer to motivate your readers and improve your response rates.
42. Build an offer that's related to your product or service in some way. Avoid offers that will attract unqualified prospects and "freebie hunters."
43. Make sure your postcard offer is relevant and valuable to the reader (your target audience).
44. Whatever you are offering, position it in a way that showcases its value.
45. Offer something different / better / more unique than what the "other guys" are offering.
46. With the offer in mind, revisit your headline to make sure it relates to the offer. Make the entire message cohesive and focused.
47. Follow your offer with a specific call-to-action (next item).
Evoking a Response
48. Tell people what to do next. Use your call-to-action to move the reader forward.
49. Make your call-to-action stand out from the copy around it.
The Protectionism Delusion
Economists through years of study and practice have concluded that through free trade, based on the principal of comparative advantage, the world economy can achieve a more efficient allocation of resources and a higher level of material well-being. On the other hand, protectionism measures-barriers to free trade-lessen or eliminate gains from specialization. Trying to satisfy diverse wants, nations shift resources from efficient (low cost) to inefficient (high cost) uses. This is the reason why, instead of promoting competition, governments turn up to face monopolies that harm the economy and do not fulfill the consumers' needs.Furthermore, the costs of protectionism are hidden because trade barriers are embedded in the prices of goods. Thus, either due to misunderstandings of the gains of trade or due to political considerations, governments may impose trade barriers, with consequences such as higher prices, which rue value starts with the product or service, not the postcard.
17. Make it your goal to make people say, "Gosh, I'm glad I got this postcard."
18. Don't rely on yourself to come up with a big idea. Get your top "thinkers" together.
19. Seek outside input on your ideas. Run them by some of your best customers. Make sure that what you think is a "wow" isn't really a "yawn."
List Considerations
20. Obtain your mailing list from a reputable source.
21. Find out how often your list provider updates their data. Make sure your list is as current as possible to increase deliverability.
22. If plan to use your in-house database, check the list for accuracy, duplications, etc.
23. Divide your mailing list into segments to allow for a more targeted message (current customers vs. prospects, for example).
Your Target Audience
24. Create an audience statement that outlines the people to whom you are mailing your postcards.
25. Expand your audience list to include their wants, needs, fears and concerns — everything you can think of that pertains to your audience.
26. Write down the various ways you (or your product) can satisfy their wants and needs.
27. Keep your audience statement handy as you develop your >postcard message (next item).
Marketing Message
28. Pull out your audience statement from earlier. Craft your message in a way that bridges the gap between your audience and your objective.
29. Take your big idea from earlier (item #13) and inject it into your message.
30. Remember, the better your product (or the bigger your idea), the easier it will be to write about.
31. Create a message that solves a problem, presents a solution, and offers value.
The Postcard Headline
32. Create a direct mail headline that directly identifies your primary audience. Call them by name, if necessary.
33. Offer a strong benefit with your headline. Describe the value of the message and offer that follow the headline.
34. Write your headline clearly and honestly. Avoid the use of jokes, puns and complex language. Keep it simple so people get it right away.
35. Make your headline interesting. You can't bore people into contacting you.
36. Whenever possible, use numbers and other eye-catching specifics. Avoid generalities.
Postcard Design
37. Hire a professional graphic designer to create your postcard design. At the very least, start with a well-designed template and then customize it. Don't ever mail a postcard that reflects poorly on your organization.
38. Be original. Create a "purple cow," not just another brown one.
39. Design your postcard in a way that enhances your message and makes it more readable. Don't ever let the design obscure the message.
40. Create the kind of eye-catching postcard that bursts from the mailbox.
A Strong Offer
41. Create a strong postcard offer to motivate your readers and improve your response rates.
42. Build an offer that's related to your product or service in some way. Avoid offers that will attract unqualified prospects and "freebie hunters."
43. Make sure your postcard offer is relevant and valuable to the reader (your target audience).
44. Whatever you are offering, position it in a way that showcases its value.
45. Offer something different / better / more unique than what the "other guys" are offering.
46. With the offer in mind, revisit your headline to make sure it relates to the offer. Make the entire message cohesive and focused.
47. Follow your offer with a specific call-to-action (next item).
Evoking a Response
48. Tell people what to do next. Use your call-to-action to move the reader forward.
49. Make your call-to-action stand out from the copy around it.
Fear Factor Packaging
I'm getting really nervous with the daily security threats that abound in the news. People forget that packaging has an important role to play in helping keep our products safe for consumption. Remember the Tylenol packaging incident? Many packaging applications, such as the tamper evident seal and the shrink wrap band, were invented as a result of that incident. Frighteningly, a major concern should be our food supply. One bio-terrorism incident in our food supply could be a thousand times more deadly than 9/11.Packaging is starting to get some media play on this topic. I just read an article that tied packaging to the bird flu. Really! Stay tuned next week for "How Packaging Causes Global Warming." I am just kidding. But let’s get serious. There are some pretty important ways that packaging impacts our product security. In fact, I recently wrote about it in my 13 Packaging Trends for 06. The premise is that keepingd message (next item).
Marketing Message
28. Pull out your audience statement from earlier. Craft your message in a way that bridges the gap between your audience and your objective.
29. Take your big idea from earlier (item #13) and inject it into your message.
30. Remember, the better your product (or the bigger your idea), the easier it will be to write about.
31. Create a message that solves a problem, presents a solution, and offers value.
The Postcard Headline
32. Create a direct mail headline that directly identifies your primary audience. Call them by name, if necessary.
33. Offer a strong benefit with your headline. Describe the value of the message and offer that follow the headline.
34. Write your headline clearly and honestly. Avoid the use of jokes, puns and complex language. Keep it simple so people get it right away.
35. Make your headline interesting. You can't bore people into contacting you.
36. Whenever possible, use numbers and other eye-catching specifics. Avoid generalities.
Postcard Design
37. Hire a professional graphic designer to create your postcard design. At the very least, start with a well-designed template and then customize it. Don't ever mail a postcard that reflects poorly on your organization.
38. Be original. Create a "purple cow," not just another brown one.
39. Design your postcard in a way that enhances your message and makes it more readable. Don't ever let the design obscure the message.
40. Create the kind of eye-catching postcard that bursts from the mailbox.
A Strong Offer
41. Create a strong postcard offer to motivate your readers and improve your response rates.
42. Build an offer that's related to your product or service in some way. Avoid offers that will attract unqualified prospects and "freebie hunters."
43. Make sure your postcard offer is relevant and valuable to the reader (your target audience).
44. Whatever you are offering, position it in a way that showcases its value.
45. Offer something different / better / more unique than what the "other guys" are offering.
46. With the offer in mind, revisit your headline to make sure it relates to the offer. Make the entire message cohesive and focused.
47. Follow your offer with a specific call-to-action (next item).
Evoking a Response
48. Tell people what to do next. Use your call-to-action to move the reader forward.
49. Make your call-to-action stand out from the copy around it.
Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Finding The Perfect Balance
This article relates to the Work/Life Balance competency, which investigates how your staff feels with regard to the balance between work and personal life. It explores issues such as priority of family and hours on the job, also covered in this competency. Organizations that enjoy a high satisfaction level in this area will normally exhibit a low rate of absenteeism and experience higher employee retention. Evaluating this competency is helpful in understanding issues relating to a workforce that is commonly tardy or absent from work.
This article, Finding the Perfect Balance, is part of AlphaMeasure's compilation, Tales from the Corporate Frontlines. It illustrates how one employee's evolving life circumstances required him to make some career changes in order to achieve a healthy balance between the demands of work and personal or family life.
Anonymous Submission
When I graduated from colects poorly on your organization.
38. Be original. Create a "purple cow," not just another brown one.
39. Design your postcard in a way that enhances your message and makes it more readable. Don't ever let the design obscure the message.
40. Create the kind of eye-catching postcard that bursts from the mailbox.
A Strong Offer
41. Create a strong postcard offer to motivate your readers and improve your response rates.
42. Build an offer that's related to your product or service in some way. Avoid offers that will attract unqualified prospects and "freebie hunters."
43. Make sure your postcard offer is relevant and valuable to the reader (your target audience).
44. Whatever you are offering, position it in a way that showcases its value.
45. Offer something different / better / more unique than what the "other guys" are offering.
46. With the offer in mind, revisit your headline to make sure it relates to the offer. Make the entire message cohesive and focused.
47. Follow your offer with a specific call-to-action (next item).
Evoking a Response
48. Tell people what to do next. Use your call-to-action to move the reader forward.
49. Make your call-to-action stand out from the copy around it.
50. Repeat your call-to-action on both sides of the postcard (using callout boxes or starbursts as needed).
51. Make it as simple as possible for people to respond. Give them more than one way to respond.
52. Restate the reason they should respond. Restate the value of your offer.
Testing and Tracking
53. Make sure you have a way to track and test your postcard response rates. You can't improve your results until you know what they are.
54. Try to learn something from each and every postcard you mail out. Change one element at a time to measure the difference in response. This is how you create "super postcards."
Further Education
55. Spend some time on the website below to further your postcard marketing education.
* You may republish this article online if you retain the author's byline and the active hyperlinks below. Copyright 2007, Brandon Cornett.
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