How can you improve your direct mail postcard marketing?

by Andrew | Last Updated September 7, 2023

Anyone can achieve direct mail success with their own postcard marketing. There are only a few steps to follow to ensure it’s done right! In this post we’ll walk you through the steps to efficiently and affordably send postcards to potential customers.

Let’s get started!

1. Set Goals

First, you need to set goals. What is the end result you want to have from your postcard marketing? More Likes on Facebook? Twitter followers? Rise in in-store customers? Online customers?

Write your goal down in pen (or Sharpie) and place it where you’ll see it on a regular basis while you’re planning out your postcard marketing strategy. Everything you’re going to do with your postcard marketing plan is going to revolve around that goal so make sure it’s a good one!

2. Target Your Audience

You’ve probably heard the term “target audience” before, but what does that mean? It simply refers to a select group of people that are likely to have interest in what you’re offering. This process may take some time to figure out and pin point, but it will be well worth it!

If you’re targeting people who don’t need your products then it won’t matter how perfect your campaign is, you still won’t see any positive effects. It wouldn’t make sense to try to sell heaters to people in Arizona in the middle of summer. You’d want to find people who are preparing for cold weather or are in the middle of the cold weather to sell heaters to.

Do Target Audience Research

Once you have your target audience picked out, it’s time to do more research on them. In order to design a postcard that your target audience will respond to, you need to figure out what makes them tick. What makes them so likely to buy your product? How can you relate your product to them? How can you make them see that buying your product is a good idea?

There are many consumer studies that have already been done on the Internet; it just takes some digging. But don’t forget to talk to your audience! Do you have a large amount of social followers from your target audience? See how they interact to your brand and don’t be afraid to ask them questions you may be surprised how honest and open most people are when they are approached respectfully and openly.

Design Postcards

Now it’s time for some real fun: Designing your own postcards!

Use the research you’ve gathered on your target audience to help you create a design that works. Does a large percentage of your target audience use Facebook? Make sure they know you have a Facebook page! Are the roads around your business confusing to navigate? Give your target audience a small, easy to read map on the postcard so that they can get to and from your store.

If your target audience uses a particular phrase to describe your products, make sure you use their vocabulary and not yours. Let’s say you sell what your manufactures describe as “20” aquamarine floats for 35′ pools” but your target audience describes them as “large blue floats for big pools,” go with the second description.

Print Postcards

Okay, we’re almost done.

When you print your postcards you’ll want to get a good quality postcard paper for your mailing. The most time efficient (and usually cost as well) way of printing postcards is printing four postcards on the same sheet. You can get sheets of postcard paper already perforated to be separated into four postcards to help make your printing process easier.

You can use most any printer to print your postcards. Inkjet printers will print the detail of full color photos better, but can cost you a lot in ink. Laser printers will cut your printing cost drastically, but it usually won’t print as detailed as the inkjet printers. The choice is yours, but we won’t leave you out in the cold. Here’s a Printer Buying Guide for Print Your Own Masters. Even if you’re not looking to buy a new printer to print your postcards, you can figure out which of your current printers would best serve you for this print job.

Distribute Postcards

Now that you’ve got a fresh stack of nicely printed postcards, it’s time to get them distributed. If you’ve never sent out a direct mail campaign it would be a good idea to call your local post office to see if they can help walk you through the steps. The USPS® also has a lot of quality direct mail information on their web site.

Analyze Direct Mail Results

Now that all the work is done, you’re still not finished! Analyzing the results is just as important as anything above. After allowing your postcard marketing campaign time to be delivered and seen pay careful attention to who responds, how they respond and also who doesn’t respond. This will allow you to make necessary adjustments on your next campaign to drive even better results. Marketings, regardless of the medium can be very tricky and take multiple attempts to hit the sweet spot that people respond to best. Don’t be discouraged if your initial attempt doesn’t yield exactly the response you hoped but adjust and try again!

After a marketing campaign is also a great time for additional target audience research. Obviously you cannot research in depth the people who did not respond but you can talk to those who did. Don’t be shy about asking them what they liked, what drew them in, or what could be improved in the future.

As always if there are any additional questions or thoughts let us know in the comments and we’ll be happy to discuss postcard marketing further!

Image: corrieb

We are not affiliated or endorsed by USPS

Publish date: July 10, 2013. Updated: September 7, 2023