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In this issue:
Marketing Article: Calculating The Return On Your Postcard Marketing Investment
Marketing Article: Top Ten Tips for Developing a Newsworthy PR Pitch

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Speaking as someone who has been in the graphic arts for a long time, I have a real bias toward pretty postcards. After all, we designers just love to make things look nice.

Then there are people like Postcard Marketing Secrets purchaser Derek Scruggs, owner of the Escalan marketing consultancy in Boulder, Colorado, USA. He recently sent a rather homely looking postcard that said: Isn't this the World's Ugliest Postcard? So why are you reading it?

Here's why: because it got your attention. Somtimes marketing is about winning ugly, not being the beauty queen. Are you winning in your marketing? Find out by starting here:

Free 5-Point Web Site Checkup! Get yours at http://www.escalan.com/ Or call Derek Scruggs at 303-543-1186

Now, here's Derek, reporting on his postcard marketing results:

"About six months ago I bought the e-book Postcard Marketing Secrets by Martha 'The Passionate Postcarder' Retallick. Loved it! After a false start, eventually I got around to it and now am sending postcards on a regular basis. My house list is pretty small at the moment, so I wasn't expecting much in the way of response...

"...and I was right. My door is still standing. It wasn't kicked down by mobs of prospects. BUT...

"...I did get one good response... [T]he Postcard did its job: it inspired someone to contact me to learn more about Escalan.

"Interestingly, this person has been a subscriber to eViews [my e-zine] for several months (you know who you are :), but it was only after receiving the postcard that she called me.

"WHICH IS NOT TO SAY that email doesn't work and postcards do. It merely illustrates the importance of multi-channel marketing. You never know what is going to scratch someone's itch, so you must always test new ideas and media." Next, we're going to have Derek do the math on that mailing:

Postcard Quantity - approx 150 Printing Cost - approx $30, photocopied at Kinko's Mailing Cost - .23 x 150 = $34.50 Total Cost - 64.50 Cost per Postcard - 0.43 Response Rate - 0.67% Number of Responses - just 1 Number of Sales Closed - 1 Closing Rate - 0.67% Average Sale - $6,000 Total Revenue - $6,000 Revenue Return Rate ($N returned per $1 spent) - $93 The percentage rate of return is 9,302%.

And for a one-time mailing of an Ugly Postcard, that's pretty impressive. But Derek, being the persistent guy that he is, says, "I think the real ROI metric will be evident in 6-12 months. That way I can divide total cost into total revenues." Tools You Can Use

While we're on the subject of doing the math, here's a great new tool for you to use: the Postcard Marketing Return on Investment Calculator! Give it a try at:

http://www.PassionatePostcarder.com/marketing.html

You can plug in numbers from a recently concluded postcard marketing campaigns, or for one you're planning, and the ROI Calculator does the math for you!

Happy number-crunching!

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Martha Retallick, "The Passionate Postcarder," hails from Tucson, Arizona, USA. She is the author of Postcard Marketing Secrets, a downloadable PDF manual will show you how to put postcards to work for your business—profitably. Learn more about it at: http://www.PostcardMarketingSecrets.com

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“Public sentiment is everything. With it nothing can fail. Without it nothing can succeed.”
— Abraham Lincoln

These days, the media plays a much larger role in our lives than it did in Abraham Lincoln’s time. The need to gain public sentiment, however, has not changed, causing public relations to be more important today than ever. Continued growth of the Internet also has increased the influence of public relations.

LOW COST, HIGH CREDIBILITY
It used to be that advertising was king, but not anymore. The rise of branding has shifted the priority of the elements that constitute an integrated branding campaign, which also now includes websites, public relations, marketing and other strategies, according to an article in IABC’s September 2004 CW Bulletin.

The article states,“Public relations (PR) has been a key beneficiary of this new order. When once PR was defined as “publicity”, and was nearly an afterthought in the marketing line-up, today PR can be a driver in a campaign. The two key reasons for this are: the relatively low cost of public relations and the credibility it delivers as compared to paid advertising or other types of marketing.”

TIPS TO HARNESS THE POWER OF PR
To break through the media clutter and harness the power of PR, keep the following ten tips in mind:

1. News is not advertising and promotion and what is important for your business or organization may or may not be important or of interest to the media. News value and relevance drive coverage; meaning that the media decide what is newsworthy by evaluating your story idea against news criteria.

2. Target the growing number of Internet and mainstream print and broadcast media outlets that reach your intended audience and/or market. Use media directories to create a customized media list.

3. Once you have identified the right media channel, identify the person you need to contact. With a daily newspaper it is most likely a reporter covering a specific beat such as business or health care or an editor who would assign the story to a reporter. If it is a weekly newspaper or a monthly magazine, contact the editor. If it is a TV station, contact a specific beat reporter and/or the assignment desk. If it is a radio station, you should contact either the News Director or the producer of a specific talk show.

4. Remember that today’s journalists, producers and editors prefer to receive news via e-mail and to instantly access company or organization web sites to secure the facts. Put your media materials and/or media kit, news releases, etc. in a special, but easy-to-find section on the site and keep it updated.

5. Consider news criteria. Having one or more of these news criteria will help sell the story idea:
* Timeliness - did it happen recently? Is it connected with a current trend that has been getting a lot of attention recently?
* Proximity - is it in the geographical area targeted by the media organization?
* Impact - will it affect a lot of people? Does it have consequences for the audience?
* Prominence – is someone famous involved? Is it important to the audience?
* Conflict – does it involve conflict, which captivates the attention of the audience?
* Novelty - is it unusual?

6. Determine specific PR goals to produce the best results. For example, are your PR goals to:
* Introduce your target audience to a new product or services?
* Increase your visibility to increase sales, members, and/or charitable contributions?
* Persuade people to buy your product or service rather than a competitor’s?
* Enhance the reputation of your company or organization to get more customers, members, etc.?
* Counteract misconceptions about your organization, industry or product?
* Attract shareholders and support your stock price?
* Get people to vote for legislation that will help your organization?

7. Develop your ‘news angle’ or ‘news hook’ to pique the media’s attention and increase the chances for media coverage. Ask yourself, who cares beyond your organization or company? Why is the story significant? How many people does it affect? Timeliness and proximity are important for “hard” news stories and novelty and impact are important for feature stories. Here are possible news angles:
* A new product or service that fills an unmet need in the marketplace
* Information that will make people’s lives easier
* Surprising results of a survey
* A new product
* An old product with a new name or package
* Product/service that ties into an economic trend
* Original discoveries and innovations
* New branch offices, headquarters or facilities
* Major contracts awarded
* Joint ventures
* Management reorganization
* Major achievements (sales, quarterly earnings, etc.)
* Unusual people or products
* Case histories of successful applications
* Tips, hints, “how-to” advice
* Change of company name or slogan
* Opening of a new business

8. Avoid hyperbole - Editors and reporters can tell whether your company, product or issue is newsworthy. They don’t need inflated prose or statements to persuade them.

9. Manage the message – Remember that you can’t control the media, but you can manage your message and help to shape media coverage and public perception of your business or organization.

10. And last, but not least, remember what one of my favorite journalism professors used to say: “When dog bites man, that’s not news. But, when man bites dog, that’s news!”

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Barbara K. Mednick of BKM Consulting (www.bkmconsulting.com)is an independent PR/Communications Consultant from St. Paul, Minn. and can be reached at bmednick@yahoo.com.