So here it is in you client’s or prospect’s mail box. You have gone to great efforts into making your post card advertisement look cool, professional and well designed. However let’s go back one step and pull out the bones of your post card advertisement as a sales process or as a lead generation process.

Postcard advertisement tip #1- Decide what you want your prospect’s to do

Follow the Attention-Interest-Desire-Action formula

Attention: If you simply want to get people to visit your business your website, or call you, your post card has to contain something that will answer the “What’s in it for me?”question. That is a surefire way to get their attention. When you are doing a lead generation campaign you have a much better chance to get good response if you give something for free, that will be perceived as high value. The alternative is to offer a draw to win something of even higher perceived value. I am always amazed how willing people are keen to enter these draws, sometimes even to win a $50 dollar voucher…

How do you pitch your offer? It must be loud and clear in your postcard headline: don’t beat around the bush, you have little room on the card so claim what the offer is in a headline that occupies minimum 25% of the space. Other attention grabbers are short testimonial headlines, outrageous headlines etc…One mistake to avoid: a safe and boring headline, or no headline at all. If all you want is to reconnect with existing customer, just let them know what you have to offer this time: They know the drill, or they should if you have done your job! When I receive a postcard from my local clothing store I know straight away they are giving me a sneak preview of their next sale and urging me to check it out before they open the sale to the public. So I always look at the prices or the dollar savings they are promising.

Interest/information;Just talk about a common benefit or alleviate a common concern or objection that prospects have about your product, or even better, tell them how you are going to resolve one of their main frustrations.

Desire:Testimonials are the best way to create desire but if you don’t have room, just do it with an irresistible offer. You want new customers? spend the money on them in the form of FREE product, instead of pouring that money in your publisher’s pocket.

Action: This part is well underestimated by anyone using this form of advertising, once again it’s not about how pretty your postcard is, it’s about what people will do NOW as a result. Make sure your call to action is clear, easy to follow, has a scarcity factor and a time limit.

Postcard advertisement tip #2: Address it to the name of your prospect

If you are selling to existing database customers this is easy. But if you are doing lead generation you will increase your response dramatically just by putting the prospects’ addresses and names. Whether you buy a list or use local council electoral roles, a personalized post card will have a much higher response rate. Think about it, the same applies to email marketing, this is why mail merge was invented! Once again your return on investment is where it’s at. You’re already spending the money, why not go the extra mile?

Postcard advertisement tip #3: Insert some hand written notes in your postcard

In the era of electronic communication we have never craved personal approaches as much as we do now! When was last time you received a personal, hand written letter? Anything that makes your card feel more human, more personal (Even if your handwriting has been duplicated in the printing process!) will give you a valuable point of difference!

If you read blogs that are denigrating the value of offline strategies like postcard advertising, just ignore them! This type strategy has its place in your small business advertising tool kit and you should not underestimate it.