Direct Mail marketing can be extremely beneficial for increasing visibility and adding reputation to your brand. The postcard is an affordable form of direct mail marketing that can get your message in front of those who matter most. When you have accurate data, a good offer, and a keen strategy, postcard marketing can be extremely effective for its cost.
There are a few things we’d like to go over today on the blog to help ensure your investment is strategized properly. The right combination of visual appeal, clear messaging, and strategic planning can help create an engaging piece that makes its mark on your target audience. Let’s break it down.
Here are 7 best practices for designing a postcard self-mailer
KISS- Keep It Simple, & Straightforward
Keep it simple, and straightforward, and it certainly applies to postcard marketing. You want your offer to be easy to understand and digest for your audience. The recipient should quickly understand what your offer is, and how it will benefit them. Use a strong, attention-grabbing headline that immediately conveys the main benefit or purpose of your product or service. Limit your selling to one or a few products, services, or promotions, and that’s it.
Work with a Pro Printer and Mailer
This may seem like a no-brainer but with so many easy-to-use online tools that will quickly spit out a postcard and mail them out with no personal touch, there is a greater chance that minor mistakes or important details may get missed. Working with a local printing and direct mail company means you can make sure your investment isn’t wasted. This means choosing the right paper, size, and fonts, and even ensuring that you choose the right mail marketing audience for your campaign. Our professionals will help you maximize your campaign results, from top to bottom.
Make It Personalized
By working with a professional that understands data, you can not only target your prospects based on specific demographics, but you can also personalize the message based on the data and using variable messaging. Whether you just want to craft your message to the person’s name, or you want the message to change based on a specific region or characteristics, variable data personalization can make it more relevant to the recipient.
Speak Directly with Your Call-To-Action
The Call-To-Action (CTA) is critical for any piece of direct mail marketing, but especially for postcards which may not offer as much physical real estate as other items like brochures or letters. Letters are more long-form, whereas postcards need to be direct to the point. Don’t force your recipient to read too much and consider symbols and big types to draw attention to your call to action. This could be your phone number, your website, a QR code, or even just your physical address. Show them the quickest way to accomplish the goal of your offer.
Be Memorable
You don’t want this piece to be ignored. Think of how you can use colors, images, and headlines to be memorable. Working with a professional graphic designer who is experienced in direct mail can help ensure this happens. Set yourself apart from the competition, and ensure the recipient hangs onto this postcard until they use it. Use high-quality images and aim to use the front and back in tandem. You can tie the front and back together to ensure that one side gets the message across, while the other gives a bit more info.
Use Your Layout Properly
Despite the lack of space on a postcard, you don’t need to limit your size. There are a few different sizes of postcards you can choose, all the way up to 11.5”x6.132” to still receive automated marketing mail postcard discounts through the USPS. That being said, you still do not want to overfill your canvas with clutter. Consider leaving enough whitespace to avoid clutter. Also, consider the eyes of your reader, who will typically read in somewhat of a Z-pattern, from left to right and top to bottom. Put your most important things in this z-pattern to ensure the message is received properly.
Track Your Efforts
What’s an effective marketing campaign without tracking and analytics? By using unique codes, URLs, QR codes, and even tracking phone numbers, you can watch to see how many of your recipients take action. Of course, you can also track foot traffic, signups, and sales to your physical location as well. You may also want to create and/or plan a follow-up strategy based on the responses you receive to maximize engagement and conversion.
We hope this helps to demonstrate some of what goes into planning an effective direct-mail postcard self-mailer. If you have any questions about setting up a direct mail campaign, just give us a call or fill out our contact form to speak with a professional today!
