Make Money with Postcard Marketing

Direct mail is a proven marketing method that plays an important role in many successful marketing campaigns. Decades of direct mail marketing have resulted in solid ideas about what works best. Whether you use direct mail postcards or letters, your goal is to continually increase response rates. Following are several ideas on how to do just that, based on ideas that come from the experience and wisdom of direct mail pros.

You have to give in order to get. Your prospects are not likely to do what you want unless you offer them something of value upfront. It can be advice, opportunity, a free widget, a reduced-price offer, whatever. Think about your audience and what they might like.

Mail to the right people. Figure out who your ideal customers are and get a direct mail list for those people. If you don't have an in-house list, you may have to purchase one from a list broker. Look for lists with pre-qualified prospects, which means the people on the list have already expressed more than a passing interest in products or services similar to yours. Ideally your prospects will already have made purchases in your niche.

Get the headline and image right. A postcard has only so much space. A headline that is interesting and grabs the attention of your audience is your best chance to capture the reader's attention. You want an eye-catching image that supports the headline. The headline and the image must appeal to the audience and suggest the value you are offering.

Focus the message on one product or service. Explain the major benefits, include a testimonial and photos, and make your offer. Keep the writing clean and clear. With postcard marketing you only get one chance; if people don't understand your message on the first reading, then you've lost them.

Include a call to action. What do you want people to do? Make it simple and realistic, like calling a phone number or going to a web site. If you make it difficult or confusing, your prospects won't follow through. They've got lots of people knocking on their doors, so they are not going to jump through hoops for you.

You can test your direct mail postcards by mailing them out to a small percentage of your prospect list. Figure out your response rate from the number of people who follow through on your call to action. If your response is too low to have the effect you want, you can make changes to your message, headline, image, or prospect list before you mail to your entire list.

In addition to its advertising potential, postcard marketing can be part of a mail order business and residual income opportunity. Xtreme postcard profits system, or XPPS, is one such opportunity that offers home-based business people a way to generate significant money quickly and easily. Xtreme Postcard Profits System requires little investment and gives big returns.

In an age when the Internet reigns, old-fashioned direct mail is still one of the best ways for independent entrepreneurs to market their products and services and make real money.