Direct Mail Crash Course

Postcard samples from Vistaprint.com

I’ve been marketing my video transfer service in many different ways.Direct Mail has been very effective in my business and it should be in yours too. In the link above you will see what I discovered about a Post Office program called Every Door Direct which saves a fortune in postage.

There are numerous companies who want to help you succeed in direct mail and their help is free. Modern Postcard is offering a free day-long crash course in Boston. They have been offering free lessons for years now. See their direct mail videos. VistaPrint.com is another printing and mailing company. You may have seen their free business cards. They will send you a free collection of the marketing materials they print including Business Cards, Postcards, Brochures, Roll Labels, Presentation Folder, Door Hanger, and a Rack Card.

The Post Office also encourages you to use direct mail. Their website proclains “54% of people surveyed tried a new product or business in a six-month period in 2020 because they received a mailpiece.” USPS offers A Beginner’s Guide to Direct Mail: A 5-Part Video Series.

Direct Mail can be expensive, but as one marketer said “marketing is only expensive when it doesn’t work.” So you need to educate youself and make a strategic plan to suceed. Search for postcard marketing in the book section of Amazon. There are quite a few books on the topic and I’m sure they contain some good advice, but you will notice that many of them are older. Postcard marketing is not as current-sounding as digital marketing like email, SMS, and social marketing. But it can be more effective.

High Readership

. Unlike most direct mail and emails, postcards do not have to be opened. Your message gets delivered. Think about how many emails and letters you discard without opening.

Cheap.

Printing and postage are a good deal. Search for post card printers and you will find offers to design, print and mail 1000 oversized postcards for $375 including postage. First class postcard postage is, strangely enough, cheaper than bulk rate. This includes free forwarding/return of your mail if the mailing address is outdated. Why lose a customer because she moved? Every Door Direct is a postal program which is a fraction of the cost of first class postage.