I have a list with over 100 campaign uses of postcards. Just email me and request my “Postcard Use Checklist”. This means you could mail every day for almost four years and never have a duplicate subject about a card. Seriously, I am just trying to show you that you will never run out of ideas for postcards and subjects to create clever postcards. The possibilities are endless!

The object of a postcard is to generate a sufficient level of interest in the mind of your prospect to get them to contact you about your offer. You are generating interest, not collecting money — not yet anyway.

Postcards are persistant. Send 8 postcards to your mailing list each year. In between mailing you should stay in touch with key clients and prospects with handwritten postcards. Postcards are the perfect tool to use for repetitive follow-up of prospects. This type of follow-up has resulted in substantial increases in sales. It’s okay to send a card more than once. Successful cards can be sent forever as long as they continue to cover their costs.

Postcards have to be part of your overall marketing plan. Make it fit and work in harmony with all the marketing strategies that you use. Ask yourself, why am I using postcards? Do you want to get new clients? Or do you want to stay in touch with existing clients? Who are you going to be mailing to? No matter what type of mailing you’re doing, it’s the list that will determine its success.

Postcards are an overlooked marketing secret. They can boost your business, no matter what kind of business you own. In a single mailing, you can seek business from prospective customers, and solicit repeat business from existing customers.

A postcard isn’t just something to send through the mail. You can use postcards to drive traffic to your website, generate sales leads, use as oversized business cards, hang tags for your products, mini-information sheets or how about a newsletter on a postcard. I have personally used that with fabulous results.

Postcards are one of the best investments you can make with your marketing dollar.

With commitment and consistency in mind, let’s look at 5-C’s needed to construct your marketing plan.

Company. You have to be able to describe your company just like you would describe it to a prospect or customer. In your description, you will create a mission statement. You will describe your product or service, your geographical marketing area, your pricing strategy, your customer service, your distribution methods, your business location and any environmental factors that might affect your business.

A business with a mission statement is like a fireman running into a situation everyone else is trying to leave. But successful businesses know what they’re doing. They have a mission - a plan just like the firemen. They know about fire and exactly how to put it out.

Customer. You have to be able to describe your perfect customer. The better you can describe a customer, the easier it will be to find them. continue reading this entry »

There are two 2-C’s that are necessary not only to do your marketing plan, but everything in life.

The 2-C’s are commitment and consistency. To do anything in life, you must have a commitment to do it. When you start any project, you have that initial excitement that makes it really easy to start a project and there is this really great sense of satisfaction when you finish a project. It’s that middle area that seems to drag where you wonder if you will ever get through this project. That is where you need that commitment and consistency to stick with it because it will be worth it in end.

The lack of the 2-C’s are probably the number one reason why life’s plans don’t get done.