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Use your computer to create and send postcards via First Class Mail
By: Roger C. Parker
Design to Sell Online
Guerrilla Marketers are always looking for technological solutions that make it cheaper and easier to keep in touch with customers and prospects.
Print-on-demand postcards are one of the latest technological breakthroughs to attract the Guerrilla Marketer's interest.
Print-on-demand postcards combine the advantages of mail delivered by the Postal Service with the economies of scale that the Internet makes possible. Postcards have always been the perfect way to drive targeted traffic to your website; now they're easier to send than ever.
You can now quickly, easily, and economically use your computer to prepare and address color postcards in any quantity (from 1 to 10,000) that will printed and mailed the next business day, and arrive a few days later in your prospect's morning mail.
Guerrilla Marketing is based on a search for efficiency and effectiveness. The term was introduced and expanded into a best-selling series of books by Jay Conrad Levinson, the Father of Guerrilla Marketing.
Advantages of print-on-demand postcard marketing
Put these six major advantages to work!
2. Take advantage of the "surprise" value of postal mail
3. Avoid crowded in-boxes, problems associated with spam, and e-mail filters
4. Drive web site traffic without time-consuming search engine optimization and costly pay-per-click techniques
5. Profit from flexibility; no minimums, inventory, stamps, or handling
6. Send 1 card, or 1,000, at a time
Why postcards?
Postcards make it easy to reach-out to new prospects and reinforce relationships with previous buyers
Special get-acquainted offers; color postcards can often get more attention than e-mail, even for web-based products!
Networking follow-up; quickly follow-up with prospects you meet and invite them to subscribe to your newsletter. You already made one impression when you met a new contact. A color postcard arriving a few days later confirming your initial meeting, and whatever plans you made, makes you stand out from others the recipient met.
Thank you's; thank new clients and those offering referrals and testimonials.
Target marketing; focus your marketing on those most likely to buy from you again or attend teleclasses, webinars, and other special events. Profile your best customers and ask list brokers to locate the names and addresses of others like them.
Web site traffic; notify clients and prospects when you post new content, like the latest issue of your newsletter.
Greeting cards; use postcards to keep in touch with key clients and influencers at anniversaries and holidays.
Use postcards to convert postal addresses into e-mail addresses
Cut the costs of keeping in touch
Mailed postcards avoid the problems associated with unsolicited e-mail-i.e., spam. It's permissible to send postal mail to individuals and firms you would never want to send e-mail to without first obtaining their permission.
You can also reactivate previous clients and unsold prospects by contacting them with postcards.
In either case, send postcards offering an incentive to encourage recipients to join your free opt-in e-mail list, permitting you to communicate with them for free.
Importance of an incentive
Create a synergy between postcards and your website
Your incentive does not have to be complex. It can be as simple as a 12-point tip sheet or a buying guide.
Your incentive can also be an analysis of the challenges and trends your market is facing, a glossary of important terms, or a list of recommended books.
Any one of these will reinforce your expertise while providing an incentive for clients and prospects to join your e-mail list.
Your incentive can also be a special issue of your newsletter, a compilation of past issues, an in-depth look at a special topic, an invitation to a teleconference, or a transcript of a previous teleclass.
For "hands off" delivery of incentives, use autoresponders to notify recipients the specific location on your website where on they can download your incentive.
Steps to success
Put your Internet-connected computer to work from home, office, or abroad
1. Build your "core" customer and prospect mailing list. Create an online database of important client and prospect names and addresses. Enter the name and address of your recent networking contact or previous clients into the online database. You can also import data created using Microsoft Office programs (Access, Excel, Outlook) and contact manager software programs like Act and Goldmine.
2. Create the color artwork for the "billboard side" of your postcard. You can choose from thousands of free four-color illustrations and photos. You'll probably, however, want to create and upload your own online portfolio of custom postcard artwork. Just convert the artwork to J-PEGS and upload up to 72 different artwork files ready for instant use.
3. Prepare your message. Enter desired text in an online form. Don't worry about length: the software won't let you write more than will fit in the message area on the back of your postcard. In most cases, your message can automatically personalize your postcards by inserting your client or prospect's first name.
Options
Organize your postcard mailing list into groups
To send postcards to individuals-or groups of individuals-simply select the names, or the group names, by clicking, then press "send."
How are cards delivered?
The cost of First Class postage is built into the system.
Best of all, postcards can be sent internationally! An International stamp is added to all postcards traveling outside of the United States. Postcards can be seamlessly sent to Europe, Asia, and Australia without additional cost or hassle.
Print on demand advantages and options
Postcards have always been a favorite Guerrilla Marketing tool--now they're better than ever!
Printing color postcards in small quantities was usually not cost-effective. Printing--especially, color printing--is characterized by economies of scale. The cost, per postcard, drops dramatically as the number printed goes up.
It was also a hassle to address and stamp cards.
Print-on-demand postcards change all that:
No minimum quantities: no major up front investment is needed. Postcards can be printed in color and sent as needed. Send 1 or 1,000. The more you send, the lower the printing and addressing costs.
No inventory: there are no so postcard inventories to run out of just when you need them. No stamps to run out of. No trips to the Post Office in the rain. No Zip Code sorting.
Quality: postcards are printed in color on a glossy, heavy paper. Both sides are laminated to add impact and resist wear.
Flexibility; a variety of different sizes and formats are available, including 4 by 6 inch, 6 by 9, and larger formats.
Personalization: you can easily insert the recipient's first name into the message area of each card.
Efficient: No need to prepare and apply address labels or hand-address individual postcards. Once names and addresses have been inputted, mailings to all, or part, of your customer and prospect list as many times as desired without additional costs.
Resources
Get to know Amazing Mail (www.amazingmail.com)
A good starting point for considering a print-on-demand program is to visit Amazing Mail, at www.amazingmail.com.
They specialize in print-on-demand and work for clients large and small...including major direct marketing firms and the United States Postal Service.
Summary of print on demand postcard advantages
Once you have created your mailing list, you can send 1 card, or 1,000 cards, at a time by simply clicking on the names, or groups, you want to send.
You can also create reusable templates, which eliminates "reinventing the wheel" each time you make a mailing. Your postcard artwork is stored on line, where it can be retrieved using any computer with Internet access.
No more time wasted soliciting printing quotes, dealing with addressing and mailing services, or hand-addressing postcards in small quantities.
No more quality compromises, like using black and white--or two-color-postcards to save money. Print-on-demand postcards are printed in color and double-laminated for safe transit and to project a quality image.
Conclusion
Learn how to use Microsoft publisher to create print-on-demand postcards
For the first time ever, postcard marketing becomes practical for even the smallest publisher or business owner.Businesses of all size can now easily use postcards for networking, new business prospecting, and keeping in close touch with clients, customers, and prospects.
My latest book, Design to Sell, has a chapter completely devoted to designing postcards using Microsoft Publisher, an inexpensive page layout program.
Get acquainted with AmazingMail
AmazingMail lets you prepare color postards on your Web-equipped computer for next day First Class printing and mailing
Log on to your AamazingMail account from anywhere in the world.
You'll enjoy instant access to your postcard artwork and access to your customer and prospects names, as well as your corporate artwork files.
Prepare your postcards, add personal messages, and send them to AmazingMail for next business day printing and mailing.
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