The latest craze these days is to send a postcard advertisement to everyone on a mailing list. It is both good and annoying to customers. Junk mail, as many call it, does not always get read, but if you put a twist on what is on your postcard, then you are likely to be noticed. A postcard will not yield much business, but in reality it only takes one good contract to pay for the whole mailing. So how do you use postcards effectively? First, you should take time to make up a target list of potential clients. Never bother sending postcards to people or businesses that will never have any use for what you do; that would be wasting your money. Once you have selected your target (and it will take a considerable amount of time to fine tune your target audience) you will need to create the message. What is it that you are trying to accomplish with your postcard mailing?
Some businesses want to sell their products or services through the mailing. This is OK but often turns out to be just a one shot deal that gets tossed. You will likely want to set up a series of postcards at specified intervals to make sure that your message is getting across to the potential user of your product or service. The first postcard should make a strategic announcement as we talked about earlier, and the second and subsequent ones should also make other announcements, etc.
Remember that by sending out postcards, you are looking to gain some brand recognition. If a business needs your service in the future, and you are doing regular postcard or other mailings, they will likely want to give you a call. This percentage will be low but at least you will have the branding you re looking for.
Bette Daoust, Ph.D. has been networking with others since leaving high school years ago. Realizing that no one really cared about what she did in life unless she had someone to tell and excite. She decided to find the best ways to get people's attention, be creative in how she presented herself and products, getting people to know who she was, and being visible all the time. Her friends and colleagues have often dubbed her the "Networking Queen". Blueprint for Networking Success: 150 ways to promote yourself is the first in this series. Blueprint for Branding Yourself: Another 150 ways to promote yourself is planned for release in 2005. For more information visit http://www.BlueprintBooks.com
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