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In this issue:
Marketing Article: Postcard Campaign Planning
Marketing Article: Top Ten Tips for Developing a Newsworthy PR Pitch

Holiday postcards are a great way to thank customers, bring in holiday sales, and remind customers of your products.

Through Nov 30th, order your holiday postcards with free text design tailored to your business or offer. See our website for more details: www.marketingsource.com/printing/holday.html

It seems that postcard marketing has become the hip thing to do. All kinds of businesses, large and small, are attracted by its low cost.

Does this mean that you should just go full bore and start firing those postcards out there?

No, it doesn't. You need to make a plan first, then take action. Ask yourself: Why are you doing this card mailing? Do you want to get new clients if you're providing services, or new customers if you're selling goods? Or do you want to stay in touch with people who already do business with you? To whom are you going to be mailing these cards? Which begs another question: Who's on your mailing list?

Now, you may be saying, "Martha, how can you ask such a thing? I don't even HAVE a mailing list!"

Okay, you don't have a proper list quite yet, but do you know anyone? I mean, do you have any friends, family, colleagues, former classmates, former coworkers, military buddies, or neighbors? I'll bet you do.

Now, all you need to do is get their names, addresses and other pertinent info into a database program like Act!, Excel or Goldmine. There. Now you have yourself a mailing list.

And, furthermore, you have the best kind of mailing list there is, because it's made up of people you know. They're going to be much more interested in what you have to offer than a list that's made up of a bunch of strangers.

Your list of people who know you may well do a lot of business with you. Or your list folks may send you business.

If you've never done a postcard mailing, you're probably wondering, "What should I budget for?" Here are some items to account for: If you're like me and prefer to design your own cards, then you'll need to get your digital files to the postcard printing company. If you have a high-speed Internet connection, you're in luck. You can just upload your files to the printer's website.

TIP: Dialup people, you'd be better off sending your files to the printer via an overnight courier. It's easy to experience dropped connections when you're on dialup, which means that your digital file can get corrupted, and the printer won't be able to print from it. Printing and delivery of the cards to your business or to your mailing house.

TIP: If you're on a tight budget, you can use your desktop printer to print your postcards. However, please be aware that this can be quite time-consuming, especially if you're doing hundreds of cards. That's why I prefer to outsource this job to a postcard printing company. Postage. This could mean that you're buying some stamps for your cards. Or you may be outsourcing the card mailing to a mailing house, which will charge you for bulk mail postage, and assess a handling fee. PERSISTENCE PAYS OFF

These three words reveal a lot of truth. Like other marketing efforts, postcard mailings must be done over and over again to have a positive effect on your bottom line.

I've heard a lot of people lament the fact that they just sent out a big postcard mailing, and, alas, no one called. Hey, it's happened to me. I've sent cards that I thought were so good that I was sure my phone would start ringing off the hook.

But... Silence.

That means that it's time for me to start making some other phones ring. Time to start smiling and dialing those hot prospects, clients, and anyone else who might send some business my way. The phone conversations tend to sound like this: Prospect A has been meaning to give me a call, and, hey, thanks for sending the postcard. Client B got the card earlier in the week, and she has a big project coming up within a month. Colleague C, who just put the card on the office refrigerator door, knows someone who needs me to help him with a project.

This is where building a mailing list from people you know can really pay off. When you follow up after a card mailing, you're not making cold calls to a bunch of strangers. And, let's face it, we're more likely to do business with someone we know. By developing your own list, you can stack the odds of success in your favor.

You can also increase your odds of postcard marketing success by visiting my new Passionate Postcarder store. There, you'll find my complete line of postcard marketing e-books, plus information on upcoming workshops and consulting services. Go to:

http://www.PassionatePostcarder.com

And since it's the Holiday Season, you no doubt have some "Thank You" notes to write. What better way to do that than on a postcard?

Visit my new Cafe Press store and buy a set of my postcards. (One design even includes the words "Thank You" on it.) They're guaranteed to be a hit with all who receive them! Go to:

http://www.cafeshops.com/postcarder

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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.