| |
| |
|
Advertising Information |
|
|
|
Print Your Marketing Postcards For A Penny, Address Them For Free, and Automate the Whole Process
This article will show you how to cut your printing costs to a penny and have your postcards addressed for free without doing it all yourself, reducing the time you invest in your mailing to almost nothing. So, you have a list of hot prospects in hand; you need a way to get your marketing message in front of them with the hope that a reasonable percentage will call you. You decide that you want to send a postcard to each prospect. You open the yellow pages and randomly select a printer. After explaining what you want, she gives you a quote of eleven cents per postcard. That seems like more than you wanted to spend, so you call a few more printers. Several phone calls later, you finally get a quote that meets your budget--six cents each. A week later you have the postcards in hand. You sit down with your list on one side and a pile of hundreds of postcards on the other side (if you aren't sending at least hundreds at a time, don't expect much of a response). You pop a couple of your favorite DVDs into the disc changer and settle in for an evening of addressing your postcards. You finish the first and cross it off your list. After scribbling through the first fifty, you look at the clock and realize this is taking much longer than expected. All the same, you are determined so you continue. Two movies, two pens, and one band-aid later (for that pesky papercut), you finally reach the end. The smile that cracks on your face is broken by the thought that you still need to stamp them. One movie, one sponge, and hundreds of stamps later, you really reach the end. Despite the feeling of accomplishment, you can't help feeling dread at the thought of going through the process again in two weeks when you mail to the list again (if you are not following up with your prospects multiple times, again, you are wasting your time). There must be a better way. Does this scenario sound familiar? If so, then keep reading. I am about to show you how you can change that. You will be able to quickly setup multiple mailings in advance, sit back, and just wait for them to go out on the specified date. For those who haven't yet experienced preparing your mailings by hand, feel free to try it for yourself once and then we'll see you back here in a couple weeks when you are ready to appreciate what I am about to share. Leveraging Your Time Effectively Time is as precious as your cash flow and it should be leveraged just as carefully. Developing efficient systems and automating repetitive tasks is essential to your success as a business. When it comes to postcards and other similar mailings, the United States Postal Service has taken care of this for you. The postcard mailing system I am about to share with you is based on a service available online at: http://www.usps.com/mailingonline The first time you visit the Mailing Online web page, you will need to click on the Sign-Up button. Signing up for a personal account allows you to save postcards and mailing lists so that you can easily reuse them in the future. Now let's talk about some of the benefits that this service has to offer. A Penny per Postcard for Printing Normal postage for a postcard is twenty-three cents. The cost of mailing out a postcard through Mailing Online is twenty-four cents. This is like getting your postcards printed for a penny each and addressed for free. Avoid Numerous Steps and Saves Hours of Your Time Avoid picking up your cards from the printer, addressing and stamping them by hand, and delivering them to the post office for mailing. The money saved is significant and the time saved is huge. Use Ready-Made Templates to Create Your Mailing Pieces Mailing Online provides templates for you download and open in several popular applications such as Microsoft Word. This makes designing you postcard easy. Then you upload the postcard to Mailing Online to use in your mailing campaign. Easily Upload Your Mailing List Mailing Online allows you to easily upload your mailing list from several different file formats including Excel and MS Word. Verify Your Addresses against Official Post Office Records Mailing Online will automatically check you mailing list against official post office records. You will be told if any of your addresses do not match. Then you can decide whether to eliminate these addresses so that you don't waste money on invalid addresses. Choose from Several Mailing Formats You can also choose to mail a variety of other mailing pieces including brochures, letters, and self-mailer flyers. Mailing Online provides the templates you need to create these mailers. However, I suggest using this service primarily for postcards. I have not tried their flyers, I think brochures are pointless, and I imagine their letters are label-addressed which is puts your mailer in the junk pile as soon as is seen by your prospect. Saving Mailing Lists, Postcards, and Mailing Campaigns for Future Use You can save your lists and postcards to be easily reused for future campaigns without uploading them again. Schedule Mailing Campaigns to Go Out at a Future Date You can pick a date in the future for you mailer to go out. You could even set up an entire sequence to go out on autopilot. For example, you could schedule a postcard to go out right away, another one in 10 days, and another in a month. This allows you easily follow-up with your prospects. Your Postcard is Only as Good as the Marketing Message it Delivers Without getting into a discussion on copywriting, I want to make the following points about your postcard design: 1. Your postcard will only be as good as your marketing message. You have about two seconds to attract the reader's attention before your postcard ends up in the garbage. The best way to accomplish this is with a well-written headline. 2. Don't waste a lot of space on your logo or other fancy graphics. Don't waste a lot of space on your company's name or your contact info. Focus on telling the reader what you have that can benefit them. 3. Make sure you make it clear what you want the prospect to do next. Most likely this will be to call you or a message hotline. 4. Since postcard space is limited, just share the most important aspects of your marketing message. Tell the reader how they can get more info if they are interested by sending them to a web site or by asking them to call you to receive more information (i.e. the rest of your marketing message). This is called two-step marketing. About The Author Jason Van Orden "Discover how to attract more leads and maximize revenue with a minimum investment of your time and money."
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Tips On Writing a Successful Ad When knowledge is based on truth it is powerful!When it is critical knowledge, its presence can drive our success, while its absence may contribute to our failure. I will attempt to convey in this report some useful and practical knowledge about how to write awesome ads for the World Wide Web. Too Much Build-Up: Over-Zealous Ad Copy Can Break The Sale How many times has this happened to you?A friend recommends a film that just came out: "You've GOT to see this movie! It's SO (funny, scary, suspenseful, etc.). Media Savvy - How To Lead, Persuade And Influence The ability to lead, persuade and influence are integral skills for effective managers. The capability of telling a story that inspires, motivates and informs is an essential part of this process. Seven Ways to Kick Up the Power of Your Print Advertising - More Small Business Power Tools If you're a retailer and the only kind of advertising you do is built around sales events, you don't need much in the way of advice. All your advertising needs to do is spell out as clearly as possible what's on sale, the amount to be saved and your store's name, address and phone number. Media Savvy - Media Skills For Rural Women The ability to lead, persuade and influence are integral skills for effective leaders. The capability of telling a story that inspires, motivates and informs is an essential part of this process. What Does Your Business Card Say? Business cards are the most underutilized andmisunderstood marketing tool in business. Manypeople spend the bucks for cards and don't make aneffort to get them into the hands of those who canhire them or buy from them. How To Track Your Advertising Like A Hawk Tired of pouring endless money into advertising? Do you wonder which ads are "REALLY" working for the business you manage? Would you like a bullet-proof system for capturing the results from your advertising and marketing? Below are three concepts that will enable you to track your advertising and marketing like a hawk! Really, it's that simple!Developing a tracking system: As a business owner/executive/manager, you need an efficient way to record and evaluate the results from your advertising and marketing programs. To get started, you will need a "prospect card" which includes a list of ALL the places you advertise and market your company. Measure the Response of Your Advertising Campaigns by Using Promotional Products For most companies, gone are the days of spending money just for the pleasure of seeing their name on TV or the Internet.Most companies today are forced to insist on results. Understanding Internet Banner Advertising Banner advertising is an effective way of getting your advertising message seen on the Internet. Banner ads should not be your only online form of advertising, but they are an essential part of your online advertising mix. Double Your Sales Potential With Double-sided Business Cards Swapping business cards is one of the most basic and common forms of networking in the business world. With something that is so common practice, people often hand out cards blindly while not really thinking about what the card does AFTER you hand it out. How To Write Kick-Ass, Profit Pulling Adverts For Your Business? Doesn't that just grab you by the eyeballs and make you stop dead in your tracks? I mean it's a little harsh - grammatically speaking - but holy smokes, it does it have 'stopping power'.. Lamination of Signs I suspect that everyone has an idea of what lamination is even if you have only seen it in passing. Restaurant menus are a common example. 100 Excellent Words and 70 Action Getting Phrases for Ad Writing 100 Excellent Words Absolutely. Amazing. Sex in Advertising: Does it Sell? We're surrounded by advertisements that desperately compete for our attention. Everywhere we look, we find ourselves inevitably drawn to images of scantily clad attractive men and women that are supposed to somehow inspire us to purchase products they endorse. How To Tame The Buying Beast Inside Your Customer What if you can understand and control your customer's mind? What if you can influence, persuade and motivate your customers to buy from you? Well, I'm not talking about a magic trick or lay down a lesson of motivation. It's about understanding the different reactions made by the human mind in various situations. The Man With The Grasshopper Mind The title of this article also happens to be one of the "20 Greatest Headlines Ever Written."Did you know, just changing the headline has been known to dramatically improve the effectiveness of an ad or sales letter by up to 1700 percent? Yes, headlines are that powerful--and that important!However, over the last few years, I've noticed a proliferation of badly written--or just plain weak headlines--both online and off!Particularly disturbing is the copycat syndrome. Advertising Through Moms Moms have a very powerful influence on what their families eat, drink, wear, do, and buy. Moms are not only the driving force behind their families, but also the economy. Marketing Tips - Advertising Typical methods of advertising-newspapers, radio and television are effective if used properly, but there are other, less expensive ways to get your company's name out. Local or cable television is an inexpensive alternative to the traditional forms of advertising. Advertising - Does it Matter? When advertising, you need to sell your opportunity, your products and yourself. What sets you apart from everyone else? Maybe you produce a newsletter with a specific content where there is a demand from a particular group of people, or you promote your own special product that no one have not yet seen. How to Make a Fortune from Unique Resistance-free Advertising One of the most powerful offers you can use in your advertising is the word Free.But, you may well ask? how can I make a profit giving my products and services away without charging for them?Which is the exact reason why you need to understand the 'LVC Formula' which stands for the Lifetime Value of a Client!Here's how it works.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
