[Mike Halliday]

Someone emailed me and asked for some info, so I thought I'd post it here. This is my thoughts on postcard marketing

When you send a postcard (or newsletter) it will arrive on the doorstep and find the customer in 1 of 3 conditions

1) needs your services now.
2) will need your services in the near future.
3)don't need your services.

your postcard to be effective has to target all these 3 condition.

condition 1; you would think this was easy, all you need to do is remind them of your name & tel No and they will obviously call you . NO THEY WON'T!! 

 As a comparison, I need a new front offside tyre, every day I drive past Quick-fit tyres but I can't be bothered to stop EVEN THOUGH I DEFINITELY NEED A NEW TYRE!

the whole world suffers from procrastination they know what they are supposed to do but never get around to it.

but...... if tomorrow I drive past and they are offering 'free balancing' today only!! do you think I will overcome my procrastination and buy a new tyre , of course I will.

this is why you need a special offer & expiry date on your reminder cards, it overcomes PROCASTINATION.

condition 2; this I think, is the hardest. your post card can try and get them to bring forward there plans and have their carpets cleaned now. you would do this by having a great special offer some thing that they don't want to miss,

or you have to give them another reason to keep the postcard perhaps a percentage of the original special offer EG call before the 24th of Sept and get 20% off after this date we'll give 10%.

OK....why else would anyone else want to keep your postcard? this where you have to start 'thinking out of the box'  if the picture on the front: interests them, amuses them, educates them, tells them info they need to know, inspires them, arouses them they will keep it  & stick it where they can see it.

this will work better if you keep good record and have a choice of postcards.

I send Anne Geddes postcards to parents with babies & young children.

I send '1880 Beverley marketplace' postcards to my over 50 clients.

I have a fox & cubs photo that I send out to people who I can't remember.

I'll tell you something, nobody wants a postcard with my ugly face stuck on the notice board!


condition 3;if their carpet or suite doesn't need cleaning my fancy postcard won't make any difference they won't call me.

so how can i still make my postcard work for me? 2 ways, ask them to give it to a friend or family member and like condition 2 put a picture on it that makes them want to keep it ( so when they do need they still have it!!)

to end Ill say its better to send out any postcard than no postcard, but if you are going to the trouble of sending one you might as well give it the best chance possible of bringing in work.

Mike

[Jason Hedges]

Hi Mike,

Excellent advice, been looking into the postcard concept for awhile now especially with recent posts.

Your knowledge and advice is well appreciated. Will be putting it into practice .

Thankyou very much.

All the best,
Jason.

[bennymon]

many thanks 

[calmore]

Where do you get these postcards?

Are they just normal postcards that you feed through your printer or are they specially produced?

[Mike Halliday]

calmore, they are normal postcards, the go through the printer OK, but keep jamming so you need to watch them.

Judges of hasting is where i get some from, the Anne geddes I got from Holland.

Mike

[terrymaloy]

Hope your postcards are'nt as long winded as your post !!!

[Mike Halliday]

I said it was long, so people with low intelligence or short attention spans could give it a miss

Mike

[calmore]

Presumably you send them just to previous customers, rather thn the population as a whole?

[Mike Halliday]

they are reminder cards sent to previous customers, it would be too expensive to send the en-mass

although postcard marketing in the USA is done a lot.

Mike

[Buster Ingram]

I've just been quoted £200 for 10,000 post cards printed on both side from a printer in Coventry, using my own design.

Is this a good price?

Dave

[Mike Halliday]

Dave, has it a full colour picture on 1 side? and is it a A6 size, 300gm?

that does seem a good price.

did you know that postcards are printed 8 to a sheet so the printing plate can have 8 different postcards without it altering the price, you could have some of them printed with a winter special offer to put out after Xmas when its a bit slow

Mike

[Buster Ingram]

Mike,
 A6 post card, Colour pic one side info on other and I think its 260 gram

Dave

[Kev Loomes]

http://www.1clickprint.com

A6, colour both sides, 300gsm gloss........£140.00......including vat 

[mark_roberts]

Interesting thoughts.

I always put a time deadline on offers and it does work but only a small percentage will take you up on the offer.  Most will just ring for a clean as the card reminded them.

Last year I did a drop of 400 postcards followed by 400 letters a few months later.  The letter outpulled the postcard.  My thoughts on this is that the postcard is too easy to overlook where as the letter will be opened and  you have their attention for a few seconds.

On the postcard I mentioned my new tile cleaning service and got a good few jobs for this and a good bit of interest.

What surprised me to my horror was that quite a few forgot my number, name, lost my card and so where delighted to get the card/letter otherwise it was the Yellow Pages.

This taught me a lesson to be more regular with my mailings.

Some even rang to say they had changed address or didnt need me at the minute but would ring at Christmas!!

Mark

[Buster Ingram]

Your right Mark its all about keeping in touch.

Dave

[the red carpet]

Dont use 1click print, there cards are not 300gsm despite what they say, trust me iv got 20,000 in the cupboard
Theres a company called Celectron, that do them, iv posted there number on Terrys postcard thread

There better than 1click
And cheaper than the ones Dave mentions

Ps, i do use 1click for my leaflets and they are a decent company, but the cards are not postcard quality, and will get crushed in the postal system.

[Smiths Cleaning]

Hi
have been following all your comments with interest and have picked up some good tips which I will use. Vistaprint are worth a look for postcards have used them many times and find there quality and price second to none.
I have set up a database of all my clients and every 3/4 months mailmerge them all, this always brings in a hefty reply either from them, friends family etc, i mention offers, new features of business and incentives for recomending clients.
i have also used customer feedback form which will get good response.
personally i try to stay in touch with all customers regulars and the not so, and when they need something or a friend mentions they do, mine is the first name they think of.
Andy