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General Articles >> Direct Mail Strategy >> Envelopes or Postcards
Should You Use Postcards Or Envelopes?
by Mark Smith
Which is really better for a mail order business, postcards or envelopes? There are countless theories on the issue. Who's right?
There are simple rules of thumb you can use to quickly establish which method fits your advertising strategy. Here they are:
A. If a prospect is requesting information from you, the envelope wins the debate!
B. If the prospect has NOT requested information from you, the postcard is the winner!
Of course there are always some exceptions to any rule of thumb. But for the most part, these are the ways to go.
The main difference is that in "A" you already have a prospect. In "B" you are looking for a good prospect. That's the critical difference.
In "A" you have already developed an initial interest through some type of advertising. It may have been through a classified or display ad or from a postcard [more on this later] that was previously mailed. Regardless of the method, you now have a live hot prospect that is hungry for more information. You have already used some type of advertising to develop the initial interest in your product, service or business opportunity.
Since in this case you have already created the interest in what you are marketing, it is time to mail a powerful package to close the sale! The package should include a cover letter as well as a circular outlining the benefits of your product, service or business opportunity. The material should be customer-focused! You should list customer benefit #1, benefit #2, benefit #3, etc.
You may even want to include a product sample if it is practical. For example, if one of your products is specialty envelopes, why not mail your literature inside the specialty envelope? That way, your prospect gets a free product sample as well. This may go a long way in helping you close the sale!
Don't send fifth generation copies in your envelopes that people can barely read. It's time to make a good impression. Your information should be easy to read and crystal clear. In the case where you want to mail your offer to a purchased mailing list, does it make sense to send out an expensive envelope package before they are a hot prospect requesting information? The answer [again, the rules of thumb] is no! For mailing lists, postcards are wonderful to use for developing the initial interest in your offer. Postcards should be used for "cold calls".
In our first case, we used some form of advertising such as classified or display to make the cold call. In this case, we are using the post card itself to make the cold call! That's the big difference!
Obviously you run classified or display ads to save the expense of mailing information to each prospect. The ad does the screening. The same reasoning applies to a mailing list. It can be very expensive to mail cover letters, envelopes, and product samples to each and every person on a mailing list.
That's where postcards come in. They do the screening similar to a classified or display ad. And they do it very economically. Compare the tiny cost of a postcard to an expensive envelope package! And compare the mere postage cost of 20 cents to 32 cents or 55 cents using envelopes. There is a dramatic difference. Postcards can be very cost effective and very powerful [if done well] in conjunction with a mailing list. If mailing lists are part of your advertising strategy, consider using postcards to develop the initial interest.
Even when using postcards, the use of an envelope package never goes away. You are likely to use an envelope package as the follow up for the hot prospect. Envelopes should be used as the second punch in your mail order advertising strategy. Postcards as well as other forms of advertising [e.g., classified, display, etc.] should be the first punch.
About the author
Mark Smith, B.A., M.S.M, is the country's largest distributor for a well known MLM company. His success and phenomenal downline growth are attributed to a remarkable upline support system he developed.
Article Source: AuthorConnection.com
