Those who have done postcard direct mail marketing.

by gasman
16 replies
How were your results?

Also I would like to know how you would go about this. If I wasn't interested in paying the fees to be able to get the cheaper prices for bulk mailing, would I just simply buy a bunch of postcard stamps and throw like 300 or whatever postcards into a mailbox or would I put them in something else.

Probably a dumb question, but I don't ever even mail normal things
#direct #mail #marketing #postcard
  • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
    You can still get already franked postcards (they already have postage paid on them). Unless you are paying a service to do this for you, that is pretty much what you do. Although, going to the post office to mail them there is a relly good idea.

    I don't know if you were just making up a number, but 300 is kind of a small sample size to get many results.
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  • Profile picture of the author Thomas Wilkinson
    I did a small test of around 500 a few months ago. Poor results. I may have broken even at best.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bruce NewMedia
    I mail postcards often, and returns depend on the list and the offer. Even 300 cards can produce a good return.

    In my case I'm just looking for a few businesses to raise their hand and say, "ok, I'm interested"...that's all. One average deal is $1000 or more typically, so $150 in cost is worth it. I definitely would deliver them to the nearest post office, not just dump them in a mailbox. The post office prefers you bring them to the PO anyway.
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  • Profile picture of the author Don Schenk
    Oh, probably twenty years ago I was invited to a small marketing conference being held at the local office of a large, national suppler to businesses. There were about twenty-five of us in attendance.

    Two of the people at the program insisted direct mail, and especially postcards don't work! They bad-mouthed mailing as a means to motivate potential customers.

    Hmmm. How strange, because I had been using direct mail, letters and postcard with much success. It turned out their problem was it didn't work because they were clueless about the importance of a great, benefit to the reader, strong promise headline!

    I do postcard mailings to business owners about marketing matters other than wanting to become their web guy. When I test a new postcard sometimes I get it right, other times I miss. About a year ago I sent out a 5,000 postcard test that fell on its face. I then changed the card to make it work. Again this postcard was not about wanting to design websites for brick and mortar business.

    I know Tim Castleman has had good success using postcards to attract business owners for his offline work. The key is in the copywriting quality of the card.

    If a postcard mailing didn't work either the message was wrong, the audience was wrong, or something about how the card looked was a turn off to the intended market.

    :-Don
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    • Profile picture of the author Thomas Michal
      There are so many factors that will play a role in the success of this it would be hard to give you a real clear answer...

      I have done mailers with great success but I had used tested copy, graphics, font types, demographics and more...

      I usually will do these when I do local... I guess you could call it a seminar where I send a mailer to lets say for this example contractors and offer them a free marketing seminar on how to generate more business leads.

      But the ultimate goal is getting more clients for my marketing company, this is where the money really comes in. At least for me

      If you are just going to throw together a couple hundred postcards without doing any research I'd say save your money.
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      • Profile picture of the author gasman
        Originally Posted by Don Schenk View Post

        Oh, probably twenty years ago I was invited to a small marketing conference being held at the local office of a large, national suppler to businesses. There were about twenty-five of us in attendance.

        Two of the people at the program insisted direct mail, and especially postcards don't work! They bad-mouthed mailing as a means to motivate potential customers.

        Hmmm. How strange, because I had been using direct mail, letters and postcard with much success. It turned out their problem was it didn't work because they were clueless about the importance of a great, benefit to the reader, strong promise headline!

        I do postcard mailings to business owners about marketing matters other than wanting to become their web guy. When I test a new postcard sometimes I get it right, other times I miss. About a year ago I sent out a 5,000 postcard test that fell on its face. I then changed the card to make it work. Again this postcard was not about wanting to design websites for brick and mortar business.

        I know Tim Castleman has had good success using postcards to attract business owners for his offline work. The key is in the copywriting quality of the card.

        If a postcard mailing didn't work either the message was wrong, the audience was wrong, or something about how the card looked was a turn off to the intended market.

        :-Don
        Well the plan actually is to offer my website design services. However, I want to give them the service free, with no obligations to buy anything. I would be able to do this by suggesting that they sign up with a host I am affiliated with, as well as offer them many other services such as SEO, and the opportunity to have me upkeep their site for a monthly fee. They would never be under any obligations to actually pay for any of my services, and if I only made them a website, I would make enough through hosting to make it worth it. I would ONLY be mailing small businesses without a website which I believe would be extremely targeted for what I am offering. And because they would NEVER have to buy anything from me unless they wanted to and yet still get a free website, I feel like my conversions should be good?

        Originally Posted by Thomas Michal View Post

        There are so many factors that will play a role in the success of this it would be hard to give you a real clear answer...

        I have done mailers with great success but I had used tested copy, graphics, font types, demographics and more...

        I usually will do these when I do local... I guess you could call it a seminar where I send a mailer to lets say for this example contractors and offer them a free marketing seminar on how to generate more business leads.

        But the ultimate goal is getting more clients for my marketing company, this is where the money really comes in. At least for me

        If you are just going to throw together a couple hundred postcards without doing any research I'd say save your money.
        I would ONLY be mailing small businesses without a website which I believe would be extremely targeted for what I am offering. And because they would NEVER have to buy anything from me unless they wanted to and yet still get a free website, I feel like my conversions should be good?
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  • Profile picture of the author Thomas Michal
    Honestly, if it's only like 300 or so pick up the phone and call them with the offer, it's usually pretty easy to get a hold of a small business owner.

    You could crank out those calls in about a day or two.
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    • Profile picture of the author gasman
      Originally Posted by Thomas Michal View Post

      Honestly, if it's only like 300 or so pick up the phone and call them with the offer, it's usually pretty easy to get a hold of a small business owner.

      You could crank out those calls in about a day or two.
      300 was just what I was planning on doing for a test. If all went well I would plan on sending however many I need to weekly and if that ends up being 1000-2000 postcards a week, I really don't want to spend all the time I need to be making websites on the phone. I have other websites and businesses to attend to and don't have the time for that type of thing. If it all worked out well I would outsource everything. I come up with ideas, make a plan, test it, and if it works I outsource what I can and move on to the next plan. I like to have many eggs at once when possible in case something falls apart.
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      • Profile picture of the author TimCastleman
        I've done postcard marketing for years.

        The keys are:

        #1 Price. If it's less than 3 figures (it really should be 4) don't bother. I sell expensive services via postcards - not cheap offers.

        #2 List. Are the leads targeted or are you spraying and praying?

        #3 Offer. I never sell in the postcards. I just get them to raise their hands. That's it.

        #4 Quantity. If you think 300 postcards is going to be anything but a waste of time you're going to pissing away money.

        Stop thinking hundreds - start thinking at least 1,000. Hell right now that's only $330 per thousand.

        So if you sell something that cost $1000 you could mail 4,000 postcards, sell one and still be close to even.

        #5 - ROI Baby. Screw percentages, think Return on Investment. $330 out and $1000 in - that's great. Who cares if it is 0.0000000001 response rate - as long as you have more coming in that going out you'll make money.

        The rest of the stuff is in my course.

        Tim
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  • Profile picture of the author George Wright
    If you go to USPS.com they offer a service that prints and mails the post cards from 1 to any number for little more than the cost of postage.

    The ones who do the printing and actual mail out are a 3rd party other than the United States Post Office but since they are offered on the USPS site that recommends them very highly.

    You have to set up an account with USPS.com and after that you can design and play around with different mailings for free all you want. It only costs if you do an actual mailing.

    A couple of years ago I order a free package from them it was a dozen or so booklets in a little case that explained all the business services the U.S. Post Office offers. It was quite informative.

    George Wright
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  • Profile picture of the author webbuyer
    I am curious what services you guys use to mail these out? And what businesses you are in? I have a niche product that I am trying to sell to medium to larger businesses, not individuals because we need volume orders in order to manufacuture the product. I wouldn't have a clue where to start, but I am very interested in giving this a try...
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    • Profile picture of the author myob
      I have been using infousa as a supplement to my own inhouse marketing. This is a very effective method of reaching prospects that would not normally find your products online. My market is medium to large businesses.
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      • Profile picture of the author Lee M
        I have been using Click2Mail.com

        Paying .46 cents each for 4.25" x 6" Postcard (full color, both sides, white cardstock). Yes, that includes printing, addressing, and first-class postage.

        I upload the camera-ready PDF that I create in MS Publisher then upload the list in Excel or CSV format. They have it out the door the next day or so.

        There are no minimum quantities. In my case, I have been doing mailings in the 200 to 500 piece range. It has worked well. Haven't been able to beat this price or overall efficiency that Click2Mail.com has offered yet. To boot, they have great telephone customer support. You can reach a LIVE rep on the phone quickly.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lou Pat
    If your intent is to gain new business owners as clients - and you want to target those who may not have a website at this point, your list is as important as the message you convey on the postcard. Two suggestions for finding those prospects:

    1) Look for County & State online databases of newly registered businesses. If you can get your hands on the company name, and mailing address of a newly registered business, they likely need a website.

    2) Create your own mailing list by visiting websites in a certain category. You know if they need website help just by visiting their site. Get their mailing address from the website itself if possible.

    Also the advice mentioned for "not overselling" on the card is great. Your postcard is just a lead generation piece. You just want them to respond in some way, so you can have a more in depth conversation about their business. Try to make sure you structure your contract so that you can sign them on for multi-year support, thus charging them more $ , thus making the ROI on this postcard mailing high.

    Check out QuantumDigital , they have high quality printing and are setup to support small businesses who want to market themselves via direct mail.
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  • Profile picture of the author nicholasb
    it really depends on the offer you have and the list you rent.

    You really want to rent a list of buyers. Im my example I sell a $4500 offer where I show people who want to start businesses actually start and get clients in under 6 weeks.

    So when I do direct mail I rent lists of people who have just purchased subscriptions to start business, biz ops magazines. Also lists of people who just bought related products like start business kits.

    Yes I don't get a lot of leads but they are real leads and not just freebie seeker list's. These leads convert very high after going through my conversion process.

    It really comes down to your offer and what kind of list you get.
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  • Profile picture of the author emily45
    Testing takes several mailings because you might send out 500 one time and get 5, another 500 mailing you may get 0. It really takes around 8,000 - 10,000 to get an actual percentage. I also believe it is better to mail on Fri, Sat or Mon, so people do not get your offer on a day when they have a lot of mail to go through.
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