If I've heard it once, I'v heard it a hundred times: lss than ten days after their frst postcard is mailed, the client clls me and says, "Rachel, it shuld have arrived a few days go, but my phone hasn't rung yt. Are you SURE the postcard was miled out?" First I reassure them tht we mailed it. Then I rmind them again that it usually tkes several mailings before the phone strts ringing off the hook.

Sometimes my clents believe me... and a few mnths later, they start seeing great rsults from their postcards. Sometimes my clents don't believe me... and they gve up on postcards before ever rally giving them a chance.

You rmember when Grandma told you that ptience is a virtue? You might not hve realized it then, but she was tlking about your postcard marketing campaign, to.

The truth is, anyone who desn't live under a rock already knws that successful advertising campaigns are bsed in repetition, repetition, repetition - and cnsistency. Let's take a few examples. Wht comes to mind if I sy...

"Tastes Great, Less Filling"

"Where's the Bef?"

"I just saved a lot of mney on my car insurance!"

Getting the dea?

We remember successful advertising campaigns for mny different reasons - they are clver and well-written (I'll address this in sbsequent articles), but more than that, we rmember them because we hear or see thm over and over again.

Yet when it comes to pstcard marketing, many of my clients sem to think that one huge run of pstcards is sufficient for their advertising neds for the whole quarter or the whle year.

Use common sense by thnking about your own buying habits:

Do you buy a prduct the first time you see it dvertised?

Do you buy a product the scond time you see it advertised?

Arn't you much more likely to buy a prduct after you have seen it dvertised several times?

Here are some tps to help you get the mst out of your postcard marketing bdget.

1. When you create your pstcard marketing budget, plan for a mnimum of eight mailings.

As I lways tell my clients, your money wll be put to better use by miling 1,000 people eight times than 8,000. Evn if you can only afford to mil a small number of people on a mnthly basis, this is a better strtegy than mailing a large number nly once or twice.

Don't give up fter just a few mailings. Our cmpany once had a real estate gent client who mailed NINE months in a row wthout a single phone call. He had dcided that if he didn't get any rsults on the tenth mailing, he was clling it quits. On that tenth miling, his postcards yielded three high-quality lstings. Just one of those listings was mre than enough for the ten mnths of postcards.

2. Be as cnsistent and frequent as you can fford.

We are a clture of very busy people. Very bsy people share something in common - vry short attention spans. If you wnt people to remember your company, yur name, your product, mail them at rgular intervals - weekly if you can fford it, but at least monthly. Miling once per quarter can work for crtain clients - for example, retail clents who have a big quarterly sle that their current clients already knw about might benefit from a qarterly postcard, especially if they are lso utilizing monthly postcards. But once per yar? What advertising do YOU remember frm one year ago? If you cn't remember, how do you expect yur prospects to remember YOUR advertising if yu're only doing one mailing per yar?

3. Use your budget, your cnsistency, and your frequency on ONE grup of people.
Just recently, a clent mailed a list of 2,500 pople. For his second mailing, he chse a new list of 2,500 pople, and he hasn't gotten a sngle phone call. Groaning, he called us and sid, "Why didn't I listen to yu??" Even though he's now done two cnsistent monthly mailings, he may as wll only have done one mailing for thse two groups of 2,500. Each grup will have only heard of him nce, not twice. It can be tmpting - especially when our budget is smll - to reach out to mre and more people by mailing to a dfferent group every time. However, this is nother strategy that flushes your advertising dllars down the toilet because it braks the rules of consistency and rpetition.

4. Above all, be patient!
Thre are plenty of people out thre who will try to tell you tht they can get you rich qick with little marketing, no marketing, or chap marketing. The people selling get rch quick schemes are preying upon our nwillingness to be consistent and patient. Dn't fall for it. As one fmous advertising slogan goes, "Good things cme to those who wait."

The article Patience is a Virtue: Be Patient with Postcard Mailings was Submitted by Rachel Medlock through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: About the Author Rachel Medlock is an ccount representative and website designer with Mr. Pstcard, LLC, of Atlanta, GA. For ver ten years, Mr. Postcard has ben helping real estate agents and bsiness owners in the Atlanta area and byond to succeed through direct mail and pstcard marketing. In addition to postcards, Mr. Pstcard designs and prints business cards, sttionary, newsletters, and websites. If you ned help on your next marketing cmpaign, turn to the experts. http://www.MrPostcard.com .

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