Postcards: Their Benefits and Why You Need Them

Postcards are incredibly effective marketing tools. They’re a must-have in your repertoire for marketing your business.

They’re also a great way to drive sales, increase brand awareness, and they’re affordable to print and mail.

1. Versatile

A great thing about postcards is that they’re so versatile. You can do nearly anything with them and there isn’t one right answer or solution.

Run a clothing or pet store? Send out informational postcards about your business with the location and contact information.

People love saving money, so attach a coupon to give incentive for people to visit your store.

What may work for one company, may not entirely work with yours. So, it’s important to maintain your business model and branding.

If you work for a college, you can consider sending out postcards with the benefits of enrolling. Non-profits can send out some mailers to tell their story and request donations.

The diversity and uniqueness of postcards works for any business model.

Additionally, it’s great for businesses to routinely send them out every month or every few months to keep customers interested.

USPS is running a promotion for 2% off postage now through the end of the year.

2. Cost-Effective

Postcards are extremely easy to print en masse. You can print them at various sizes that make efficient use of paper stock (which is a huge cost-saver).

They’re simple, straightforward, and easy. A huge plus is that they don’t require any folding or stuffing into envelopes, which adds up your savings.

And because they don’t need envelopes, you don’t have to worry about the person opening your package to read your message.

The message is already right in front of them.

Because of their small size and simplicity, they qualify for the best postal rates.

3. Tangible

Take a look at your kitchen counter, your fridge, or even your wallet. If you’re anything like me, you like to save relevant postcards.

These postcards typically have coupons or information for upcoming sales and promotions. Or maybe it was something informational from your favorite brand about new products.

It can be weeks to months before you do anything with that postcard. But it’s an everyday subtle reminder taking up space in your home.

It’s tangible and it clutters your space. Postcards are much different than the emails that you delete without ever opening.

Since postcards are something physical you can hold in your hands, they have a much longer shelf life compared to emails. And since they’re physical, they have a much higher chance of making an impact versus their digital counterparts.

Promotional and advertising mail is kept in a house for 17 days on average, which is huge. This gives everyone in the house plenty of time to read your postcard and take action.

4. Brand Awareness

Being tangible raises brand awareness. It’s much easier recalling something physical versus a fleeting digital ad.

“Only 44% of people can recall a brand immediately after seeing a digital ad compared to 75% of people who receive direct mail.”

Generating brand awareness is the entire point of utilizing postcards. You want to get your name out to people that don’t know anything about you.

Don’t have a specific person of who you want to mail to, but just know you want to get your name out there?

You can take advantage of Every Direct Door Mail which doesn’t require any mailing lists. You just need to designate an area, and your postcard will be delivered to every house on that route.

Then your postcard is in the hands of hundreds to thousands of potential consumers.

Keep mailing these houses postcards and generating brand awareness. They say it takes about 8 touches to have a potential customer take action.

5. Boost Sales

People are receptive to messages that resonate with them. They’re open to what you have to offer if you’re listening to and understanding their pain points.

They want to know that you understand where they’re coming from and what they need to fix their problem.

That’s why it’s so important to target your postcards to the right people.

If you own a tree-cutting company, your target client base would be people that live in wooded areas. It wouldn’t make much sense to send your postcard to people that live in condos or apartments.

Your message needs to be relevant.

They want an experience that is both real and authentic. At the end of the day, people are going to support businesses that they trust.

You want them to feel like they can reach out to you at any time, with any questions. Always let them know you’re there to help them and keep communication open.

Building that connection with them increases their trust in you.

Satisfaction with your product leads to repeat customers.

In turn, this leads them to tell their friends, family, and coworkers.

6. Personalized

People love personalization. They love feeling unique and special. And they’re ultimately loyal to businesses that care about them.

As a designer or marketer, you have a miniscule window in getting their attention and holding it.

For this reason, there’s no better way than being organic and tailoring the postcard specifically for them.

Referring to them by name will make your piece stand out from the rest. Thus, it makes them interested in what you have to say, and what’s in it for them.

Going even further, create a custom postcard based on their purchase history. You have an idea of what they like, you can use that to your advantage.

Has it been a few months since they bought their cat a bag of food? Offer them 10% off their next bag to entice them to shop with you.

Another thing to consider: log and track your customer’s birthdays. People love receiving promotions from their favorite brands, and expect them when their birthday rolls around.

Personally, I look forward to that free coffee every year from my favorite coffee shop. Or that 10% off coupon to a store I haven’t visited in a while. It keeps me coming back.

With a coupon in hand, it gives people further incentive to visit your store and make a purchase.