My guest blogger Marcia Yudkin shares a simple way to turn the old, reliable postcard into a customer loyalty-building campaign. Of course, once you realize how powerful this little card can be, contact me for help in creating your campaign.

Postcard Marketing Model #4: Bond With Customers
by Marcia Yudkin
Imagine the difference between a company whose customers have so-so feelings about it and one whose customers wouldn’t dream of buying from anyone else. That’s a tremendous gap that can be narrowed with just a little expense and effort, using an inexpensive, often overlooked tool – the postcard.

By sending simple yet strategically chosen postcards to people who have already bought from you, you can turn an iffy, indifferent buyer into a sticky, delighted one.

Here are five ways to use postcards to create a bond with customers and thereby encourage them to become strongly loyal, to refer friends and colleagues to you and to send interesting opportunities your way because they care about your success.

1. Thanks. Set up an ongoing thank-you postcard campaign that sends a card to each new customer the week or month after they first bought something from you. If it’s feasible to have a handwritten signature, that’s best. You may choose to include a limited-time special offer, such as 20% off their next purchase or a free gift if they stop in the shop again before a certain date, but even if you don’t do that, a warmly worded thank-you card makes a significant impact.

2. News. Remember when it was common for financial services companies and other professionals to send a monthly or quarterly newsletter to clients? This stay-in-touch technique reinforces your expertise and helps the customer remember you when they need your services again. Printing one newsletter item on a postcard rather than sending a four-page, folded-twice newsletter is much more cost-effective and much handier for the customer to save by the phone or post it on a bulletin board or refrigerator. Make sure there’s a human element in the postcard content, with the word “you” liberally sprinkled around it.

3. Come-back offers. Don’t let your buyers feel faceless and interchangeable. Send periodic postcards with an appealing discount or bonus and a friendly message. I doubt very much your competitors are doing this. I travel a lot, and only once in my life have I received a “come back and see us” postcard from a hotel or inn where I stayed. In fact, I still remember who sent it, even though it was years ago: The Jailhouse Inn in Newport, Rhode Island. Design the postcard so it tells an inviting story about a customer who’s bought from you again and again or an anecdote about someone on your team who went above and beyond for a customer.

4. Birthdays or anniversaries. Do you have or could you get your customers’ birthdays? Some businesses wow their clients and create a closer bond with them by sending a postcard for a free haircut, massage, house plant or dessert in honor of their birthday. You could do the same for a milestone that was specific to the recipient, such as their child’s first summer or winter, or halfway through their fiscal year.

5. “Wish you were here” cards. Don’t you like it when friends and family members send you funny or gorgeous postcards when they’re on vacation? Think up convincing and appealing reasons for you to send postcards to new clients when you travel. For example, if you’re attending a conference or trade show in New Orleans, you could show a photo of the French Quarter with a chatty message about how you’re collecting ideas and inspiration at the XYZ national show that you’ll be sharing with anyone who sets up an appointment for June. This way, you come across as active, interesting, thoughtful and constantly reaching out to customers.

Which of these ideas are you excited to implement?

Get started on your next postcard campaign today!

Veteran postcard marketer, consultant and author Marcia Yudkin teaches the strategic, logistical, design and copywriting secrets of successful postcard marketing.  Discover the top ten ways – some of them simple and inexpensive – to generate results using postcards in her report at: http://tinyurl.com/n2cpgl.

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Take a look at this B2B web site. Awful, isn’t it?

It’s a typical homegrown web site done by an in-house team of inexperienced digital marketers who probably had the best of intentions and a next-to-nothing budget.

Unfortunately, there’s no SEO strategy, the design is flat, and the content is not only lacking, it’s wholly and completely internally focused with “we” this and “we” that at every turn.

The truth is, this web site would be a lot more interesting – and a lot more effective – even without a lot of money if it had been approached more as a consumer site, than a B2B site.

Studies show that B2B web sites lag light years behind B2C sites and that visitors to poorly executed B2B web sites have less trust of those companies and their offerings.

So here’s the secret truth for B2Bs …

Businesses are made up of people who are consumers … so treat them like consumers. And, just like B2C web sites, create a web site that’s less about you and more about your customer.

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Today I’ll conclude my series on relevant content (though I’ll continue to address it as a general topic here). Let’s look at our final characteristic: Engaging.

First, let me say that there is no formula for creating engaging copy. That’s because what I find engaging, you might find silly or what you find engaging I might find distasteful.  I’ve said this dozens of times before and I’ll say it again … you gotta know your audience. And that means knowing who they are, what they like, how they talk and what inspires them. Only then can you create copy that’s engaging.

Of course, if you don’t know enough (or anything!) about your audience, ask! Talk to your customers, conduct focus groups, do surveys, meet with them face-to-face, monitor what they’re saying online and more. Do anything you can to confirm your audience assumptions. Remember, the more you know about your audience, the more you can speak directly to what is important to them. It’s job #1 to know your audience.

Now, let’s get back to engaging copy.

Engaging, says Merriam-Webster, means: “tending to draw favorable attention or interest.”

What draws attention and interest (in addition to other relevant content such as video, audio or graphics) is, of course, word choice.

Take, for example, Chipotle. They do a great job of engaging their customers through the use of quirky, not-so-usual words and phrases. On the other hand, PetSmart’s product-focused site contains very little verbiage, making it more engaging for someone who knows what they want and is ready to buy.

Engaging content — and therefore relevant content – is whatever draws your reader in and compels them to action. That action can be contacting you, bookmarking your site, buying something, signing up for a newsletter, etc.

So, how engaging is your copy? Does it draw favorable attention or interest? Take my 4-point quiz to find out.

1. When it comes to your audience, you:

A.  Never give them a thought
B.  Think of them only in a vague and general sense
C.  Take them into account when creating web copy but not as much as you could
D.  Use copy to talk with them like an old friend

2. When it comes to word choice, you:

A.  Love to show off and use big, expository language
B.  Prefer the “tried-and-true” language found in your marketing materials
C.  Try to include some words and phrases your audience will find familiar
D.  Pick words that are fresh, descriptive and easily recognizable

3. First-time visitors to your site would say your web site copy is:

A.  Fine or adequate
B.  Nice or pretty good
C.  Good or better than average
D.  So good they don’t see “copy” … they see a solution to their problem

4.  Your copy makes your site visitors:

A. Want to click away
B.  Experience a little frustration and confusion
C.  Get comfortable
D.  Feel inspired and connected

Score: A=1, B=2, C=3

If you scored 4-7, give yourself credit for brutal honesty; but realize you’re also missing the mark on leveraging the power of the web for your business or brand. It’s time to invest in a total copy makeover.

If you scored 8-10, you’re right where most people are, which means you have a tremendous opportunity to differentiate yourself from the pack. Breathe new life into your copy with a rewrite.
 
If you scored 11-12, you’ve got great copy. Give yourself an “attaboy” or “attagirl,” and then make a plan for your next copy move, including adding to and refreshing your copy.

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We’re more than halfway through our discussion of what makes content relevant. If you’ve been following all along, congratulations to sticking with this series and making the commitment to really learning about relevant content. If you’re just joining us, read this first.

Today, let’s talk about our third characteristic of relevant content: useable.

I believe (as so many have said for so many years), that people go online to complete a task; it could be getting information, finding entertainment, making a purchase or interacting with others. Relevant content, then, should support the task completion — whatever the task.

So I created the Get Great Copy “Yes We Can Make It Useable” checklist. If you can answer yes to most of these questions, then you’re well on your way to providing relevant content to your site visitors.

Get Great Copy “Yes We Can Make It Useable” Checklist

____ Does the copy help put them in charge?

____ Does it make it easy for them to find information
            and scan for answers?

____ Is the copy simple and to the point?

____ Will they be wowed instead of bored?

____ Does it tell them something important?

____ Does it tell them something they didn’t know,
            need to know or want to know?

____ Does it provide decision support?

____ Does it help them understand your value to them?

____ Does it help make them want to come back?

____ Does it help make them want to tell others?

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