As a small business owner, you are probably always on the lookout for the most effective way to promote your company, to draw new customers, and to encourage current customers to do business with you again. One excellent way to encourage prospects and customers to use your services or purchase your products rather than your competitors’ is with coupons. Send these coupons directly to consumers, and your chances for a high ROI are even greater.

Of course, you can use emails or social media to send coupon codes to customers or prospects, but often consumers are so inundated by online marketing efforts these days that they tend to ignore even a killer coupon offer. Stand out from your competition by sending coupons with printed postcards along with emails or social media posts. Just be sure to make the most of your postcard coupons with the following helpful tips.

Postcard Design Considerations

Using postcards as direct mail coupons is quite simple, far simpler than most people originally think before giving it a chance. But you have to get it right. Some of the basics to include:

  • Logo—make sure the design, front and back, includes your logo.
  • Basic contact information—a website, address, and phone are all you really need.
  • Die cut—make the coupon area easy to tear off so the customer doesn’t have to carry around a full-sized postcard.
  • Time sensitive—make the coupon time sensitive to create pressure for the consumer to respond.
  • Both sides—the design should broadcast the coupon on both sides so the customer sees the point regardless of how they are first exposed to the postcard.
  • Full color—don’t try to save a few bucks with black and white or single color designs that don’t get attention.
  • Online code—if at all possible, use a code that can be redeemed online as well to give customers the option of either shopping online or in your store.

Direct Mail Coupon Tips

The coupons you are offering will vary depending upon what types of products or services that you have to offer to consumers. You can choose to offer a discount on your most popular product or service to both encourage a purchase and also to get consumers interested in more items that you offer. You may also want to make sure your coupon is for an item popular for the season. You could also simply offer a coupon for, say, 20 percent off of any purchase over $20.

Focused Target Market

Keep the list of people receiving the postcards as focused as possible. There’s no need to try to hit too broad of a customer base. Geography is usually a big consideration if you are a local business serving a local community. But if you have a national customer base, your target audience should be tightly focused on your ideal customers. This will influence your design as you will want to connect a specific message to these customers.

Benefits of Using Postcards with Coupons

The number one benefit is that postcards are actually quite affordable. Along with affordability, they are versatile and allow you to target specific people based on demographics. Most importantly, when postcards come with coupons, people often feel more inclined to give something a try because they are able to get products or services at a discounted rate. Make it easy for your customers to take advantage of the coupons by creating a tear-away design. Keep the message simple and focused on your target audience. With these basics in place, you can leverage this affordable marketing channel and drive customers to your place of business or website—and multiply the power of postcards with coupons.

AvatarTara Hornor

Tara Hornor has found her passion writing on topics of branding, web and graphic design, photography, marketing, and advertising. She is Senior Editor for CreativeContentExperts.com, and a former writer for PrintPlace.com.