Now, you may be asking, "What's all the excitement about Postcard Marketing?  Why use it instead of newspaper and other local forms of advertising?  Let's look at what companies who are benefiting from postcard marketing are saying:

• Postcard marketing is affordable, even for the smallest of businesses. In fact, standard sized postcards are 38% cheaper than using regular sized letters.

• Postcards are simple to create and send. With postcards there are no assembling, collating, stuffing, licking envelopes etc. The hardest part of sending a postcard is putting on the stamp. And there are services that will even do that for you.

• They keep your mailing list clean. One of the benefits of using first class postage for a regular size postcard is that it will be mailed back to the sender if it has a bad address, which helps you update your list.

• It's easy to track your results. Your card can tell recipients to bring the card into your store for a special discount. Or it can ask them to use a special ordering code when purchasing from your website.

• Postcards are versatile. In a single mailing, you can seek business from prospective customers, and solicit repeat business from existing customers. Better yet, a postcard isn't just something to send through the mail. You can use postcards as oversized business cards, hang tags for your products and mini information sheets.

• Postcards can have a high impact and don't waste people's time. Because letters are enclosed in an envelope the consumer gets a chance to decide whether to open the envelope or just throw it away. Many people will just throw the letter away without opening it. However, with postcards, there’s no envelope to hide the message. It’s almost impossible to throw the postcard away without looking at its message.

• Testing an offer with postcards is easy. Just send your card to a small group of people and see how many of them respond. If you're satisfied with the results, then roll out a bigger mailing!

• Postcards don't take up a lot of space. Your customers can carry them in their pockets, or carry them in their pocketbooks, for that matter. Hey, some of them might even create a postcard display on their refrigerator door!

• Postcards are inexpensive to print.

• Postcards are easy to redeem. If you're asking your customers to bring your postcard into your store for a special discount, all they have to do is show up with the card. Or you could include a special tracking code with each card mailing. Just ask recipients to enter that code into the order form on your website, or give it to the operator when they place a telephone order. The idea behind "Bring this card for a discount!" or "Use this code and get an additional 10% off on your order!" is to give people an incentive to do business with you.