Jan. Article: Using Postcards as Part of Your Marketing Plan

As a small business owner, do you find your marketing strategies tend to be reactionary rather than proactive? If the phone is ringing off the hook, then there is no need to market and if it isn’t, then we scramble for a way to make it ring? Although it is understandable why many of us work this way, it won’t help build our businesses in the end. One proven way, is to create a postcard marketing campaign that hits throughout the year rather than reactive floods of messages during lean times.

Begin by determining a budget. There are several methods that can be used. I like to use the one that is based on how much income I would like to generate for that year. (Please note I said income, not profit.) Then I decide how much risk I am willing to take and how much money or credit I have to spend. A very conservative budget would be 2-3% of the income I hope to generate, 5% would be an average risk and 10% would be a higher risk, but still within what is average for many companies. Do these percentages guarantee an amount of income you might ask? No, but it gives us somewhere to start.

So using the example of $10,000 in income and the fact that I am a bit of a risk taker(gotta spend money to make money), I will select 10% or $1,000 for the year. Now, I need to determine my target market.

Before I spend any money, I need to do some research. I contact other entertainers and pick their brains. Who do they market to? What marketing tools do they use? One might suggest contacting entertainers out your immediate area so they won’t view you as a threat and will be more forthcoming. If you have been in business for more than a year, look at past customers and build a profile. Race, sex, income bracket, number of children and profession are all things to be considered. Do not hesitate to call past customers.

Ok, now I have my target market based on last year’s customers and some feedback from LuLu the Clown. She goes after high-income females with children between 4-10 years of age. She has used post cards successfully to this group and also contacts local business that cater to the same targets.

So, based on my budget, I can send out 500 oversized postcards 4 X each year for around $1,000 to high-income females as well as business that also cater to the same. I make sure that last years customers are on the mailing list. I can mail to the same list each time or I may choose to mail to a different list each time. Send the same post card (which will save on printing) or send a different message each time. No matter which way you go, the important thing is to do something and keep it consistent. Track every inquiry you receive and reevaluate each year.

A postcard mailing is not the only option out there, but certainly is a tried and true method in business. I suggest dropping post cards at the time when most are planning upcoming events: January for spring, April for summer, July for fall and back to school and October for the holidays. Commit to this and then add other low cost items to your mix such as email, volunteering, business that will let you post your business cards, chambers of commerce and other avenues available to you in your local area.

The key here is to do something and do it consistently to create a base line for the next year. When you only do reactionary marketing, you won’t have anything to compare the results with or reevaluate your methods against.

Good luck in creating your own post card marketing campaign.

A side note: Many of us use Vista Prints. They offer post card mailings that they will do for you. You can upload your list or purchase a targeted list from them. Because they have the ability to sort the mail, the postage is heavily reduced and it saves you the time of putting the mailing together. Never forget that your time has value also.

Thanks, Metina! You've inspired me to create some postcards today and finally get my act together on advertising

Well, I sent out 125 postcards this week and I've already got a booking from them! That was fast! I printed them on card stock on my laser printer and they came out great, and I'm slowly cultivating a mailing list from the phone book and different online sources and sending them out to just about every business, church, and daycare in the county. I live in a small city (about 20,000 pop.) so once I've exhausted the businesses, etc. here I can move on to the larger cities surrounding me (New Orleans, Biloxi, Hattiesburg, Baton Rouge, Mobile, etc). I've printed up 300 more and am working on adding more addresses to my mailing list, so as soon as I have another $100 to spend on postage, I can send those out

Of all the standard marketing ideas (brochures, business cards, postcards), I received more response from sending out postcards. I focused mainly on Chambers of Commerce and was pleasantly surprised at the business it generated. I always ask how they heard about me. I found out that the postcards were put up on bulletin boards, passed around, and hung on refrigerators. And the word just spread from there!