10 Reasons to Start Using Direct Mail Postcards Today

Today’s small businesses have a huge amount of choice when it comes to marketing channels. There’s online, print, radio, television and a huge range of other options to choose from, even for the smallest or newest of businesses.

While other marketing methods may be more glamorous or trendy, one of the most effective ways to raise awareness for your business, create action, and generate real results is by delivering direct mail postcards to your target audience.

From prompt delivery and an immediate impact to value for money, read on to learn how direct mail – and in particular, direct mail postcards – can give your business a steady flow of leads, sales, and loyal customers.

They have an immediate impact

More than any other marketing channel, direct mail postcards can produce instant results for your business. Because there’s no envelope for recipients to open, most postcards are read as soon as they’re noticed, raising awareness of your business.

This immediate impact is more important than it might seem. Since recipients will read your postcards before the rest of their mail, they’re more likely to respond to your marketing message than they would be if it were delivered in a sealed letter.

They’re rarely discarded by recipients

Unlike letters, which are read once and then typically discarded unless they’re very important, most postcards don’t get thrown out. Instead, they’re stuck to the fridge with a magnet, pinned to a bulletin board or stacked on the kitchen countertop.

Since postcards tend to stick around inside the house after they’ve been opened, a single direct mail postcard can give your business several opportunities to deliver its marketing message to your target audience.

They’re short, sweet and simple

The best marketing is often extremely simple. Since postcards don’t allow as much text as a full letter, they force your business to shorten and simplify its message to fit within the limitations of the postcard.

Although this might seem like a restriction, it’s actually a benefit that can give your marketing message a larger audience. As the well-known copywriting proverb goes, if it’s easy to read, it will be read.

They’re printed and delivered quickly

While a large-scale print media campaign can take weeks to design and even longer to implement, direct mail campaigns can be planned, prepared, and delivered in very little time.

Instead of waiting weeks for your campaign to kick into gear, you can order custom postcards today and have them in the mail tomorrow. This makes direct mail a great choice for time-sensitive campaigns such as holiday promotions.

They’re extremely campaign friendly

The key to an effective direct mail campaign is often consistency. Although many of your target customers may ignore your message the first time they read it, over time they can become more responsive, interested, and ready to take action.

Direct mail postcards are easy to incorporate into a long-term, consistent marketing campaign. In fact, good direct mail providers offer automation systems that deliver your postcards automatically on a pre-determined schedule.

They’re easy to track and measure

There are two benefits of a successful marketing campaign: more sales and revenue for your business, and useful data for your next campaign. Since direct mail is easy to track, it’s the perfect platform for testing and refining a marketing campaign.

Calculating the response rate of a direct mail campaign is easy: just divide responses by the total number of postcards you delivered. This makes it easy to test an idea on a small audience before scaling up the campaign based on its results.

They’re a great match for the web

Although direct mail and online marketing may not seem like a great match, the two very different channels actually have a lot in common. With a short and simple URL, it’s easy to send recipients towards your website to make an order.

Add QR codes and personalized URLs into the mix and it’s easy to see why so many online marketers are turning to direct mail as an alternative to overcrowded marketing channels like email.

They’re affordable and cost effective

Although direct mail isn’t free, it’s by far the most cost effective form of marketing for most small businesses. Because there are no letters or brochures to print, the costs involved with a direct mail campaign are relatively inexpensive.

This makes direct mail an affordable option even for the smallest of businesses. A small, carefully optimized postcard campaign that’s geo-targeted to your local area can produce a huge volume of sales at a cost that’s extremely affordable.

They’re unbelievably versatile

How many other marketing channels can be used for coupons, event reminders, new product announcements, seasonal catalogs, thank-you cards, special offers, rewards, and more?

Direct mail postcards have as many uses as your marketing team has ideas. With a few simple tweaks to your campaign message and design, you can use postcards to achieve almost any marketing goal.

They’re proven to be effective

Sometimes, the simplest forms of marketing are the most effective. Americans spent over $250 billion in response to direct mail campaigns every year, making it one of the most widely used and effective marketing solutions in the world.

From impact to affordability, versatility to results, direct mail postcards are one of the best marketing options available for small businesses. The only question left to ask is simple: “Why not use more of them?”