Graphic Designer: Four Color Postcard Making

Graphic Designer: Four Color Postcard Making

by: Marlon D. Ludovice

Being a graphic designer is not an easy job. You cannot just enter the scene and do the job instantly. It needs a lot of positive characteristics to fit for the said endeavor. But you may ask, what is a graphic designer? What do graphic designers actually do? Iกm pretty sure that most people can name at least a few things, but the graphic design spectrum is perhaps broader than you think.

ขGraphic design is the process and art of combining text and graphics and communicating an effective message in the design of logos, graphics, brochures, newsletters, posters, signs, and any other type of visual communication including post cardsข. So usually they are the one who formulate and create four color postcards for their clients. They are the one who has a greater knowledge and skills in art, computers, and problem solving and even designing creative works.

One task of a graphic designer is lay outing, it is usually a large range of work, but generally a layout artist is dealing with the structuring and laying out of images and text in a pleasing format for printed media. They transport the idea of your project in a software application, then after some creative works they are the one who gave you a final output or your project itself.

They choose the right blend of color for your postcards, the design and everything that must be included to your postcard. They are responsible that’s why creating a four color postcard is now a piece of work without much time and effort to take. With their computer skills in different printing programs the quality and service of the four color postcard is guaranteed.

About The Author

Marlon D. Ludovice is a graduate of Bachelor of Arts major in Political Science at Bicol University College of Arts and Sciences. Well actually iกm not fun of writing, i dont write at all. i am not expecting that i will be in this field. But i love to read books…almost everything interest me. reading is my passion! but now that i am in an article writer team, writing gives me an additional thrill in myself…Before i love to read books but now im also in a writing stuff. I can say that im not a good writer but i am trying to be one.

For additional information and comments about the article you may log on to http://www.mypostcardprinting.com/commercialprintingcompany.html

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 04

by Marlon D. Ludovice

Make Your Mailing a Home Run, Not a Strike Out!

Make Your Mailing a Home Run, Not a Strike Out!

by: Joy Gendusa

You can use great design and copy to get a better response.

When you send a mailing to your customers or prospective customers you are counting on making considerably more money in new business than you spend on the mailing, right? It is obvious that if you were not going to profit from the mailing, you wouldn’t send it out.

A little less obvious is that it costs almost the same amount of money to send out a very attractive mailing piece with brilliant copy which is more likely to produce a great response rate as it does to send out a boring, poorly designed piece guaranteed only to land rapidly in the trash. Why?

The major part of your expenditure is in the mailing list and the postage. The printing costs are about the same for a perfect card as for a mediocre one. All right. So a good design and excellent copy is going to cost a little bit more. But only a little. You send out a postcard mailing to get a response (preferably lots of responses).

The front of the card, graphic and headline, is designed to attract the reader’s interest so that they read what you have to say. In short, to attract his or her attention.

The copy on the front and back of the card is designed to get the reader to respond, either by calling you or emailing you or visiting you or going to your web site. A response.

If your card accomplishes that, it’s done its duty.

How do you get it to do that?

Good design. Good copy. Assuming you have sent the cards to people who are likely to be interested in what you have to sell. (There’s no point sending a postcard selling raincoats to people in the Sahara Desert. They are the wrong ขpublicข).

It is more cost effective in the long run to hire a professional to do the design and copy for your promotion instead of spending all the time yourself to learn the software. A little time spent improving the design and copy of your postcards will result in much higher ROI (Return On Investment) for your postcard mailing.

About The Author

Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998; her only assets a computer and a phone. In 2004 the company did close to $9 million in sales and employs over 60 persons. She attributes her explosive growth to her ability to choose incredible staff and her innate marketing savvy. Now she’s sharing her marketing secrets with others. For more free marketing advice, visit her website at www.postcardmania.com.

This article was posted on March 03

by Joy Gendusa

Modern Marketing With Postcards

Modern Marketing With Postcards

by: Bob Leduc

Postcards may be one of the best kept secrets of modern marketing. They produce even better results now than in the past. Thatกs probably because postcards deliver information the way people want to get it today …fast and with little or no effort.

Use Postcards to Generate Website Traffic and Sales Leads

A brief captivating message on a postcard with an enticing offer sent to the right prospects will generate a flood of traffic to your website or a large number of sales leads.

Keep your postcard simple. Make it look at first glance like a message from a friend instead of like an advertisement. This creates a pleasant emotional response from readers even though they quickly realize that it is a commercial message.

State the biggest benefit you offer to customers. Then briefly add a few other advantages or features you provide. End with a compelling reason for prospects to contact you ..or to go to your website for more details. Itกs that simple.

Tip: Don’t try to close sales directly from a postcard. Thereกs not enough space on a postcard to provide all the information your prospects need to make a buying decision.

People Read Postcards

Almost everybody will read a postcard even those who usually throw out other direct mail without opening it. Thatกs because itกs almost impossible to throw out a postcard without looking at the message.

This high rate of readership is the main reason why postcards produce a bigger response than other types of direct marketing. With other types of marketing you often lose prospects who would have responded to your offer but they never saw it.

Tip: Postcards are an excellent lowcost alternative to email. People get so much email today that even legitimate messages are getting deleted unread. But they get few if any postcards. Your message is guaranteed to get their attention when itกs delivered on a postcard.

Postcards are Cheap to Produce

Postcards cost less than 2 cents each to produce if you print them using your own computer. You can print postcards individually on blank 4 x 6 inch index cards or print 4 postcards on 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of index card stock and cut each sheet into quarters.

Your postcards will cost between 4 cents and 9 cents each to produce if you use a commercial printer …depending on the number you have printed and the quality you want.

Postcards are Cheap to Mail

Even the postage for mailing postcards is cheap 23 cents each to send them by First Class Mail in the US. The only requirement for this special rate is that the dimensions of your postcards must be at least 3 1/2 x 5 inches but not over 4 1/4 x 6 inches.

Tip: Always use a real 23 cent stamp on your postcards. It produces more replies than a printed indicia (imprinted postage) …probably because people associate a printed indicia with junk mail.

Don’t overlook postcards the next time you want to drive a huge amount of traffic to your website or generate a flood of new sales leads. They’re simple to use, highly effective and very lowcost.

Copyright 2004 Bob Leduc http://BobLeduc.com

About The Author

Bob Leduc spent 20 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales. He just released a New Edition of his manual, How To Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple Postcards …and launched *BizTips from Bob*, a newsletter to help small businesses grow and prosper. Youกll find his lowcost marketing methods at: http://BobLeduc.com or call: 7026581707 After 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV

This article was posted on April 15, 2004

by Bob Leduc

Making Direct Mail Work for Small Businesses

Making Direct Mail Work for Small Businesses

by: Sky Maya

If you own a small business, then you know the value of affordable and effective marketing. Unfortunately, many traditional and online advertising methods are becoming quite expensive. This article will explain direct mail guidelines and methods.

Direct mail is an often overlooked method that can be very effective if executed properly. There are three guidelines to follow when conducting an effective direct mail campaign:

1. Catch the readerกs attention immediately. You only have a few seconds to do this before your mail ad is thrown away as junk mail. Therefore, opt for postcard mailings instead of sending your offers in an envelope. If your business is relatively small and unheardof, the reader will never open it unless your companyกs name is familiar to the reader. Envelope advertising is cheaper than postcard advertising, but is only effective if you have already built up name recognition.

When using the postcard method, you will need to be able to print images on the card. I highly, highly recommend investing in a quality home photographic printer. You will end up saving money in the longterm, and your printer will be right where you need it whenever you need it. Whenever you have materials printed professionaly, you pay for labour, expensive inks, and expensive equipment.

When searching for images to print on your postcards, remember the the point of this first guideline: catch your readerกs attention. Of course you don’t want an offensive image for your cards, but you do want one that is slighly กcontroversialก. When choosing images for your cards, ask yourself these questions:

Does it stand out among the rest?

Does it contain bold colors (but isn’t an eyesore)?

Does the image relate to my business or current offers in some way?

Does the image request user interaction? (ex. a face staring directly at the reader, someone pointing at the reader, etc.)

Does the image have enough whitespace for some large text?

2. Offer the reader an incentive for responding. Unless the reader is and has been genuinely interested in your services/productsfor a period of time before receiving your postcard ad, they will never repspond unless you offer some sort of incentive. For instance, you postcard could also serve as a coupon; tell you reader to bring in that post card for a discount. Also, you could use the postcard ad as an announcment for a storewide sale. Be creative when offering incentives to your readers.

Be sure to make your incentive very visible on the postcard. Letกs say, for example, your postcard is also serving as a coupon for 20% on your products/services. Print that ก20% offก in large text with the image, along with your product type, such as ก20% all dog bedsก. Then, on the other side of the card, usually with the recipientกs address, print the discount again with any terms that may apply.

3. Target your readers. The best way to waste advertising money is by sending your direct mail to random people, paying no attention to whether they would actually buy something from you. This is much easier when dealing with businesstobusiness advertising. When it comes to consumers, find out their interests is a little difficult.

Test out the waters first. A good place to try first is InfoUSA. They sell mailing lists of consumers and businesses and may provide targeted consumer lists. You may be able to create interest in someone who has never heard of your products before, but when you are starting a new direct mail campaign and you have a very small budget, keep your list targeted. You don’t want to try to sell a web site to a business that already has one, or try to sell a dog bed to someone who only keeps cats.

I hope this article has given you some ideas on making your next direct mail advertising campaign more successful.

About The Author

Sky Maya is the author of Best SEO Tactics an excellent guide to optimizing your web site for high search engine rankings using proper and ethical tactics. Proven techniques! Buy it today and watch your site traffic explode!

This article may be reprinted freely as long as this resource box with all active hyperlinks remain intact.

[email protected]

This article was posted on July 11, 2003

by Sky Maya

Postcard Marketing – Low Cost Visibility

Postcard Marketing – Low Cost Visibility

by: Claire Cunningham

You need to be visible to attract customers, right? But how do you get that visibility when you’re short on cash? Here’s an idea that’s worked for many businesses. It’s postcard marketing, and it’s very affordable.

You can design your own postcards or hire a designer. Print the cards on 67# card stock to meet USPS requirements. Two or four cards will fit on an 8 ½ข x 11ข sheet so you’ll have to use a paper cutter. Postage is just $.23 a card.

Here are some ways to use postcards:

REFERRALS Send postcards regularly to your best contacts asking for referrals.

ANNOUNCE EVENTS – Send postcards to let folks know about events like classes, seminars, sales, open houses, etc.

PROSPECTING – Send a series of postcard mailings to identified prospects to ขsoften them upข before you phone them.

BUILD WEBSITE TRAFFIC – Use postcard mailings to tell people your site is there and when you make significant additions.

GROW YOUR NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBER LIST – Postcard mailings can publicize your newsletter to new audiences.

MAKE AN OFFER Do you have a booklet to give away? Are you offering a special discount? Postcard mailings can get out the word.

SAY THANKS – Use postcards to say thank you for business, referrals, or information.

Of course, for best results you need a good list. Make sure your mailings are going to the right people. Also, you’ll get a better response if you offer something of value.

Finally, repeat, repeat, repeat! As with any marketing, repetition is critical. A single mailing may get a disappointing result. Don’t be surprised or discouraged. Keep at it with a consistent look, message and audience, and over time your message will sink in.

A response rate of 13% is the average, but you may be able to generate significant sales from those responses. Referral mailings can yield business that’s three or more times the cost of the mailing.

Copyright 2004 Clairvoyant Communications, Inc.

About The Author

Claire Cunningham, president of Clairvoyant Communications, Inc., has 20+ years’ experience developing and implementing successful marketing and communications programs. Sign up for Claire’s monthly newsletter, Communiqué, at http://www.clairvoyantcommunications.com Claire can be reached at 7634793499 (Fax: 7634792809, email: [email protected])

This article was posted on December 07, 2004

by Claire Cunningham

People Pleasing Postcards

People Pleasing Postcards

by: David Phillips

Why are more retail jewelers turning to fullcolor postcards as a key form of promotion? The biggest reason is the simplest: You don’t have to open a postcard. It won’t get lumped in with all the direct mail envelopes that people toss without opening.

If the postcard shows a very glossy, wellphotographed picture of attractive jewelry, the recipient will very likely look at the picture and turn it over to see who sent it. She might well put it aside and think, ขNext time I’m near the store, I’ll go in and have a look.ข The postcard often sits out as an easy reminder of your jewelry store.

Cutting Costs on Mailings

When the economy is a bit shaky, you should increase promotion to keep your name in the minds of customers, but you also have to keep down your costs. To get maximum return for your marketing dollar, you can mail postcards up to 4 1/4 by 6 inches for between 17.5¢ and 19.5¢ each first class (the cheapest letter rate is 19¢ 24¢). If you find the right company, you’ll likely be able to have 5,000 postcards printed for less than $400.

Finding the Right Company

Most businesses don’t have inhouse marketing departments, so find a postcard company to help you. A postcard company can handle your mailing and save you money. It makes most of its profits from printing, not from consulting, selling, mailing lists and mailing, so it can often find you better deals on such services. The company should:

• Specialize in postcards. It shouldn’t just do postcards among other printing jobs. You’ll pay less because the company gangprints cards. In other words, the company will print many different postcards in one large press run.

• Have some marketing knowledge and experience. The company should be able to advise you on mailing lists, design and quantities.

• Offer UV coating (laminated), fullcolor and 4 1/4by6 in. postcards. This ensures you get the highestquality look and the biggest post card you can for the lowest mailing rate. The UV coating is essential for a very high gloss finish to make your product look good.

• Help with photography. Getting a good picture is vital to the success of your postcard. You might pay $150 to $1200 for photography and, generally, you get what you pay for. However, some photographers do a good job without charging the earth. Your postcard company should have contacts with photographers. Once you find a company (it doesn’t have to be local – many do business with stores all over the U.S.), ask for advice on creating the postcard. Many companies will help with everything from determining whether you should mail to your existing customers, mailing lists of potential customers or both. The company also will send you proofs. Make sure any corrections you request are made so you’re happy with the final product.

About The Author

David Phillips has set up several successful small businesses in the marketing and communications fields. He swears by direct mail marketing techniques which is why he writes for PostcardMania. Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998.

postcardmania.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on September 06

by David Phillips

Direct Mail – Don’t Assume, Just Test and Track

Direct Mail – Don’t Assume, Just Test and Track

by: Joy Gendusa

Where to Start:

Most novice marketers have definite fixed ideas about direct mail that are way off base most often in the area of what to spend and how much to do. You should determine what you are able to spend for your marketing budget, spend it, and determine the maximum number of leads that you can create. For instance, I’ve heard this statement quite often: กWe aren’t that large of a company. How could we send out 2,000 postcards all at once?ก because กWhat if they all call?ก – seems like a valid concern, right?

Here is the reality behind it: Unfortunately they won’t all call. However, a good deal of them very well may and making sure that your traffic in is not more than you can handle is something to think about. Truthfully, there is no sure way to tell exactly how many people will call if you haven’t done this type of marketing before. Think of it this way. What would happen if they did all call? You may not be able to handle all of them, but you would handle as many as you possibly could, right?

In this scenario, you would have maximized your income for that time period providing you could close up all those callers! You can also explore the idea of expanding your operation to handle the number of leads that you can create.

What if you didn’t max out your promotion at the very start? You can afford to send out 4,000 pieces every two weeks but you think that you will simply get too many calls to be able to handle them all. You, instead, send out only 2,000 and the response is decent. However, you still have some down time where you are having to try to ขmanufactureข sales.

You saved $400 in marketing money but you had enough down time where you could have closed quite a few more sales than you did. The question now is กWhich gives me more money in my pocket? Saving $400 on marketing or closing quite a few more sales and earning an extra couple of G’s potentially.ข More than likely the answer is to spend as much as you possibly can on your marketing, right?

By spending all that you can afford on marketing when you start a program you maximize your income almost immediately.

Okay, Time to Track Results:

Hopefully you have more than one way that you try to recruit new customers. So how do you know which ones are working and which aren’t? Set up a system to track the results.

Let’s take for example a situation in which you decide to start a Postcard Marketing Campaign for your business. The first week you send out 3000 postcards. When they start hitting homes you get 30 calls. Did all of these leads come from the postcards? Probably not. Because the week before you got 8 calls and hadn’t sent out any postcards yet. So how can you tell who actually got a postcard?

The Answer: All you have to do is ask them. กSo how did you hear about our company?ก The hard part is making sure that any employee in your company who answers the phone and may talk to a new prospect remembers to ask the question every time. The fewer prospects who answer this question, the less accurate your information will be when making future marketing decisions.

Now let’s assume that you have been sending out postcards for a while and you have a good number of calls coming in. If you ask the question กSo how did you hear about our company?ก they may respond, กI got your postcard in the mail.ก But, by now you have mailed postcards to 4 different lists, 3 times each. How do you tell which list and which mailing this customer was from?

The Answer: Put a marketing code on the postcards that will tell you which specific postcard they received and when it was mailed.

Give each list a name and work the date into your marketing code as well. And the only thing your representatives have to ask is กWould you mind reading me the marketing code above your address?ก This code should give you all the info that you need to know and help you keep your Marketing Results Tracking as accurate as possible.

Try not to operate off of assumptions about ขhow to marketข if you haven’t educated yourself. And make sure you collect all the data and make your future marketing decisions based on the facts.

About The Author

Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998; her only assets a computer and a phone. In 2004 the company did close to $9 million in sales and employs over 60 persons. She attributes her explosive growth to her ability to choose incredible staff and her innate marketing savvy. Now she’s sharing her marketing secrets to others. For more free marketing advice, visit her website at www.postcardmania.com

This article was posted on February 11

by Joy Gendusa

6 Things I Know About Postcards That You Don’t

6 Things I Know About Postcards That You Don’t

by: Joy Gendusa

In my plethora of experience tucked away between these ears, I have managed to cull out for you what I consider the ขbest of the bestข – in other words, I took the most proven details about postcards that were significant to you starting a postcard campaign and really winning at it. So here goes the most incisive higlights about postcards.

1) I know that a postcard is better than something in an envelope.

For many reasons, the main one being, in an envelope you can’t make your potential customer see your message.

People are fast. We see and read very quickly – actually much more quickly than we even realize.. Think about yourself – how fast do you go through your mail and process out what you want to keep and what you don’t want to keep? Pretty darn fast. It takes fractions of seconds to go through and process in your mind ขbill, bill, advertisement, bill, advertisement, letter…ข And it also takes fractions of seconds to decide whether you are even going to bother giving more attention to the pieces that you designated as advertisements.

With a postcard, even if they throw it away, they already saw your message regardless of whether they think they did or not. They saw it enough to throw it away, didn’t they?

And the next time they get that same postcard in the mail, they see it again as they throw it in the trash.

Let’s face it junk mail gets thrown away. And postcards are junk mail to a lot of people.

Although they may be junk mail, postcards get read no matter what – even if thrown away without reading them, they get seen. It’s like the phoenix rising up from the ashes.

2) I know that if you are not doing repeat mail with your postcards you are flushing your money down the toilet.

Repeat mailings cannot be repeated enough. DO REPEAT MAILINGS! DO REPEAT MAILINGS! DO REPEAT MAILINGS! A one shot in the dark postcard mailing is not going to change your business, your bottom line, your life or your anything.

The long and the short of it is, if you are not up to confronting that you need to do a campaign then don’t bother being in business. Sorry if I sound a bit harsh!

3) I know that the best price is not best necessarily the best postcard.

The cheapest is not necessarily the best. The old adage ขyou get what you pay forข applies here. Get whatever potential postcard company you interview to send you samples. Make sure the postcard is a very good, quality, stiff card that catches your attention. Get them to give you customer references. Call those references and find out what they think of that company’s service, product, etc.

There is a lot of behindthescenes work that goes into getting your postcard done right. If they screw up printing, if they don’t get your mailing out on deadline, etc. – doing it dirt cheap might not mean getting the quality service you need or want.

4) I know that although most people, if surveyed, say they like full color on both sides, the truth is black on white on the back of the postcard gets a better response. Why? Because full color on both sides is confusing. On the other hand, if you have a very aesthetic, pleasingtotheeye front with a great headline you just want to turn that postcard over and simply get the message on the back. You want good eye trail.

Eye trail is where your eye goes when you look at the postcard. You can have good eye trail with full color on both sides – but it has to be done correctly. Usually when you give people a choice to do full color on both sides they go overboard and the creative juices start flying, not flowing, flying with, ขWOW!!! full color on both sides?!!ข And they make it too busy. You don’t want it to be dispersing – you want it to go like a trail. Have a start, a middle and an end.

Example:

Did YOU Notice this Postcard?

Your Customers Will Notice Yours Too!

5000 Full Color

Superglossy postcards

for only

$389

Look at it from the customer viewpoint – really look at it from their viewpoint and you can see what I mean by eye trail.

5) I know that you should promote only one thing at a time on your postcard.

Even if you sell lots of different products, you only promote one of them. It is fine to mention them on the back of the postcard bullet pointed. But your main focus on the front of your postcard needs to be one product, service, item, what have you – just one thing.

Say you have a flooring store and a furniture showroom in the back. Your postcard should only talk about flooring. It is not that people who are looking for flooring are not also looking for furniture – it’s just too much information on the front of postcard.

The purpose of a postcard is to get your prospect interested with one thing. You can put on the back as just a mention: ขWe also have a giant showroom full of furniture.ข

But on the front – one item! ONE ITEM!

If a company sells hot tubs, aboveground pools and jungle gyms they need to pick the one that gives them the most income and make their postcard about that.

6) And I know that a person could grow a company with no other marketing media.

With postcards alone, one could take a company from zero to over a million bucks in revenue or more. How do I know? Because I did it.

We mailed postcards every single week, and the more postcards we mailed out, the more we grew. Yes, it is good to diversify and as we grew and became more successful and had more money to try other media, we did. Some we kept and some we nixed. Postcards are a staple that works no matter what.

These six points of postcard marketing data are proven techniques of making your postcards WOW your prospective clients while at the same time being faithful to the timehonored methods that have proven to get more bang for your buck. These tips are what will put your postcard in a class all by itself.

About The Author

Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998; her only assets a computer and a phone. In 2004 the company did close to $9 million in sales and employs over 60 persons. She knows so much about postcards because that is the only marketing medium she used to grow her company in its first few years. She attributes her explosive growth to her ability to choose incredible staff and her innate marketing savvy. Now she’s sharing her marketing secrets with others. For more free marketing advice, visit her website at www.postcardmania.com

This article was posted on March 15

by Joy Gendusa

Marry Your Marketing Plan

Marry Your Marketing Plan

by: Joy Gendusa

Make a vow to keep up your marketing schedule in good times and not so good times.

I have said it time and time again that marketing, no matter what type you choose, is a building process. Here is the whole thing summed up in one situation:

Assume for a moment that you had never heard of this thing called กColaก. You go to your mailbox and get your mail only to find a postcard that says กNew Fizzy Drink! Youกll Love It! A Taste Like Nothing You Have Had Before!ก You might run right out and try it, but more than likely, not. Most people won’t.

So you get a second postcard.

Still you do nothing.

Then you are talking to you’re a friend from across town who says กHey, have you tried this Cola thing?ก It turns out that after he got his second postcard he went out and got a bottle to give it a try.

Now the Third postcard shows up and you’re thinking กOK, fine, Iกll give it a try.ก And you do, and you do love it, and it is like nothing else. So now you have to tell your brother about it.

You see where this is going. If the makers of กColaก, whoever they are, had sent cards to the whole town one time and then abandoned the marketing due to a lack of response they would have missed out.

So, now that you can no longer argue with the fact that you need to keep up a steady stream of marketing to the same people multiple times you are obviously thinking กHow do I keep up with the whole thing while I am closing the customers that I am already getting?ก The honest answer is get a direct mail company to help you.

Whatever size your mailing list is I suggest that you have enough pieces printed to mail to them at least three times. Usually once every 24 weeks is sufficient depending on your industry. You can set the dates for your mailings to go out and let the marketing company take care of the rest. That means that with one phone call you can take care of all of your marketing for 3 months or more. No worrying about remembering, no hasslefilled trips to the post office. All you will have to do is run your business the way that you know how and let them take care of your marketing.

Stop worrying about the steady flow of business that you need to survive. Do something about it. Create a marketing plan, date it for a while, then if it really works out, say ขI do.ข

If you need more information on testing out your new marketing beau, read my article Don’t Assume, Just Test and Track.

Best wishes and a prosperous life together!

About The Author

Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998; her only assets a computer and a phone. In 2004 the company did close to $9 million in sales and employs over 60 persons. She attributes her explosive growth to her ability to choose incredible staff and her innate marketing savvy. Now she’s sharing her marketing secrets with others. For more free marketing advice, visit her website at www.postcardmania.com.

This article was posted on March 03

by Joy Gendusa

The Words That Sell

The Words That Sell

by: Steve Conn

What You Say, Who You Say It To, How you Say It:

If you have or can get a list of people who are already interested or genuinely likely to be interested in your product or service then you are well on your way to being successful with your postcard marketing. Before that, you have to answer the key question, กWho should I send my postcard offers to?ก

After that is answered, your next problems are what to say to them and what to ask them to do.

Letกs Look At What To Say To Them:

It is vital that you get attention fast. If you don’t get attention fast your offer will not get read.

1. An excellent way to get attention and hence get read is to boldly give the 5 or 6 key benefits of your product or service.

Put the biggest benefit on top and list off the rest in descending order of importance.

For example:

How Would You Like To Get:

Biggest benefit

Second biggest

Third biggest benefit

You get the idea

People are interested in things they want. If your benefits are really beneficial to them they will read your postcard (and if your list is good and you really know what benefits your ideal customer is seeking they will respond too).

2. Next thing to do is give a very brief explanation of how you can provide the benefits you named.

3. Next, persuade them to act by giving them a good reason to contact you.

4. You can offer a testimonial from a really happy customer

5. If you have or can give a guarantee, give one. Guarantees take the risk away for the person receiving your postcard.

6. Make them an offer that no reasonable person who had an interest in your product or service could easily refuse.

How Should I Say It?

• Urgently ask the people you send postcards to, to order from you or contact you for free information about your products and services.

Example:

Now is your chance to take advantage of our special offer. Don’t miss out. Call NOW!

• Be sure to explain exactly how to order or contact you for further information.

When you follow this structure for creating your postcards you will get good response to your mailings.

About The Author

Steve Conn is a Marketing Consultant. He consulted PostcardMania before it could afford its own inhouse fulltime marketing director. Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998; her only assets a computer and a phone. In 2004 the company did close to $9 million in sales and employs over 60 persons. She attributes her explosive growth to her ability to choose incredible staff and her innate marketing savvy. Now she’s sharing her marketing secrets to others. For more free marketing advice, visit her website at www.postcardmania.com.

This article was posted on February 16

by Steve Conn

Postcard Printing: Swiftly Meets Your Standard and

Postcard Printing: Swiftly Meets Your Standard and Budget

by: Maricon Williams

Postcard printing can easily take us from fantasy to reality. Thus, to be an effective postcard, it must have striking, colorful image plus crisp text. This will call for a situation of excellence in graphic design and photography. You can acquire the look you wanted by a file in your computer. If you don’t have any, then leave it to the expert in the printing industry. Printing companies will help you achieve the transformation through an electronic link between the image in your computer or their image and an offset printing process. With just a few clicks away, the postcard that has been haunting you in your imagination will come to life accurately produced, delivered and ready to market your business!

You may think that going from 1 or 2 color printing services to online printing for custom 4 color or four color printing is a complicated process. The truth is it is not! All color printing of postcards, business cards, bookmarks and the likes is gang run. It means that numerous files are on the same sheet. Thus, it is not that complex as we imagine it to be.

Compared to other forms of advertising, postcards are relatively easy to produce. Yet, oftentimes, inadequate production time is allotted. It can be exasperating and categorically unacceptable to have it scheduled weeks before the need. With an efficient, printing company, you will be assured that your postcards will be printed within the time stipulated thus, meeting your deadlines. In addition, there are companies who can speed up the printing and shipping if you are really in a rush.

Postcards need not be costly in order to come up beautiful and engrossing. Postcard printing quotes must be one of your most important budgeting considerations. As an intelligent purchaser, you must monitor the competitive printing prices and strive for the best possible price within your printing standards. Today, a secure online ordering process and reliable delivery system is available to guide you with your budget. Printing quotes online are essential tools to acquaint you with the printing price so that you can balance it with your budget.

In choosing the printing company to take care of your printing needs, be sure that they will free you with forthcoming worries about the quality printing you ordered online. They must have the integrity to reproduce a quality postcard just the way you wanted it at the price agreed upon in their printing quotes!

About The Author

Maricon Williams

I love reading. Give me a book and Iกll finish it in one sitting. Reading is the chance to be transported to a different world and so is writing. Iกm more enthusiastic about writing however, since you can relay your ideas to someone else. I can only imagine that feeling when I hear a complete stranger talking about my ideas which read on an article somewhere. To relay my message to as many people is the same as touching people with music. Only mineกs less harmonic. I try to make up for it with the color I bring with words. And most of the time, it’s more than enough.

For additional information and comments about the article you may log on to http://www.printingquotesonline.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 01

by Maricon Williams

What The Heck Is A Campaign And Why Do I Need To D

What The Heck Is A Campaign And Why Do I Need To Do One?

by: Joy Gendusa

Many people ask me, ขWhat is a postcard campaign, exactly?ข ขAnd why do I need one?ข As I have been educating my clients one on one for years now, I suddenly had the bright idea that I needed to explain this for more than just one at a time and in further detail. So here goes…

Campaigns for marketing are, in a nutshell, a series of repeat mailings that are strategically planned so that there is maximum benefit (more new customers) for your business.

Nota bene (that means ขtake noteข in Latin – and I do mean take note): If you are not doing repeat mailings then you are flushing money down toilet.

Why is this true? Basically, because people hold onto your postcard for a while. They can hold onto your postcard for six months. They will even hold on to your card for three years. When you repeat your mailings to those same people, your chances of them responding just got greater. Repeat mailings cannot be repeated enough.

A one shot in the dark postcard mailing is not going to change your business, your bottom line, your life or your anything.

So, if you are not up to confronting that you need to do a campaign then maybe you shouldn’t be in business. And that may sound harsh – it is harsh. It’s a harsh world. And I want you to succeed in it.

Why do businesses fail in the first three years? Because they don’t have enough people paying money to them for their services. The bottom line is, they don’t market – they don’t get people buying their stuff. That’s the whole point of marketing.

Yes, some promotion is better than no promotion. But the great thing about marketing campaigns is that you will be more able to predict your growth. Your income is dependent upon how much communication you put out on a subject. It’s relative to that.

If you put out a blast of communication you will get inflow prospects, customers calling or coming in and buying. Yes, once that initial blast goes out you will get some business from referrals…some. But you want that blast repeated over and over and over to get the inflow that it will generate consistently. You could almost make a big flow chart of what will happen.

Say you send out 5000 postcards.

Out of that 5000, 150 hang onto your postcard.

Out of that 5000, so many call the 1st week.

Out of that 5000, so many call the 2nd week.

Out of that 5000, so many call the next month.

Out of that 5000, so many call in 6 months.

Out of that 5000, so many never call…

There is a dwindling inflow from that first mailing and therefore can give a false impression of what occurs from one mailing. Someone sends out a postcard and says, ขI only got four responses from my mailing!ข But there is a whole dynamic that is going on that is continuing from that one mailing way after the person who sent the mailing expects things to happen. Think about it. Do you jump at every single advertisement that you get bombarded with that you think is a good idea? If you do, you are either a millionaire or broke. But most likely, you see some advertisement that catches your interest and say to yourself that you’d like to check that out some day. Then, you see it again and remember that you wanted to check that out one day. And then, you see it again and this time you decide to check it out. Or you file it away and when you pay off that credit card, you pull out your file and visit that store that advertised the rug you wanted to buy for your living room.

Victoria Secret, Ballard Designs – any reputable catalog company will mail you catalogs multiple times! Are you getting the picture yet?

You want continuous and consistent growth. So what do you do? Look at this scenario:

What if,

You send out 5000 postcards one week and you have all that going on that I mentioned above.

You send out 5000 the next week and you have all that going on that I mentioned above.

You send out 5000 the next week and that dwindling flow chart is going on, on each one of those outflows.

What is going to happen? Mmmh, let me see… Eventually it is going to snowball – it’s coming in from all different places!

You are really putting your communication out there consistently in a big way.

And yes, it costs a lot of money to do it. So, FIND THE MONEY. FIND THE MONEY. If you are going to borrow money to do a business, spend that borrowed money on marketing!

This is the thing about capital investment – people get money to start their business. They give themselves a nice big salary, they buy really great furniture, computers, a building, and so forth. That’s not where they should be spending their money. They should be spending their money on marketing and promotion and getting their name out there. And then all that money from the sales that come in should be spent on upgrading their computer or designing a fabulous office. Then and only then.

Back to campaigns and mailing out boo coo each week. Start with a list and mail to one list one week, another list the next week and another list the following week. Then you rotate those lists – again. And again. And again.

Now you ask what if you only have one list? You can still rotate one list. And it is always good to put it on a spreadsheet or a flow chart to track what you are doing and what you have already done.

For instance: You get one list of 6000 identities. You can mail to 2000 one week, 2000 the next week and 2000 the third week. Then you rotate. There are your three different lists!

OK, you got the point. The next thing to know about campaigns is that there are two different types of marketing campaigns. There is the campaign to get your customers to keep buying from you so they don’t go elsewhere. And then there is the campaign to get new business in.

Once you have gotten new business in, then those customers (that once were prospects) get the repeatcustomer campaign.

Where does one start?

The first thing you should do when starting out and thinking of a marketing campaign is to start with your own customers.

Say you’ve been in business 510 years and have hit a plateau

About The Author

Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998, her only assets a computer and a phone. By 2004 the company did $9 million in sales and employed over 60 people. She attributes her explosive growth to her ability to choose incredible staff and her innate marketing savvy. She is always willing to share her marketing advice. Visit http://www.postcardmania.com.

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 11

by Joy Gendusa