What to write on a cheap little postcard that will make people flood you with cash

[Mark Riddle]

With all the people talking of working with offline business but are afraid to go face to face or cold call business owners,

I thought I would share with you just one little secret that works like crazy for getting the attention of small and medium business owners.

There is money hiding in your cash register
I know where its hidden.

I've been meaning to stop by your business to tell you about the results of a recent research study, that shows how small independent business owners can find hidden cash with one simple method that only takes minutes to set up.

I know your time is valuable, mine is too, Please call my office and let my receptionist know when I can come and meet you at your business to fill you in on this new information.

My office number is xxx-xxx-xxxx

Hand addressed and signed,






That should be more than enough to get your phone ringing.

Mark Riddle

[TimCastleman]

Mark -

As a guy who uses postcards in offline marketing and orders them in 5,000 stacks I think your postcard might have trouble working.

Have you actually sent this out and tested it?

For what it is worth, my last postcard landed me 3 clients and a nice payday. My return on investment is $8 back for every $1 a spent.

Hope all is well.

Tim

[Mark Riddle]

Tim,

Yes I have and do mail this card.

Mark

[prosperwithdnb]

Very nice idea seems like it will work, where do you purchase your post cards from at a good price.

[xlfutur1]

This seems a little hypey to me. I would like to see actual numbers from a mailing that was sent out before I mailed this exactly. The reason being....if I were a small business owner ( and I have been) I would just trash this card based on how vague it is. the guy who sent out the vomit bags had much better copy that was more compelling IMHO. I would like to see his copy on a postcard go up against this one to see what would pull better.

[Mark Riddle]

I buy my postcards at the post office, and use my printer to print the copy on the back.

The hand written address and signature, along with the phone number being local is what I think makes it work so well.

I don't do these by the thousands, my town isn't that big

If I didn't get a response off of my first 50, I don't think I would have printed more either.


Mark

[nick1123]

Great idea for offline marketing!

[clawHAMMER]

Originally Posted by xlfutur1

This seems a little hypey to me. I would like to see actual numbers from a mailing that was sent out before I mailed this exactly. The reason being....if I were a small business owner ( and I have been) I would just trash this card based on how vague it is. the guy who sent out the vomit bags had much better copy that was more compelling IMHO. I would like to see his copy on a postcard go up against this one to see what would pull better.

I agree. No stats? No examples to base your theory on? Way to vague. I'm with the other guy, I was a sm business owner myself and if I got something like that in the mail I would've never given it a second look and just tossed it.

The vomit bag on the other hand....that was a great promo and that would've gotten my curiosity if you had sent my small biz one of those. Postcards tho? Naaa, don't see it.

[Larry at Online Trusted]

Originally Posted by netmalls

With all the people talking of working with offline business but are afraid to go face to face or cold call business owners,

I thought I would share with you just one little secret that works like crazy for getting the attention of small and medium business owners.

There is money hiding in your cash register
I know where its hidden.

I've been meaning to stop by your business to tell you about the results of a recent research study, that shows how small independent business owners can find hidden cash with one simple method that only takes minutes to set up.

I know your time is valuable, mine is too, Please call my office and let my receptionist know when I can come and meet you at your business to fill you in on this new information.

My office number is xxx-xxx-xxxx

Hand addressed and signed,






That should be more than enough to get your phone ringing.

Mark Riddle

so what is this "one simple method" that you refer to on your postcard?

is this a bait and switch thing?

[Larry at Online Trusted]

what is the "vomit bag" that some of you have referred to?

a real vomit bag?

[JLRuffin]

Your basic idea is good, but for a busy business person I wonder if it is compelling enough for such a person to act. It seems to me that some hard numbers showing how certain businesses increased their bottom line would be more effective.

[Mark Riddle]

Originally Posted by Larry at Online Trusted

so what is this "one simple method" that you refer to on your postcard?

is this a bait and switch thing?

The tip is to set up the cash register to print on the receipt the stores website where customers sign up for specials and giveaways.

I have found some registers that don't have enough spaces that allow you to give a complete message, but enough for the website.

My objective is to set up their e-mailing list system.

And Yes there was a posting here telling people to send a real vomit bag as a promotional tactic.

Mark

[Frank Bruno]

My impression is that the postcard is too hypish and would come accross to the business owner as "junk mail" and toss it into the trash. If it works for you thats all that really matters as this is just my opinion.

However I do see way too many examples of letters and post cards here on this forum that appear to be read as hype. If you guys want to get higher conversions your copy has to sound completely ligit but attention grabbing. You should also apply some degree of personalization like sending them a cut out of their adds, websites,rankings, etc to show them you personally have been analyzing their businesses.

I have landed my first client last week that will bring me about $400 in residual monthly sending out 16 "personalized" letters. I built him 2 websites for his two businesses and got him on first page of Google for each one. The letters I sent out were completely hype free. I also have a few on the burner because of the mailing.

I also just sent a batch of about 20 postcards that should hit businesses on Tues as a test and I'll let you know how that goes.

I am interested in hearing other marketers results using postcards for marketing as they are dirt cheap compared to Adwords and you can drive the traffic anywhere you want or a phone call.

Frank Bruno

[Mark Riddle]

Frank,

Just my 2 cents here I think 20 post cards are too few to be able to get any valuable measure of post cards.

I started mailing 50, but I bought 100 and was in process of sending all 100 cards.

I had planned to mail the next 50 the following week, but in practice the second 50 weren't mailed until the 3rd week.

I did get calls off of the first 50, to me the most important part from the first 50 cards is to learn what question were being asked, and getting a feeling to see if the callers had much store traffic at all.

If they didn't have store traffic, I would focus on some other traffic builder to their store first.

I 2nd Frank's Request to hear about other postcard marketing successes.


Mark

[Mr.G]

To get a good metric you really need to send out 1,000 minimum and do some A/B testing on headline and copy. Each test should use a unique website or 800 number to test correctly.

[TimCastleman]

20, 50, 100 - don't waste your time. In order to do postcards correctly you need to send out at least a 1,000 at a time. But what do I know except that postcards was the only way I marketed my offline business and made $25,000 in the process.

Tim