Web Marketing Strategy Update

If I sent you a postcard the front would read, “Greetings From The Best Direct Mail Investment You Ever Made!” — and on the back I’d scrawl out a brief list why.

Since I don’t have your address, we’ll communicate these ideas — the how and why to plan a postcard campaign — at slighter greater length here.

First, the “why.” Postcard campaigns are one of the best direct mail investments because they allow you to “touch” your customers more than once through repeated mailings for the same cost as sending a bigger package. This is great for repeated exposure. Postcards stand out from the sea of emails and arrive at home or at work, two of the best places to get your prospect to take action.

NOTE: Conversions are great and are, of course, the goal, regardless whether you define them as making a purchase or beginning the research process. However, conversion from a postcard alone is probably the toughest compared to longer-form direct mail. Again, the benefit of postcards is the ability to connect with a prospect more than once.

Build or Buy a List?

Here now a brief look at the “hows”:

Buying a list of addressescan get your message out immediatelybased on demographic or location targets you define — but they can be costly and/or outdated. The cheapest list to purchase is targeting your prospects by zip code through a list supplied by the U.S. Postal Service. However, the broad nature of that means it won’t zero in on the people who will best benefit from your product or service. The process may be expensive and your conversions low.

Building your own list is much more effective but takes considerably longer. Generally, people are persuaded to share their mailing address under two conditions.

One, you’re already a known brand, business, or person. (This is how my micro business is building our direct mailing list.) Two, people can be persuaded if there is an immediate incentive, like a discount. You can collect addresses via a sign-up sheet or on your company website. (Here’s a WordPress plugin, for example.)

Hire a Copywriter

Direct-mail copywriting is a nuanced craft of its own. Some overplayed tactics no longer work. Moreover, great skill is required to distill your message into something actionable. My advice is to hire a pro with demonstrated experience.

If you’re on a budget and must do it yourself, familiarize yourself with these basic guidelines.

Hire a Designer

Ditto for hiring a pro — just because you know how to use Photoshop does not mean you will communicate your message clearly or brand yourself in the best light.

If you’re on a budget and must do it yourself, solicit feedback from people who will be honest with you. Save money by designing a template that can be customized with text each time.

Paying for Postage

The cheapest mailing rate is bulk rate. Many companies will include postage as part of their fee. If you’re sending a very tiny campaign (fewer than 500 pieces) do the math and see if it is cheaper to hand-stamp — it probably won’t be once you include your time, but for very small runs it might make sense.

Schedule and Repeat

The primary value of postcards as a direct-mail technique is their ability to provide repeated contact and brand exposure. Plan a campaign that includes at least three postcards for best results. Tuesdays are generally viewed as the best day for your postcard to arrive, so plan accordingly.

That’s it! Send me a postcard telling me all about your next postcard campaign.
Katie McCaskey is a small business owner and freelance small business journalist writing for Vistaprint, the leading provider of personalized business products, such as custom address labels that bring personality to business letters and holiday cards. Katie has covered marketing and other small business topics for over 10 years.

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Image Credits

• KLMircea
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Identifying your target market, or audience, is critical to success. You need to know whose problems you are solving with your products and/or services. Selling something without identifying a clearly defined audience is like tossing a balloon into the air and hoping it travels to one person. There are questions you can analyze to determine who you are selling to.

Who Were You Thinking of When Creating Your Product or Service?

When you were creating what you plan to sell you surely had someone in mind. Perhaps you were writing a book with middle-aged women in mind, shoes with teen girls in mind or a tool with a young handyman in mind. Go back to the creation of your product or service and think about who you had in mind.

Does Your Target Market Already Buy what You are Offering?

You want to know who is already interested in similar products or services. For example, if you are writing a book about vampires you know that teenage girls are a major market for this niche. If you are working on a new social media site, you would want to target young adults because teens are reportedly bored with this right now. So, if you have something similar know who is buying the similar product or service.

Why Are You Creating Your Product or Service?

You need to know why you are passionate about what you are creating. If you cannot identify why you wanted to create it in the first place then you will find it difficult to identify a target audience. While the purpose is generally determined right off the bat, you can do this later too as your purpose can change as you are building your brand.

What Problem Does Your Product or Service Solve for Your Target Audience?

When you create something it will solve a problem for someone. For example, a tool can solve a problem for a handyman, a cooking appliance can solve a problem for someone who cooks and a book can even solve boredom. Knowing what problem your product or service will solve will help to identify who it will be helpful for.

How Would You Describe Your Target Using Demographics?

There are a variety of demographics to look at when determining your target audience. Demographics are probably some of the most important things you need to understand when targeting your audience. You should consider the following:

• Location
• Income level
• Marital/Family status
• Age
• Gender
• Education level
• Occupation

All of these play into figuring out your target market. It is important to look at each of these individually to see exactly who is going to use your product or service. For example, if you are creating a cooking appliance then you may be targeting a working mom who is in her 30s. Your product will help to shorten cooking time so that she can work and be with her family more. Income level is very important with product or service pricing, so take this into consideration as you develop your plan.

What Are Marketing Psychographics Saying About Your Audience?

These are different from demographics, but work in a similar way. You are looking at how your potential customers react to things and how they feel about things. This can impact many things from how you advertise to how you package your product or service. The following psychographics should be considered:

• Attitudes
• Interests/Hobbies
• Behaviors
• Personality
• Values
• Lifestyles

This will help you to create market towards a specific type of person. For example, if you are creating a service that may help more conservative people then you need to ensure that this who it is targeted at. You also have to look the types of lifestyle of your target audience. For example, if you are creating an application for a tablet or cell phone that helps to keep people on schedule, you will be targeting those with very busy lifestyles, like professionals and moms with multiple kids. This type of audience is always happy to find something that helps them better organize their days. These are things you need to keep in mind when marketing towards your target audience.

Ray Nelson writes about small business topics such as branding, market research and marketing to women.

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If you want to run a successful business, regardless of size, you need to get your priorities straight. Not only do you need to be a self-starter who knows everything about the products you are selling and the prospective customers you are selling to; but, you also need to keep your reputation in check.

Nothing can ruin your business faster than having a very vocal unsatisfied customer who feels they have had a bad experience with your company or its products, or a media source bashing something you perhaps got wrong as a company. However, you need to put a lot of your time into developing and marketing the products you are trying to sell, so we have found five SEO reputation management tools to help your business.
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In the world of digital marketing, Facebook is perhaps one of the biggest double-edged swords there is. Sure, it has quite a hefty list of credentials for the job and it’s certainly not ineffective, but the problem lies in the fact that all too often it’s considered the ‘go to’ form of advertising – and that’s a very slippery slope to be standing on.

As soon as we forget to look any further than the social media juggernaut to promote our latest competitions or range of products we’re alienating a huge percentage of our potential audience; even if 100% of our target customers are Facebook users, studies show that only a remotely slim percentage will ever visit our page again after clicking that ‘like’ button.
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