Postcard marketing- EXPER ONLY PLEASE

Superior Shine

Superior Shine

New member
Next week or so I will send out post cards to boost biz to the point I can run a second rig. We are about border line now but I want to bump it up a bit.



What has worked best for those of you that tried them? What headline will grab them?



There isn't much room on a post card, other than contact info what should I make sure I include on there?



My plan is to buy a mailing list that targets small business owners that make $100,000 + a year within a 10 mile radius of my home.



Total budget is about $4000. Should I send out post cards to as many new clients as possible or select a smaller number and send them a post card 2 or 3 times ?





Also, should I have them directed to call or go to my web-site for more info?
 
Repeat exposure is key with a postcard marketing plan. Figure to send out 3-4 times per year. Focus that list. Focus some more. Keep the message simple, make it look professional and proof-read it 100x. Provide all contact routes - let the customer decide which is the best way for THEM to contact you.



My 2c from a design and marketing background.
 
animes2k said:
Repeat exposure is key with a postcard marketing plan. Figure to send out 3-4 times per year. Focus that list. Focus some more. Keep the message simple, make it look professional and proof-read it 100x. Provide all contact routes - let the customer decide which is the best way for THEM to contact you.



My 2c from a design and marketing background.
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Good advice, especially the part about the lists! I make my living in solutions based direct response marketing (uh, yeah.....junk mail) but usually with clients mailing several hundred thousand to several million pieces at a time. Still, the basics apply no matter the quantity.



You're selling a service, yes, but you're also selling an image. Get the best quality photos you can of your work and incorporate them into a very clean, professional design. You might want to look into a list of upscale new car buyers, if you can get it, and appeal to their pride of ownership. Expect the cost of the list and the cost of postage to be the two biggest chunks of your mailing.



Oh, and as for finding room on a postcard - keep in mind that for Standard A mail rate (used to be called bulk mail) the maximum size card is 6-1/8" x 11-1/2". The postage cost for this is no more than it is to mail a 5" x 7" card, or 6" x 9", etc. Yes, the cost to print is more, but don't confine yourself to a small card.
 
Good stuff, Mike. There are also places online to get postcards printed with rather good quality for a rather good price. Keeping things local is nice for the local economy, if your pocket can afford it.
 
Superior Shine said:
Should I send out post cards to as many new clients as possible or select a smaller number and send them a post card 2 or 3 times ?
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Actually, I would select and even smaller number and then plan on sending them a post card 5 to 7 times.
 
I strongly agree with a smaller list and more hits. You may not get much off the first pass but should see more each mailing.



Also, make sure you are gettign a good quality list so you can be sure you are mailing to good, qulaified addresses.



As far as the postcard goes, make it look *** good as you can and include some type of offer to get them to call or logo on to web site.



If you have any other questions feel free to PM me
 
I've done this a few times. My suggestions, as some said above, would be to include high quality photos of some of your best work, with high end cars or at the very least, a good variety of vehicles (i.e. a sports car, sedan, and a minivan, or even a boat or bike if you detail those as well). This will definitely catch their eye on one side with the name of your business above the pictures.



On the reverse side, I would include simple, yet concise information on what detailing is and why they need it. I usually label my stuff with "Professional Car Cleaning & Reconditioning" (duh) and then a line such as "Have you been on vacation recently?" and build off that with reasons why they need to come to me if so (bugs and tar from a road trip, dirty interior from the whole family sitting inside the car, etc.) As far as contact information goes, there's no reason not to include both forms of contact. If you have a good, solid website with all necessary information on it, then you can include that on there with your phone number. Give people a reason to visit your site-that's what it is there for-something like, "check out our website for more info, our portfolio, and special discounts" will do the trick. Then people can explore your services without any "risk."



And as far as who to target and how often, I'd go for getting the word out to a large number of people and save some money to focus your target group. This means using the left over money to re-send postcards (possibly ones with different information on them) to places/people you think are worth the additional mailings. I realize that the cards are small so everything I suggested might be too much, but I guess you just have to pick and choose. Hope it works out well enough for you to get the second rig!
 
And track your responses in detail! Once you have a winning combination, stick with it. You may find, as said above, that you get a lot of responses after 3 mailings. That's great-you just need to know it for the future. I just did a test mailing that generated a 20% response rate to just 50 people. I know it works, so now I will expand it.
 
kompressornsc said:
And track your responses in detail! Once you have a winning combination, stick with it. You may find, as said above, that you get a lot of responses after 3 mailings. That's great-you just need to know it for the future. I just did a test mailing that generated a 20% response rate to just 50 people. I know it works, so now I will expand it.
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Wow. 20% is huge. Usually you'd consider it a huge success if you hit 8-10%

I believe average is 1-2%

With that small of a list, I'm guessing you had it pretty focused, though?
 
animes2k said:
Wow. 20% is huge. Usually you'd consider it a huge success if you hit 8-10%

I believe average is 1-2%

With that small of a list, I'm guessing you had it pretty focused, though?
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It was a customer reactivation program-anyone who hadn't ordered from me in 18+ months. I offered a free Swiss Army Watch for a certain size order. A few hundred $$ in watches generated an additional $35,000 in business last month. Lesson: People like free stuff. Premiums have worked much better than discounts for me-something to keep in mind.
 
Superior Shine said:
Next week or so I will send out post cards to boost biz to the point I can run a second rig. We are about border line now but I want to bump it up a bit.



What has worked best for those of you that tried them? What headline will grab them?



There isn't much room on a post card, other than contact info what should I make sure I include on there?



My plan is to buy a mailing list that targets small business owners that make $100,000 + a year within a 10 mile radius of my home.



Total budget is about $4000. Should I send out post cards to as many new clients as possible or select a smaller number and send them a post card 2 or 3 times ?





Also, should I have them directed to call or go to my web-site for more info?
Click to expand...



Hey Joe:



I've had an okay response from a postcard mailing, but keep in my mind I only mailed out a couple hundred. If you are mailing a couple thousand, I could definitely see a pretty good response. What has worked for me is not advertising a service or anything like that, but simply just getting someone to call or visit my website. Keeping it very short, colorful, professional looking, and a bold powerful headline equals success with postcards. People get tons of junk mail, and including myself, people will more than likely put aside or throw out a postcard without even reading it. So, having something like a high quality glossy paper stock with full color print (I know, I know...very expensive :chuckle: ), and some type of eye catching photograph should get people to at least glance at it, and if it has those other ingredients above mixed in, you should be able to put 4 more rigs instead of 1 more out on the road!! :woot2:
 
animes2k said:
Usually you'd consider it a huge success if you hit 8-10% I believe average is 1-2%
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A response rate of 1-2% is about right for any type of print ad. Get a return above that and you can be sure that you are certainly doing something right.
 
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