Make your next postcard a success

Make your next postcard a success

While email marketing may seem like the future of advertising, direct mail pieces can still be cost-effective, creative ways to earn potential customer attention. While email blasts can be a great way to find new customers and give those on your mailing list new information about special deals, services and promotions, sometimes direct mail marketing can be a more effective and creative way to connect with your consumers.

Next time you're looking to raise brand awareness or let customers know about an upcoming sale, consider sending out a postcard. This traditional direct mail technique may seem outdated and ineffective, but a well-designed piece can grab a recipient's attention and deliver your message to those likely to purchase your product.

The pros of postcards
Like all direct mail pieces, postcards allow you to enter a consumer's home and effectively reach an entire household. While your clients may receive dozens of emails a day, it's likely the amount of direct mail they find in their mailboxes has diminished. By reaching clients through direct mail, it's more likely your advertisement will be read and digested in a timely fashion – although email is a great way to reach some customers, blasts can get buried under other unread messages or deleted instantly.

Postcards are also a great tool because they allow your company to make itself known to clients without invading their space. Some consumers may find emails, door-to-door sales or telemarketing slightly more intrusive – a postcard is a casual way of letting households know your business offers great deals without overwhelming them.

Making a postcard campaign work for your business
There are countless ways to make your postcard stand out and operate as a business tool. Play around with design techniques to come up with the best layout, colors and copy to ensure your campaign is the best it can be. By adding QR codes to the piece, you can give recipients the opportunity to scan the codes with their smartphones and learn more about your business through your website.

To keep postcard campaigns from going awry, it's important to keep a few things in mind before you send out your masterpiece. Ensure you have a great mailing list – you may have a well-designed postcard with clever copy, but it won't help you if you aren't hitting your target market. It's also critical to reread your copy and have others look over it before mailing. The last thing you want to do is miscommunicate your message on your first big postcard campaign.

Mailing list news brought to you by www.infofree.com, home of unlimited sales leads, mailing lists, and email solutions.

infofree.com Unveils New “Sales Tips Center”

PRWeb – Tue, Oct 16, 2012

The Provider of Unlimited Sales Leads Gives Pointers on How to Grow Your Business

San Mateo, CA (PRWEB) October 16, 2012 infofree.com, the leading provider of unlimited sales leads, mailing lists, and business credit profiles for the low, flat price of only $49.95 per month, is excited to announce its new sales tips resource center, which includes sales tips, industry trends, and marketing-related articles.

The sales tips center comes after last month’s launch of the new infofree.com homepage, which customers are praising as being more user-friendly, allowing them to access unlimited sales leads and mailing lists in real-time. Once they have found their leads, customers can visit the infofree.com blog to find a wealth of information to help them make those sales.

All visitors to infofree.com can access the sales tips center, which features multiple daily articles focusing on industry trends, database marketing, and sales productivity tips. Topics include: Which types of email content yield the best open rates, how to benefit from direct mail marketing, and what consumers are the best to market to for your business. The blog also ties into the infofree.com social media platforms, which feature special product offers and more educational marketing resources.

“infofree.com not only provides the best-value leads in the industry, but now we are helping our customers become multi-channel marketers, taking advantage of email, direct mail, and telephone marketing best practices to grow their sales” says Rakesh Gupta, infofree.com President.

To try infofree, visit http://www.infofree.com or call 877-448-0101 for more information.

About infofree.com

For $49.95 per month, the service provides unlimited search and download of sales leads and mailing lists, as well as the unlimited view and print of business credit profiles and email lists of 12 million businesses, 200 million consumers and homeowners, and hundreds of other unique databases. Reach new homeowners, new movers, newlyweds, recently divorced consumers, and new businesses with real time downloading and unlimited search.

The infofree.com content is compatible with the following platforms: Oracle CRM, Salesforce CRM, Microsoft CRM, Nutshell CRM, Goldmine CRM, Sage ACT! CRM, Highrise CRM, Zoho CRM, NetSuite CRM, SAP CRM, Constant Contact, RightNow Technologies, Responsys, Vertical Response, and Dun & Bradstreet.

Paloma Nazar
Infofree.com
877-448-0101
Email Information

Design of the Week: Resort Lifestyle Communities

by josh.nelson posted in Design of the Week on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012 at 11:55 am

Why it’s the “Design of the Week”

• Headline – In most instances you want to get the whole point of the postcard covered in the headline. This postcard does just that as it succinctly states the purpose of the piece. The headline is further repeated on the backside to ensure the message is understood.

• Advertising Events – Using postcards is a great way to advertise for events. Having a physical advertising product helps serve as a reminder to prospects.

• Clean and simple – The card carries a simple elegance and by keeping it clean and simple it maintains an appealing look.

• Consistency – The message stays consistent on both the front and back of the postcard. This helps get the message across clearly.

Background
Resort Lifestyle Communities builds and manages independent living retirement communities with several locations across the country. Resort Lifestyle Communities’ mission is to provide a fulfilling living experience for their residents.

Josh Nelson: Cynthia thanks so much for taking the time to do this interview. I noticed you run a lot of event postcards, why is that?

Cynthia Dark: We want people to know that our residents lead an active lifestyle. Event postcards bring new people in to a community and keep prospects interested in what we have to offer. Due to the nature of our business, our prospects are generally people in an older age bracket.

Josh: How do postcards fit into your overall marketing plan?

Cynthia: Basically, it’s our main form of direct advertising. It’s critical that we are able to bring prospects in to see our communities so we can show them what resort-style retirement living is all about. We have sophisticated lists to help us target the right audience for these postcards. Sometimes we even purchase mailing lists to catch anyone we might have missed.

Josh: Excellent, so you use services like our targeted expresscopy.com mailing list to find more prospects?

Cynthia: Yes, like I said, we have a main database we draw from and that database factors in things like age and income however, we also find it valuable to purchase mailing lists. We usually do it by radius just to make sure we cover an area thoroughly.

Josh: What is it about your postcards that appeals to your audience?

Cynthia: I can’t say it is one particular thing but I think the fact that our communities offer a full social calendar is attractive to people. I try to make sure that the postcards are eye-catching and easy for people to read.

Josh: I think you are doing a great job with the postcard designs. That was one of the first things I noticed when I saw your card was that it was that it looked great and it was easy to digest the message. Do you mail to the same group consistently?

Cynthia: It depends. Each community has different responses and so based on the responses we get we may advertise more consistently or less. But generally, yes, we try and stay consistent.

Josh: Good. Consistency is one the biggest keys to successful postcard marketing. What kind of response rate do you get?

Cynthia: It varies for each community. I can tell you we did a recent postcard that advertised an event we held that was a workshop on dealing with Alzheimer’s that was extremely successful as far as response rate goes. It was a higher-end event so we actually charged for it, something we don’t normally do, but I think having that price tag on the event really signaled to people that it was something of value.

Josh: That is exciting to hear! We love when our customers get great results. What role does expresscopy.com play in your marketing success?

Cynthia: Well, expresscopy.com is my primary source for postcards. Your service is fast, easy, and reliable. I think the quality is quite good. Your customer service reps are conscientious of any possible accidents that might occur. I remember one time I had the date for an event labeled wrong on the card. They caught that error and called me before the cards were sent out! Little things like that make all the difference when you need to provide an accurate and attractive message. Expresscopy.com helps me achieve those goals.

Expresscopy.com to display at National Association of Realtors Trade Show

PRWeb – Thu, Oct 11, 2012

Expresscopy.com, leader in online design, print & mail postcards in 24 hours, debuts cutting edge technology to automate postcard mailing for real estate agents nationwide.

Portland, OR (PRWEB) October 11, 2012 Expresscopy.com, leader in online design, print & mail postcards in 24 hours, debuts cutting edge technology to automate postcard mailing for real estate agents nationwide.

“Today’s real estate agent is inundated with tasks throughout the day which is why we’re proud to be debuting a new automated postcard mailing service,” stated Joshua Carlsen, Director of Marketing with expresscopy.com. “Not only does this give the agents more time in their day but more importantly it’s a revenue driven tool that will help them grown their sales.”

Expresscopy.com’s new technology allows for a custom marketing campaign that can be set-up in minutes using a web-based interface. The feature has an automated drip scheduler that will maintain an agents campaign schedule throughout the year.

Special Offer – Save 20% off postcards on your first mailing when you enter promo code PR8964 at expresscopy.com.

About Expresscopy.com

Over 1 million clients served since 1992.

Located in Portland, Oregon, expresscopy.com is the leading provider in online design, print & mail postcards with 24-hour turnaround. Customers can upload their own design file or can customize one of the many free online design templates and expresscopy.com will print, address and mail out the professional postcards with their state-of-the-art production facility.

For more information, please visit expresscopy.com or contact Joshua Carlsen at 800.260.5887 or Joshua.carlsen (at) expresscopy (dot) com.

Joshua Carlsen
expresscopy.com
800.260.5887
Email Information

Creditjam.com to Offer Free Business Credit Reports On-The-Go with Free iPad and iPhone Applications

PRWeb – Mon, Oct 1, 2012

Free business credit reports to be available soon on iPhone and iPad through Creditjam.com

San Mateo, CA (PRWEB) October 01, 2012 Creditjam.com is a provider of free business credit reports on 14 million businesses. It is taking the credit reporting industry by storm by offering free, unlimited business credit reports.

Creditjam.com will soon launch its free application for iPhone and iPad allowing customers to search and create instant business credit reports on their mobile devices. It is offering the free application for both iPhone and iPad users that allows users to search businesses based on a category or location and create a favorite list for quick reference.

Founder Vin Gupta said, “No need to wait until you are at the office. Now you can access free business credit reports, whenever, wherever.”

Creditjam.com collaborated with the IT students of the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s College of Information Science and Technology Design to create the applications.

About Creditjam.com

Creditjam.com is a free service that provides unlimited access to over 14 million business credit profiles, no strings attached. With over 200 years combined experience, the company is revolutionizing the way businesses and sales people research a company’s credit profile.

To try Creditjam, visit http://www.creditjam.com or call 877-448-0101.

Paloma Nazar
Infofree.com
877-448-0101
Email Information

The importance of testing your marketing emails

The importance of testing your marketing emails

If you send an email without testing it first, you may be disappointed with the results. Your open rates could be low, the click-through numbers may be less than stellar and you may find that it was an unsuccessful campaign that didn't bring in much business.

You may think your latest email campaign looked great and featured exciting copy, but your clients may disagree. If your last blast didn't perform as well as you hoped, there were probably some improvements you could have made. Next time, test your email before sending out a blast to thousands of names on a mailing list.

Testing doesn't have to be difficult. Come up with some different email layouts, subject lines and headers and send them off to a few names on your email list. You can also test variables such as prices, message lengths and different wording. The email that performs the best during the testing is probably the piece you should send to the rest of your prospective customers.

Even though testing may seem time-consuming and unnecessary, it can really make a difference in how email marketing can impact your advertising strategies and increase sales.

Mailing list news brought to you by www.infofree.com, home of unlimited sales leads, mailing lists, and email solutions.

Design of the Week: Hi Res Media

 

by josh.nelson posted in Design of the Week on Tuesday, September 25th, 2012 at 4:34 pm

Why it’s the Design of the Week

• Photography – Hi Res Media specializes in high quality photography so it is no surprise that this is the first thing that jumps off the postcard. The pictures have great lighting and composition which are key aspects to making your pictures standout.

• Framing Graphics – Sometimes it can be effective to add a nice framing graphic to make a picture pop. Having the frame draws the eyes to the picture itself which is what they want for this particular piece.

• Background Color Scheme – The dark brown background used in this piece complements both the climate location of the house (Arizona) and the general color scheme of the card.

• Layout Flow – The piece starts with the main picture on the right hand side and works its way left and finally down to the just listed text in the bottom-left corner. This is a very natural way for people to read and take in information and it is used effectively here.

Background
Hi Res Media LLC. is a professional photography and video production company located in Tempe, Arizona. Hi Res Media. High Res Media has worked with thousands of satisfied clients; from individuals to corporations, and is dedicated to providing top quality media, excellent customer service and building long lasting business relationships with each and every one of our clients.

Josh Nelson: I noticed that all of your orders are jumbo postcards, why is that?
Anthony Benton: Most of our clients prefer it. It allows them to have larger pictures and add more info. It also stands out a little more against smaller sized mail.
Josh: How do postcards fit into your client’s marketing plans?
Anthony: We work with a lot of real estate agents and postcards are a great marketing tool for them to use. We take the pictures, create the cards, create a virtual tour, and then mail the postcards to the area surrounding if it is a just listed postcard.
Josh: So when you send out postcards to the surrounding areas do you use a mailing list that you created or expresscopy’s list?
Anthony: We usually use a list that we create. We have used expresscopy.com for mailing lists twice when we were short on time and it worked well.
Josh: What is it about your postcards that you think appeals to customers?
Anthony: Well I think it is a combination of two things. What we do well and what expresscopy.com does well. On our end we really strive for superior quality in our photos. Couple that with jumbo postcards and you have a piece that really stands out and makes an impression. For expresscopy.com, it is all about the quality of the postcards. They have a great thick and heavy feel to them which, I think, comes across as very professional to the customers. The lamination really makes our photos pop off the card.
Josh: How do you determine the design and layout of the postcards?
Anthony: We have an in-house guy who takes care of the design of our postcards. We also work with our clients if they want to make any tweaks to the mail pieces.
Josh: What role does expresscopy.com play in your marketing success?
Anthony: Expresscopy.com is huge for us. They probably account for 50-75% of what we do marketing-wise. It works great for us because our clients get strong results because of it. The whole process is not only easy but it also allows us to design, print, and mail all in one swoop.
Josh: Have you ever contacted our VIP Support reps for assistance?
Anthony: I’ve talked with them when we used an expresscopy.com mailing list. Scott Candey was great and extremely professional. I do want to say one thing and that is that I think It’s awesome that expresscopy.com calls us after we place orders to make sure everything went smoothly. It just shows they care about the customer.