Finally I found some time to go through my hard drive. I don’t advocate usually multitasking, but this is a great way to do something useful while listening to some of my own old teleclass recordings.

Some of them are from 1999 - yes, I recorded teleclasses way before it became fashionable :)

So, this excursion into my hard drive feels like cleaning some old fashioned attic where you discover many forgotten sentimental treasures. Among others I stumbled upon a whole bunch of transcripts of unpublished I-MasterMind chats.

My Monday chats were very popular ten years ago or so. I was inviting some of the most popular Internet marketers and they were not only appearing, but they very generously presented often quite awesome content.

Some of those chats I published later in my ebook I-MasterMind (when you sign up for my updated, you get it free as a welcome gift -on the right side you will find subscription form)

Anyway, here is one of those chat transcripts I discovered recently…

My guest was this time Bob Leduc, very knowledgable marketer specializing in postcard marketing…

Wanda Loskot: Can you expand on the basics? What exactly is marketing thru postcards…

Bob Leduc: Let me answer your question first — about the basics. I’ve been highly successful at using postcards to promote business, but I use them in a very specific way. I use them as the first step in a 2 step process. Postcards are used only to generate inquiries from interested prospects. There’s not enough space on a postcard to actually close sales.

Barb of GFX Printing: Do you recommend using tracking identifiers for prospects who may call?

Bob Leduc: Yes. It’s very important to use tracking identifiers to know what’s generating inquiries.

Barb of GFX Printing: Something I try to recommend as the No. 1 mistake I see people new to postcard marketing is sending to complete strangers (a very small amount) and no call to action… They fail, and we never hear from them again. What mistakes do you see when you receive postcards?

Some of the biggest mistakes I see on postcards I receive are:

#1 Too much text. Often making the print so small it’s difficult to read. #2 Trying to close sales on the postcard. There’s just not enough space to provide the information a prospect needs to make a buying decision. Postcards work best when used to generate inquiries Also, generating inquiries enables the marketer to collect contact information to follow up in the future with prospects that don’t buy on the first contact. Over 50% of the business I do is the result of following up.

Wanda Loskot: I’m sure not everyone knows what are track identifiers. Bob, could you clarify this?

Bob Leduc: By “tracking identifiers” we mean using some method of identifying what activity generated each response. That allows to see what advertising is working and what advertising is not working — and their relative effectiveness

Barb of GFX Printing: I should actually rephrase “no call to action” to the postcard has no meaning, except for me, me, me (the company, not the prospect since it looks like we don’t have much time left, please do tell us about your manual. Who would benefit from your manual, or a postcard marketing campaign? )

Bob Leduc: Barb, you’re right about the importance of using a strong call to action. Many postcards I see look like a display ad from a magazine that’s been printed on a postcard. It looks like institutional advertising to promote image instead of direct marketing to generate a sale.

Barb of GFX Printing: I agree … unless they can afford to brand (and most small businesses can’t), a postcard isn’t the time to talk about themselves

Bob Leduc: Yes. My manual is titled “How To Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple Postcards”. The information in it is based on what I learned about postcards as a result of using them for almost 30 years in my own business — and on a consulting business with in the past 5-6 years with just about every other type of business. It includes illustrations of actual postcards currently being used successfully. One of the five sections is about how to find the best mailing list for any offer.

Barb of GFX Printing: do you think an internal mailing is best for newcomers? Unless of course they are new and don’t have any customers yet. Drilling down an external/purchased mailing lists requires practice, or do you give examples on how to drill down a target marketing?

Bob Leduc: I’ve learned two things necessary to generate the maximum number of replies to a postcard. (1) Keep your message very brief and (2) set up your message in the style of a personal message instead of like a display ad.

Barb of GFX Printing: You you mean using words like “you” and “your” for personalization?

Wanda Loskot: Bob, is there a type of businesses that can benefit the most from using a postcard marketing campaign?

Bob Leduc: Practically any business that is not an emergency service can increase their bottom line with postcards — when they use the techniques I discovered over the years by using postcards in my own business. The only businesses I’ve found that have difficulty generating business with postcards are emergency services such as plumbers, for example. People don’t usually call a plumber until they have a spout of water cascading accross their bathroom. Then they call the first person they can think of or the’ll look in the yellow pages to find somebody.

Barb of GFX Printing: “what type of business were you in previously?

Bob Leduc: The business I owend was a distributorship for a major US financial services company. We sold life insurance, health insurance, mutual funds, etc. My 2 promary responsibilities during most of me years in that business were: (1) recruiting new independent sales reps. and (2) developing sales leads for those sales reps. That’s where I learned about the effectiveness (and low cost) of postcards.

Wanda Loskot: How important is color? Do you think using four-color postcards is critical to a mailing’s success?

Bob Leduc: Good question, Wanda. You professional printers may not like my answer to this one. But every test I ever conducted comparing the results of color postcards with graphics with simple a simple personalized message in black on white or pastel card stock resulted in a significantly higher response to the simple personalized version. The only exception has been a travel agency where a color picture of a destination is illustrated on the postcard.

Barb of GFX Printing: “Any thoughts as to why full-color didn’t pull in more than b&w? The only thing I can think of is that consumers might think “hey, this company spent so much money on this postcar, their product/service must be expensive, too…

Bob Leduc: One of the biggest advantages of the postcard format is that it’s delivered already opened. When it looks like a commercial message (like an ad in a magazine) it’s treated like a commercial message. When it looks like a personal message, it’s treated like a personal message. It’ gets the reader’s attention and he/she reads it. Some of the most effective postcards I used included nothing more than a 3 to 5 word benefit statement and how to get more information. Of course, selecting the mailing list is vital too. The best results are the result of the right benefit promoted to a mailing list of prospects likely to be interested in what you offer AND with a proven record of responding to similar offers in the past.

Bob Leduc: “If anyone wants more information about my manual you can get information directly from my site, BobLeduc.com