Direct marketing postcards are one of the oldest tools of the trade. Businesses online and off have been sending out brief postcards for years. The goal is to get the word out when they have a big sale or pick up a new product, as well as just to keep their name out there for branding purposes. With the popularity of online marketing today many businesses are turning away from direct mail marketing, but this is a big mistake.

Sending postcards through "snail mail" is just as effective today as it was years in the past. In fact, when done correctly, a direct marketing campaign using postcards can be more effective than an email marketing campaign.

Email campaigns are useful, but everyone has spam filters on their email account and many delete email messages before they even open them. With snail mail you at least have the moment that they draw the postcard out of the box and glance it over. If you can grab their attention in that moment you can get them to take action and go the next step.

That first glance out of the mailbox is equivalent to the subject line of an email marketing message. The difference is with direct marketing postcards you don't have just words to play on. All of these things play into how responsive someone is to a postcard:

• The images

• The fonts

• The message

One very clear, interesting image is all it takes to grab the attention of someone who has just drawn your postcard out of their mailbox. The image has to be relevant to whatever you are promoting with the postcard, but otherwise you are encouraged to use your creativity and come up with something that will really grab interest.

The message of the postcard and the font used can also grab the viewer in the moment they give it that glance-over. The font has to be very clear and easy to read and a bold color that pops off the background helps as well.

Avoid cluttering up the postcard so there is nowhere for the eye to focus. Pick one small message and create one great headline that will jump off the postcard at your viewer. Smaller font can be used for additional details, but be sure it doesn't clutter the main headline so it stands out clearly with a second's glance.

All of these things have to come together in order for direct mail postcards to bring the best results. Some common mistakes that can reduce the return rate on a postcard campaign include:

• Putting more than one product, service, or main idea on a single postcard.

• Cluttering the postcard with images so none of them stand out.

• Using very small fonts or type print that is very difficult to read.

• Using imagery or headlines not directly related to the business or promotion being advertised.

In conclusion, it is also important that you have a really great list of addresses to use for your direct marketing postcard campaign. If you aren't sending the postcards to people within your target market you aren't likely to get the response you really want. Make sure to find a list that includes people who may actually want to take advantage of your promotion.