News
 5
Ways to Use Postcards to Drive Website Traffic
By Brandon Cornett
Direct mail marketing is often part of a bigger
picture and longer sales cycle. In such cases, your
direct mail postcard or letter serves a ‘learn more”
function. This is where direct mail and websites
become perfect marketing partners.
Postcards make excellent website promoters. With
their easy readability and “at-a-glance” impact,
direct mail postcards can help you entice people to
your website. Here are five ways postcards can drive
qualified traffic to your site.
1. Free reports and white papers.
Create a valuable report and make it available for
download via your website. Feature the report (with
graphics, excerpts, and other teasers) on a
postcard. Make sure you have a web-based
lead-capturing system in place to collect the name
and email address of each respondent.
2. Seminars.
Seminars are a great business-building tool for
certain industries. Real estate, financial services,
investing, technology – each of these sectors can
use seminars to increase their exposure and gain
clients. Direct mail makes it easy to promote your
seminars. Put the primary benefit of your seminar in
the headline, and offer multiple incentives for
attending. Offer a web-based form to simplify the
sign-up process.
3. Free trial.
If you’re selling software, e-books, or anything
else digital, you can offer a free trial or sample
download through your website. Then use the direct
mail piece to build interest and point readers in
the right direction.
4. Newsletter subscription.
Want to increase the size of your subscriber base?
Send a postcard that conveys the value of the
newsletter, along with a strong bonus incentive for
signing up. Create a landing page with a short URL /
web address so it's easy for people to type.
5. RSS Feeds.
RSS feeds are becoming a popular web-marketing tool,
and for good reason. They’re easy to produce, and
they give you another way to stay connected with
your audience. So why not send a postcard to your
customers showing the value of your RSS feed (and
how and where to sign up for it).
Leveraging your website can reinforce your direct
mail, which in turn can lead to higher response
rates. So think about your own website, audience,
and product or service. How can you bring them
together to accomplish your goals?
--- Brandon Cornett is the editor of
PostcardSmart.com, a website dedicated entirely to
direct mail marketing with postcards.
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