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2 Step Marketing With Postcards
By Joy Gendusa ©
2005
Marketing with postcards can be highly cost effective. They have impact, they
are inexpensive and they can have a high response rate - if you do it right!
I receive postcards all the time. The other day
I received a postcard trying to sell me a copy machine. It had tiny, tiny
lettering slathered all over the front and a large portion of the back of the
card.
It was extremely hard to read, so hard in fact that I threw it
away.
Several days later I received a postcard with 32 words on it
telling me that I could get complete information on unrestricted long distance
telephone service for 5.5 cents a minute with no additional monthly fee by
calling the 800 number on the card.
I did call. I got the information,
had my questions answered and ordered my long distance service changed.
The company who offered me the long distance service was using a time
tested 2 step selling process:
Step 1 Generate a lead - Get me to call
their 800 number
Step 2 Provide the requested information - Provided to
me on the phone by one of their sales representatives, who was able to answer
my questions and make me feel confident that I could save quite a bit of money
on
my long distance bill and that the service would be as good or better.
What's So Good About 2 Steps?
It is much easier to create
interest (a lead) than it is to get a person through an entire buying process (a
sale).
You aren't getting the prospect or existing customer to part with
any money just yet.
You can use postcards to inexpensively promote to
your target prospects and customers and generate leads (inquiries about your
products and services) to then be followed up on and converted to
sales.
This 2 step process also helps you to create a list of people who
were interested enough in what you offered to contact you.
You can then
recontact the one's who you didn't complete a sale with when they first
inquired, preferably until they do buy from you.
IMPORTANT: Be sure to
get the information you will need to recontact the people who responded to your
postcard offering.
Repetitive follow-ups with the people who contacted
you will result in increased sales. Make it a company policy to follow up with
those people who contacted you about your products and services.
The
Most Effective Use of Postcards:
The purpose of your postcard's message
is to generate a sufficient level of interest in the mind of your prospect to
get him/her to contact you to ask you about your offer.
You are
generating interest, not collecting their money (not yet anyway). That is what
the 2 step marketing process is about. Generating interested prospects and
customers who contact you for more information.
Your message needs 3
parts to be most effective:
1. A clear statement of the biggest benefit
of your product or service (in the long distance example, it was cost savings).
2. A good reason for them to contact you NOW. 3. A simple, easy way for
them to respond (an 800 number for example).
Your message should be
short and to the point. Short messages on postcards produce more leads than long
ones.
For example:
Call 800-555-1212 for Your Copy of Our Free
Report:
What 99% of Business Owners Don't Know and Will Never Find Out
About Using Postcards to Explode Their Profits
Offer ends 5-5-01 (Print
a date 3 weeks from your mailing date to create some urgency)
Lots of
people will respond to find out what they might not know. Don't forget, they
responded, which is proof they have at least some interest in the information
you have created a curiosity about.
This method works and is sure to
produce a large number of inquiries if sent to your proper market.
This
2 Step Marketing Process Work
Use the tips you have read here to create
your next postcard's message and see what happens.
You will generate a
bunch of leads from people who are truly interested in your products and
services.
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 |

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