Which is WORSE for Your Campaign: Postcards or Letters?

If you’ve ever considered promoting your small business with a direct mail campaign, you’ve probably asked yourself this very question:

Should I mail postcards or letters?

It’s a question that can plague small business owners and marketing experts alike!

So in this newsletter, I’ll delve into:

Why letters are WORSE than postcards for your next direct mail marketing campaign…

There is one clear and simple difference between letter marketing and postcard marketing — and it’s the very reason postcards are your best direct mail bet.

Here’s the big difference:

You don’t have to open a postcard.

No envelope means that your message is front, center and IMMEDIATELY seen by prospects. They know exactly what you’re offering right away. (Well, hopefully you’ve designed your postcard in a way that this is obvious and NEVER sacrifice clarity for cleverness.)

The big drawback of letters?

They (and your marketing message) are concealed in an envelope.

If you’re like most people, you’ll chuck a marketing letter into the trashcan without opening it. In it goes, along with a few credit card pre-approval letters and “important notices.”

Postcards eliminate this barrier.

Your prospects will see your message even if they aren’t looking for it, and that means you’ve already accomplished half the marketing battle!

One option that has proven to be a great investment for some of my direct mail clients is adding a magnet to your postcards. This allows your prospects to save your postcard and stick it on their fridge if it interests them.

Basically:

Magnets = increased potential for longevity and exposure!

Not every prospect who’s interested in your message will be whipping out their smart phone at the mail box and immediately call you, so adding a magnet to the back of your postcard increases the likelihood that your message will stay in front of them as they consider your offer.

Plus, the little bit of added heft to your postcard helps it stand out.

I was asked this same question (postcards or letters?) in a video interview I did once.

The video is less than a minute, and in it I talk about the benefits of postcards over letters in a direct mail campaign. I encourage you to watch it if you’re wondering which will be best for your next campaign!

Just press play — it’s only 51 seconds!

VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION:

If you want to talk about why postcards and not a letter, let’s just talk about that for a second. When you’re going through your mail at home and you see a postcard, you actually see the whole message. You don’t have to open it. When you get a junk mail that’s enclosed in an envelope and you know it’s junk mail, how often do you actually open that up? I don’t open it. I do now because I’m in this business. Just to see if I can turn them into a postcard customer, but it’s really important that that message gets seen.

We can actually adhere a little magnet to the back of your card, because this is not a decision that people make in one minute, these kinds of decisions. So if you have a little magnet on the back of that card, they can take that postcard and throw it on the fridge. That way they’re looking at your message over and over again until they’re ready to make that phone call or ready to go online and review your website.

Questions or comments? Leave them in the comments section below or call one of our 25 professional marketing consultants to discuss your next direct mail campaign at 1-800-628-1804. And like always, you can email me directly at Joy.Gendusa@PostcardMania.com!

Best,

Joy