Are postcards better for building awareness or for selling?

In my opinion, the answer to the above question is, "They can do both jobs. It depends on what type of business you're in."

My own perspective is that of the Web and graphic designer who must
distinguish herself from the hordes of other designers out there. I do this
by keeping my name in front of my clients and prospects with postcards.

Over the years, this approach has brought me quite a bit of repeat business from my longtime clientele, and new business from the prospects on my list.

Since many businesses do nothing to stay in touch with their market, and
spend their precious time and resources chasing after new customers, I
think that the awareness approach has merit. After all, it costs six times
less to sell to an existing customer than it does to sell to a new
customer. This has been proven through numerous studies.

Now, let's move on to the selling approach. Let's say you're new in town,
and, by golly, you need some clients pronto-pronto. Which means that you're not going to send out postcards to build awareness.

Rather, you're going to send something that gets new clients ringing your
phone and setting up appointments where you sell your design services.

In short, different strokes for different folks. And postcards are
versatile enough to serve 'em all.


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©2004, Martha Retallick