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Postcard Marketing: Top 5 Goals of Direct Mail Postcards

Josh — Mon, 02 Feb 2015 22:12:00 GMT

Postcard Marketing:

Top 5 Goals of Direct Mail Postcards

By Jeffrey Dobkin

Here's why I like postcard marketing campaigns: Short, crisp, and to the point, direct mail postcards are one of the fastest and lowest cost ways to make your phone ring.

Postcards are not necessarily a good marketing campaign for the straight-up, out-and-out closing of a sale, but if created correctly, direct mail postcards can be great for pre-selling products and services, building brand awareness, and creating customer loyalty. And, of course, I saved the best for last: Postcards are the most efficient and excellent direct mail advertising vehicles for generating phone calls.

A postcard direct mail campaign can make your phone ring off the hook with compelling headlines, smooth transitions, charming copywriting, lively graphics, an irresistible offer, and a solid call to action. Even further: A series of direct mail post cards can receive an explosive response, build customer loyalty, and stimulate brand awareness. Yet, postcards remain one the easiest to manage direct mail marketing campaigns.

Even though postcards aren't the best for closing sales because of their short format and open architecture (no one can enclose a check to pay for an order or write a credit card number), response can still be quite high. Here are several important goals of using postcards in any direct mail marketing campaign.

1. Generate phone calls.

The number one objective of most postcard marketing campaigns is to generate a phone call. Ninety percent of the postcards I create for clients are written to fulfill this single objective: Make the phone ring.

The way to make the phone ring is very straightforward in this short postcard format: Offer something for FREE and ask for the phone call several times on the card. "Call for FREE information!" or "Call for FREE review! Call for free analysis. Call for our FREE booklet. Call for FREE quote. Call for..." well, you get the idea. Ask readers to call you enough and they will. Every time a reader calls, you have the opportunity to provide better service and increase client loyalty and longevity. And, oh, yeah...did I mention increase sales and revenue? Yeah, you can do that, too. Did you notice I said YOU do that? Your postcard doesn't do that, YOU do that. The postcard generates the call, but YOU make the sale.

2. Build brand awareness.

The other 10 percent of the postcards I create build brand. By mailing postcards frequently, you can stay in the top of your client's and prospect's minds. So, when your clients need anything that relates to your business--whatever you're selling--they immediately think of you, and call you first.

3. Create instant success.

Postcards can generate immediate response if your offer touches a timely trigger point. Figure out what your prospect's immediate need is and address that in your card. Then, ask for the call--what else?

4. Build relationships.

Sure, you can--it's easy! But, not with a single postcard. You need to create this direct mail marketing campaign over time, with a series of postcards. Mailing postcards every two weeks is ideal. Even if you did this for an entire year, the total cost would be only ($.50 x 26 =) $13 dollars for the whole year. The key to success? Your list, relevancy, and your offer.

5. Don't sell your product.

The final objective is to realize that you don't need to sell your product from the post card. That's right--don't sell your product--but, you do generate phone calls and inquiries. Then, when the person calls, YOU sell your product or service. Now, you see how it's much easier to achieve your goal (generating a phone call) with your direct mail postcard, than getting an order: To actually make someone put money into an envelope and wave goodbye to it.

And, since postcards are easy to handle, postcards are so much less work than other direct mail marketing campaigns which consist of letters, brochures, or anything that needs to be placed in an envelope--folded or stapled. So, much less fuss and muss--just address and mail. Postcards are easy. These are the "goals" and objectives of your postcard marketing campaign.

Jeffery Dobkin (jeff@dobkin.com) is a marketing consultant, speaker, and writer who has written more than 250 articles and five books on direct marketing. Call for his free instructional booklet of direct marketing tips: 610-642-1000 or visit his website at www.danielleadams.com.

Too Many Emails

Josh — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 16:21:00 GMT

Too Many Emails?

If you are like me your inbox every morning is so full that you delete one after another saving only the most important to actually read. And this is after going through emails a number of times each day. Instead of a few emails a day most of us are inundated with dozens if not hundreds of emails a day that we have to check repeatedly through the day to prevent our inbox from being overwhelmed.

Email may be reaching a diminishing value, especially when you think about it compared to regular mail from the Post Office. How many pieces of regular mail do you get? - remember most of us only look in our mailbox once a day. You may get a few bills, a few advertisements and a bundle of grocery ads on newsprint. That is a lot easier to go through than email these days, at least for a lot of people. Chance are you delete most email advertising, but if it comes in the mail you likely look it over at least before tossing it and if it is about something that catches your interest you actually read it.

Sure a few years ago when email was fairly new we got a lot less email, the ones we did get we actually read, and surface mail was ridiculed as “snail mail” because it took days instead of minutes to get there. But these very advantages of email have made it so popular to use for every merchant, advertiser, and charity looking for donations that it is now overwhelmed. We now delete things so ruthlessly that we often don’t even glance at most.

If You Want to Get Noticed,

STAND OUT!

Direct mail is a great way to get the recipient’s attention! Relatively few mail pieces come to the home each day so your newsletter or postcards have the best change of grabbing the attention of the reader. So rather than following the herd mentality of doing what everyone else does, break away and put direct mail back into your practice.

Effective Advertising

Josh — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 14:13:00 GMT

Consider This:

Last Sunday an interesting article ran on the front page of the New York Times entitled “Is E-Reading Story Time, or Simply Screen Time?” It described how for years child development experts have advised parents to read to their children early citing studies showing linguistic, verbal and social benefits.

The article went on to say that just last June the American Academy of Pediatrics advised doctors to remind parents at every visit to read to their children from birth and suggested they prescribe reading as enthusiastically as vegetables and vaccines.

But the Academy also recommends no screen time for children under 2 and less than two hours a day for older children.

According to the article, researchers know how children read but they do not know how that process will be affected by digital technology. Our electronic devices have not been in existence long enough to learn their effects on learning. Researchers point out that some studies suggest that reading to a child from an electronic device undercuts the dynamic that drives language development.

Likewise comprehension and then connecting to the reader in advertising is THE essential objective. We want them to understand, recall, and act upon the message. Our newsletter and postcards are always meant to encourage a visit your office.

Have you considered using our 6 x 12 postcards to get new patients into your office?

Every Door Direct give you postage rates as low as 17 cents per piece with no mailing list cost. This is a very inexpensive yet effective way to connect you with the people in your community. Do you need to become more relevant in your community? Use our 6" x 12" postcards along with Every Door Direct Mail. We will give you a beautiful design, on a giant postcard so that you get attention in your community.

You can also reach out to your community with our monthly chiropractic newsletters.

This is Our New Issue:

Adjustments & Exercise
Chiropractic Helps a Lot for Back Pain & Much More!
Obesity & Back Pain
For Back Pain Don't Wait to Get Help
Backpage: Exercise Helps Prevent the Common Cold

This is a Featured Issue:

Chiropractic Prevents Injuries
Relief from Cervicogenic Headaches
Chiropractic Care for Knee Injuries
Backpage: Where Have You Been?

This is a Featured Issue

Chiropractic for Low Back and Neck Pain
Your Answer for Tension Headaches
When you Might Not Think
Chiropractic Can Help
Backpage: Eat More Broccoli

Click Here to See Our Entire Catalog of Newsletters!

The Personal Touch

Josh — Fri, 30 May 2014 18:56:00 GMT

The Personal Touch

Consider this point. You are your patient’s chiropractor and as such you use your hands in working with your patient. Now beyond the power of the adjustment which you give and the benefits which they receive there is an additional action that occurs which is commonly called the laying on of hands. I am not speaking about religion, though that term is often used in connection with religion, but rather it is about the healing comfort that can transpire between people.

For some patients, who might be touch deprived, it may be the single contact that person may receive until their next visit with you. Even if in and of itself it may not provide any physical benefit it certainly may be a comfort to your patient’s soul and over time can generate a bond of trust between you and your patient.

The business of being a chiropractor is a personal business. Referrals will come on the basis of your effectiveness in getting people well, but do not minimize using the personal touch in your practice.

Sending a chiropractic newsletter to your patient’s home is your visit into their household. It brings the thought of you right into their home. It is a private act showing that you care enough to give them news about you, your practice, and that you want them to know about the benefits of chiropractic care.

In your practice, as with other good businesses, it is the personal touch which can bring about great success. Try our chiropractic newsletter to not only educate but to stay in close contact with your patient base.

Print vs. Email

Josh — Tue, 15 Apr 2014 18:31:00 GMT

Print vs. Email

Faced with budgetary pressures some people are choosing online or e-mail versions of publications instead of a print version. Here is an interesting take on such a decision.

A study asking whether a print publication can be equally as effective as the same publication in an online version came up with some interesting conclusions.

49% recalled receiving an e-mail invitation that linked to the online site vs. 85% recalling getting the print publication.

When asked whether they preferred getting the printed version of the publication or the e-mail version, 63% said they preferred print vs. 26% saying they preferred the on line version.

Print had a higher open rate. 77% viewed the publication in print while 49% receiving the online version actually viewed the publication.

Print also had a higher recall rate. When asked about the articles those who read the print publication had a much higher recall rate than those who viewed the magazine on line.

Faced with budgetary pressures choosing an online publication only instead of print versions may be ill advised because it is less effective in achieving the organizations goals. It might damage effectiveness and therefore decision makers should not base their decisions on cost alone.

Robert G. Magee, Virginia Tech; Marketing Letters; March 2013, Volume 24, Issue 1, pp 85-95. - See more at: http://printinthemix.com/research/show/102#sthash.S48ZXpVn.dpuf

Please visit us at printcarta.com and click on the marketing tab. Take a look at our full four page catalog and see the beautiful newsletters that you can use in your practice.

Getting New Patients into Your Office

Josh — Fri, 14 Feb 2014 19:12:00 GMT

Why We Love Every Door Direct Mail by the
US Post Office

Great Postage Rate: (17 cents/piece)
No mailing list required
No mailing permit. (annual fee $220)

Looking to reach new patients? Then look no further. The US Post Office's “Every-door Direct Mail Service” helps get your name out in the community and reaches-out to “potential patients.” With ultra-low postage rates and no mailing list required this is a service worth taking advantage of. You will find that when it comes to great customer service, the US Postal Office delivers in more ways than one.

First, a word of explanation: I am including a link from the US Post Office which when you click it will display a map of the US. You will see a field in which you enter your zip code. When you enter your zip code a drop down list will appear that will present every carrier and rural route that composes that zip code. You will see the number of residents and businesses that are in each carrier route. (A carrier route most often is the route which a postal carrier daily delivers the mail to and that is designated by a number). In addition, if you move your mouse on the map the carrier routes will appear so you can see exactly where they are located within the zip code. So if you know the area where you tend to draw patients you can easily send to them WITHOUT A MAILING LIST.

Give it a try! It’s really cool. Enter your zip code! Here is the link to do so:

Click Here to Try it Yourself!

Did you also see that it displays demographic information for each carrier route? It is easy to display the age, household income and average household size. Just check the boxes on the right side of the map. This allows you to choose particular routes to focus your mailings based on the criteria handpicked by you. Choose a route based on income, it can easily be done. Work with the other demographics and you will soon become an advertising maven. Our newsletters and postcards are perfect to use for Every Door Direct Mail.

Now, if you don’t want to do the mailing, we are happy to prepare it for you and ship the mailing to your office. Just select the newsletter and/or postcard you desire and we will take it from there!

So let’s get busy and get new patients!

Direct Mail vs. E-Mail: Which to Use in Your Chiropractic Practice?

Wed, 15 Jan 2014 15:41:00 GMT

I think that we all do the same thing when we open our e-mail. We scan our e-mail and throw in the trash, or simply ignore all the e-mail that we deem not worthy of our attention. Perhaps we have purchased an item and given a store our e-mail address. In other cases we have not bought anything and are just solicited to buy their goods or services. Too many solicitors feel they have the right to send us e-mails weekly or worse, even daily. Often we are afraid to opt out since that action may confirm we have a valid e-mail address. Luckily, without opting out, we can quickly delete them or can consign offending e-mails to our junk folder so they do not continue to annoy us. Direct mail is different.

In a recent study done by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) expenditures in the US are expected to rise to $196 billion by 2016 which represents a 3.8% compounded annual growth rate since 2011. More households read advertising mail than they did 25 years ago. The DMA study also revealed that the 22-24 age group is the one most likely to respond to a direct mail piece. So direct mail does not just apply to older people, younger groups read direct mail too!

If you have a website you might be interested in the following: As reported from the Letterbox to Inbox 2013 an attitudinal print tracking study done of 1,232 adults in the UK conducted by the UK Direct Marketing Association found that there was a 10% greater percentage of consumers who visited a brand’s website because they received a direct mail rather than just an e-mail alone.

The UKDMA study revealed that if recipients received a direct mail piece that they were interested in:

44% visited a brand’s website
34% searched online for more information
25% kept the mailing for future reference

Another interesting find was that over half (56%) said that they found printed marketing to be the most trustworthy of media channels. 48% said that they had retained direct mailing for future reference with 17% saying that they do so regularly. 33% said that they would have a negative view of a brand not offering printed communications. Twice the number of 18-34 year olds believed that direct mail will never be replaced entirely by on-line marketing compared to consumers over the age of 55 (20% vs. 9%)

One commentator of the study David Cole, MD of fast.map noted about the report “Direct mail is also twice more likely to engender trust then e-mail. Post (direct mail) is also seen as more memorable and authoritative, whereas email provides the ease of response and the ability to share. We can therefore see how direct mail can then lay the foundation to make the role of email as a tool for response work much harder.”

Of course, depending on how you order them, all of our chiropractic newsletters can be e-mailed or printed. We can mail to your mailing list with a printed newsletter, or to your e-mail list with an e-mail newsletter. Based on the studies we have listed above perhaps using both in your practice might be the most effective use of your advertising expenditure. Give us a call if you have any questions or would like to start using them in your practice.

Printcarta

Postcard Marketing: Top 5 Goals of Direct Mail Postcards

Postcard Marketing:

Top 5 Goals of Direct Mail Postcards

Too Many Emails

Effective Advertising

The Personal Touch

The Personal Touch

Print vs. Email

Print vs. Email

Getting New Patients into Your Office

Why We Love Every Door Direct Mail by the US Post Office

Direct Mail vs. E-Mail: Which to Use in Your Chiropractic Practice?

Why We Love Every Door Direct Mail by the
US Post Office