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In this issue:
• Marketing Article: The Benefits of the Postcard Campaign
• Marketing Article: Publicity is Priceless!

The business or consumer mailing list you use when launching a marketing campaign with direct mail will determine your success. If your marketing strategy involves a direct marketing campaign, you need precision targeting and creative strategies to ensure maximum response rates. We provide accurate and up-to-date data, backed by our expertise and marketing services.

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Most of us think of postcards as something we send to our friends and relatives while we are away on vacation.  But this communication piece is now favored by many businesses as well.

Using postcards as a part of your overall marketing plan is the simplest and most cost effective method for communicating with new and current customers. They are the perfect tool for announcing a new store opening; offering special discounts or just enticing the reader to find out more about you or your business.

With the overload of information from both the post office, email and at our workplace, it is likely that we take the time only to skim the front of the envelopes or the email subject line in determining what gets our attention and what doesn’t. Many of us have spam filtering software on our computers to automatically delete anything that looks like junk mail.   Postcards achieve almost 100% readership. 

Because there is no envelope to open and hopefully an attention grabbing headline and graphic on the front, it will take less than a few seconds for the recipient to decide to continue reading or toss the card in the trash can.  Either way, you have been successful in registering your company with the reader, even for only a few seconds.

Postcards are inexpensive to design, print and mail when compared to other advertising methods.  Let’s say the overall cost of printing and mailing 10,000 cards is $3,200.  In this example, the cost of each postcard is $.32.  A 1% response rate to this campaign is 100 inquiries.  If you converted 40% of these inquiries into sales (40 new customers), at an average of $500 per sale, you received $20,000 in revenue from an advertising piece that cost only $3,200.  This equals nearly a 700% return on your original investment of $3,200! You would be hard pressed to achieve this type of results from other, more costly types of advertising.

Postcards allow you the advantage of getting your message in front of your targeted market more than once.  As human beings, we tend to remember things when we repeat them over and over again.  Because postcards are inexpensive, you can afford to mail them frequently, thus increasing the probable recognition of your company and products over time.  This is a very effective technique for building your business incrementally with each mailing.

Postcards have been around for a long time and now businesses are taking advantage of their simplicity. They are quite effective when used as a part of an overall marketing plan.

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Concept Marketing Group, Inc. is a full-service marketing consulting firm with over 29 years of experience in traditional marketing - including 13 years on the Internet. Concept Marketing Group Inc. assists in developing and implementing effective sales and marketing strategies for businesses through targeted, managed, strategic marketing campaigns. Visit our site, www.marketingsource.com, email us at concept@marketingsource.com or call 800-575-5369, for more information.

Associations and non-profit groups are a powerful resource for building and expanding networking and business opportunities, finding jobs, evaluating goods and services, and industry publications.

Our database puts you in direct contact with these organizations.

Publicity is Priceless!
by Concept Marketing Group Inc © 2006

How do newspapers, magazines, television and radio stations get their news? How can they possibly know about Silicon Valley’s latest product; the promotion of Bob Smith at the Acme Company; the results of experiments conducted at Rutgers; a new book published by an unknown author or the date of the local Rotary Club’s pancake breakfast?  Obviously, they don’t have reporters everywhere, all of the time.  They rely on individuals, companies or the government to send them a Press Release.

A published press release can be the most cost effective advertising you can use as a part of your marketing and selling strategy and budget.   Articles in newspapers and magazines, and stories mentioned on television and radio are FREE. Any sales and brand awareness you receive from a press release creates nearly 100% return on your investment.

You may think, “I can’t afford to write and distribute hundreds of press releases.”  “I don’t know a public relations or advertising firm.”  Most people think only large corporations, movie stars, government agencies and others with big budgets can afford to generate press releases for them.  But, if you are able to follow instructions; have the ability to write factual information concisely; are given the acceptable Press Release format; and have media contact resources, you too can produce and distribute effective, published, press releases.

It used to be that you had to first retain a public relations or advertising firm to write and distribute press releases.  Maybe you were lucky and could afford an internal public relations department.  Either way, you can see how getting your message out to the media was a costly and complicated proposition.  The internet changed all that.

The Internet revolutionized the way companies and individuals conduct business. Books became available on-line in the form of e-books or e-booklets; you can complete forms on-line instead of completing them with paper and pen. People started asking “Is there an easier, cheaper, faster way to do this?”

The market demanded changes.  Many internet web sites and marketing companies make their services available on-line including press release templates, formats, writing guidelines, contact lists and distribution packages.  You now have a choice whether you want to buy press release services from start to finish or you want to do all of it or some of it yourself.

Either way the Press Release is a powerful marketing tool.  It can now be used by just about everyone for getting their message out to the media.  If you want to create orders before you advertise (think Microsoft X-Box) or you want people to attend your lecture at the library, don’t be afraid to produce and distribute your very own Press Release.

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Concept Marketing Group, Inc. is a full-service marketing consulting firm with over 29 years of experience in traditional marketing - including 13 years on the Internet. Concept Marketing Group Inc. assists in developing and implementing effective sales and marketing strategies for businesses through targeted, managed, strategic marketing campaigns. Visit our site, www.marketingsource.com, email us at concept@marketingsource.com or call 800-575-5369, for more information.