As the postcard marketing industry continues to evolve, more marketers turn to the medium as a way to drive business and increase revenues. But postcard marketing can be tough. It's a numbers game, and at every point in the process you stand to lose a percentage of your audience. To get the most from your postcard marketing, you need to minimize this "attrition" by optimizing your technique. Ever aspect of your postcard campaign -- the planning, the copywriting, the design and the offer -- should be polished and perfected to deliver the best possible ROI. One of the ways you can increase your response rates is by incorporating your website into your postcard marketing program. There's a right way and a wrong way to go about this. In this article, we will look at both.

It Takes More Than "Learn More"

Have you ever seen a direct mail piece that ended with a statement like "learn more at our website"? These so-called promotional pieces offer no reason why we should visit the website, or what we might learn more about. Sending someone to your website's home page simply to "learn more" is a wasted opportunity. This is the wrong way to incorporate your website into your postcard marketing. So let's talk about the right way to do it.
Pointing a postcard recipient to your website is a good thing. In fact, it can be one of the most effective techniques in postcard marketing, when it's done right. But you have to point people to a specific page and for a specific reason, and that reason has to be crystal clear on your postcard. It should also be laced with benefits, good solid reasons why people should visit that page.

As an example, consider the following scenario. Your company is in the market for an email marketing solution. You know you want to sign on with an email marketing provider who handles all of the logistics for you, but you're not sure which company to choose. Within the next week, you receive two direct mail postcards, each promoting an email marketing service for businesses like yours. (Sure it's a coincidence, but bear with me here.)
Both postcards mention similar email marketing programs with similar features, but here's where they differ: One of them simply points you toward the company's home page and tells you to "learn more" there. The other postcards gives you a special landing page where you can sign up for a guided tour of the system, take a free trial on your own, and also review a comparison chart that stacks their product up against leading competitors.

Which postcard would you be more likely to respond to? If you're like most people, you would respond to the second postcard mentioned above.
The first postcard tacks on the website as an afterthought, with little direction as to what you should do on the website. It's like saying, "Oh, we also have a website if you want to check that out." Boring! But the second postcard actually partners up with the website in a logical, cohesive way. The second postcard directs you to the kind of information you need to make a purchasing decision -- a free trial, a guided tour, and a features comparison chart.

It seems like an easy thing for a marketer to do, right? Yet you'd be surprised at how often postcard marketers fail to make a proper web connection.
To maximize your response rates in postcard marketing, incorporate your website in a well-planned, well-thought-out fashion. Start with the landing page and work backwards. Give people a good reason to visit the special area of your website, and make that motivator crystal clear on your direct mail postcard. Good luck with your postcard marketing!

* You may republish this article online if you retain the author's byline and the active hyperlinks below. Thank you. Copyright 2007, Brandon Cornett.

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Brandon Cornett is the publisher of PostcardSmart.com, one of the Internet's largest libraries of postcard marketing advice. For hundreds of additional tips on postcard marketing, visit http://www.postcardsmart.com