Industry Heavyweight Continues Growth Despite Economy

In a rare positive story from the business sector these days, PostcardMania, a full service marketing firm based in Clearwater, Florida, recorded the highest sales for one month in the companys history last month.

In September, we were able to beat our previous highest month, January of 2009, by 4.7%, says Rob Bradshaw, VP of Sales. Thats an incredible number given the state of things right now. Everybody here contributed.

Their strategy throughout the recession was to continue marketing in spite of the bleak economic environment. Backing off just wasnt an option, according to Founder and CEO, Joy Gendusa.

We have always believed that a direct mail postcard campaign, when diligently executed, will yield results. I wouldnt be here if it didnt. So thats what we did. We kept marketing and never backed down and sure enough, the sales followed.

To support her claim, Gendusa pointed to the fact that PostcardMania never cut their marketing budget, even when the economy tanked.

The result? September saw their marketing department increase the amount of new leads calling in by 45% over what they were able to produce last year. Consequently, they closed more sales, and the manufacturing department (who handles the companys printing) increased their output to 50% over their average.

As the economy was trying to pull itself back together this summer, PostcardMania was expanding. With a slew of new hires since June, they have raised their number of employees to 170. The expansion included new employees in marketing, mailing services, sales and an entirely new division dedicated to following up with potential clients.

The company says they are excited by the great numbers, but continue to stay focused on progressing. We dont want to settle, says Gendusa. We want continual growth. Hopefully well be doing this again next month. Our purpose includes positively affecting the economy with all these small businesses realizing that the bad economy is now THE economy, they are beginning to market more and do what entrepreneurs do business.

In the next quarter, they plan to hire 10 new sales associates and expand their marketing team.