Post cards for marketing

[Double H]

Has anyone used "picture postcards" to send out as part of your marketing campaign targetting repeat clients, potential new clients, general public, etc.? If so, how did it work? Would you do it again?

Thanks,

RM

[CobyPhoto]

Asolutely money well spent. My studio invests close to 10K annually in marketing materials of this kind. It pays for itself many times over.

CJ

[HotHolly]

What do you mean by picture post cards? Im assuming you mean a post card with a central image with a promo?

If so, yes, we do that. We use oversized post cards - full color front, B&W back with details. We've mailed them and have left them with stores that love our work. Direct response from post cards is slow - however, people hold onto them and come to you when they are ready. I had a mom come in with a newborn holding a postcard we put out in August.

The cards also keeps a buzz floating around about your studio. We put out a post card about every 2 months with some time sensitive promo and unique image. Great for buzz. Not so great to get people walking in the door immediately. If you want clients NOW you are better off hand selecting someone to offer a session to who will buy prints, frames, canvas, etc.

We also have images in with our wedding folders. Those are there for branding purposes - studio logo is prominent with our central wedding images. Figured a photographers wedding packet should include some photos. :o)

hee hee. I'm thinking about it and we do use post cards intertwined with several aspects of what we do. They are usually a component of a larger marketing plan.

[Outlaw]

We're looking at doing our first direct mailing, just to test the waters and see what kind of response we receive. VistaPrint recently began offering list acquisition, printing, and mailing of postcards, which have a very attractive price.

I have consistently heard that, in the portraiture industry, direct mailings are the most effective marketing choice for the dollars spent. I look forward to seeing what kind of response we receive!

[DoctorWu]

Maybe it was the design of the ad I used and the promotion but as a test I sent out 500 of these in August targeted to families with Juniors and Seniors in the local highschool and I got ZERO responses. Not even one. I was pretty suprised. It still baffles me so much that everyone now and then I pull one of the cards out of the drawer and look it over to make sure the phone number and email address is correct....

[HotHolly]

Originally Posted by DoctorWu

Maybe it was the design of the ad I used and the promotion but as a test I sent out 500 of these in August targeted to families with Juniors and Seniors in the local highschool and I got ZERO responses. Not even one. I was pretty suprised. It still baffles me so much that everyone now and then I pull one of the cards out of the drawer and look it over to make sure the phone number and email address is correct....

Wow. That is part of the reason direct mail kind of freaks me out. I have read, however, that you need to do multiple mailings. It takes at least 3x for someone to remember your studio - and I think Marathon Press said it takes 13x to generate a response. <-- Don't hold me to that, no coffee yet.

MP is all about repeat mailing. And they have some cool stuff too. Unless you keep mailing them, you may not get a response from the 1 card. People also hold onto stuff forever and it may turn up later - even if you had a deadline on it. They may keep your info, but they didn't act.

[Outlaw]

Can you post the design of your mailing, Cliff? Perhaps we could pick it apart and see what could be done different for next time. A good learning experience for all of us.

[DoctorWu]

Originally Posted by Outlaw

Can you post the design of your mailing, Cliff? Perhaps we could pick it apart and see what could be done different for next time. A good learning experience for all of us.

Sure, I'll put myself out there....pick away.....I know its a little hokey and salesy but I figured I'd get at least a couple of calls from it.....


Front of the card....




Back of the card....

[DoctorWu]

Hey, I know its cheesy, but it was a first attempt....feel free to be as brutal as you need to be

[dreemes]

I havn't got my business off the ground yet and don't know much about postcard mailing but I am going to take a shot at this and see how close I am when the real experts on here respond... To me the big 50% OFF thingy on the front yells out "I AM DESPERATE" and 50% or half price of what? I'm thinking saying 50% off degrades the value of your work.

[DoctorWu]

Actually the 50% off idea came from an experienced pro on TPF, granted, the implementation may have been poor...I'm no marketing wizard. I was looking for a way to make the card more eye catching and I thought that would help, I admit it looks kind of cheesey.

Oh and the text says "Half-Price Sessions", thats what the 50% applied to. If someone went to my website they'd see the normal session fee and do the math (that was my hope anyway) I have a feeling that expected too much from my target audience.

[Outlaw]

Your card does have the usual best practices for a direct mailing: an offer, simple design, a call to action (although the "Call today" is kind of small and on the back side), and a deadline.

The whole discount versus added value argument seems to be fairly moot, depending upon what kind of client you're after. Discounts, kind of like newspaper advertising, go best with lower-priced customers; clients who are looking for a deal, or something for cheap. Not necessarily high dollar customers, but they do purchase more frequently.

Added value, or charging standard prices but "adding in" a little somethin'-somethin' to sweeten the deal, is favored by higher-end, boutique studios. You don't discount your prices because you never want to damage the impression of the value of your work; but you can add in extras as a kicker, such as a free framed 8x10 with wall art purchase, etc.

So I can't say the 50% off / "hokey/salesy" offer is a bad thing. As in many things, it's quantity vs. quality. Nothing wrong with doing some volume work now and then. Whatever pays the bills, I say! At the PPA "Make More Money" conference this year, experienced speakers sang the praises of both practices. Some said "always have a deal," others said "never have a deal."

Now as to why this mailing didn't get any response, as I understand it, a three-percent response is average for a broadly-targeted mass mailing. So for 500 cards, you should have booked at least 15 shoots, going by the averages.

Tight targeting is key to increasing your response rate. While your piece may have reached 500 homes with juniors/seniors in them, there could be several reasons why you did not receive a response.

Perhaps your competition already has a strong hold on this market. It may take more than a postcard in the mail to sway them from their established photographer. And that's just addressing those families who are in the market for senior photography. The community you targeted may not have an appreciation or preexisting desire to have any senior photography at all, at least beyond what the school offers. In this case, a multi-part mailing and perhaps web site campaign might help educate your clients in the value of professional senior/family portraiture, and get them to let loose of some dollars. Check out Ellie Vayo's senior photography book for some examples of how to do this.

If you feel a lack of market appreciation for photography is your problem, you can also try some promotions that will create buzz; something that, when people see it, they can't help but take notice and start talking. Keep your ears open, see what kinds of products or services people are talking about in your circles (or even better, in your target market's circles), and use your creative juices to incorporate whatever is causing that buzz into your product or marketing.

Specific to your card, I would put some hard numbers on there. Such as, you state sessions are half price, but what's the normal price? How much is to be saved? I would give specifics, and then press harder to get people to visit your web site to see the "Lillybrook Difference" and why your services are worth the normal session fee, and at half price, are an absolute steal!

Beyond that, more tightly targeting your market will doubtless improve your returns. For example, work with local merchants who serve your target market to set up a drawing of some sort. Throw your name, address, phone number, and e-mail into a hat, and you may win a photo shoot with Lillybrook Photography worth $xxx! Keep collecting until you have a nice pot full of names, pick one winner, shoot them, display one of their best images at the same merchant, and add all of those names to your mailing list.

You will already know that this mailing list has targets who are interested in your work, who are in the market for senior/family photography, and are in your targeted demographic (based on the type of merchant you work with - high-end boutique children's clothing, alternative rock record store, home and garden goodies, etc.).

All of that said, I think your mailing is perfectly fine, but just didn't hit the right market at the right time. Personally, I would pick one awesome image for the front of the card and display it with your tagline (ours is "Uniquely Wonderful"), then use the back to tell your prospects what you have to say that is truly buzzworthy. Buzz, educate, call them to action, and hope for a better response than last time!

[Outlaw]

Also, if you don't mind sharing, who did you use for your mailing? Did you do them yourself? Where did you get your list from? What are some of the details of your mailing? Perhaps some more light might be shone through how your mailing was done.

[DoctorWu]

Originally Posted by Outlaw

Also, if you don't mind sharing, who did you use for your mailing? Did you do them yourself? Where did you get your list from? What are some of the details of your mailing? Perhaps some more light might be shone through how your mailing was done.

Don't mind at all. I did the mailing myself. The cards I got printed at vistaprint. The list came from the local school district. I requested a mailing list for the highschool and I de-duped the list for duplicate addresses and mailed mostly to families with juniors and seniors. I addressed the cards to "The <LASTNAME> Family" because I felt like addressing them to "The Parents of <FIRSTNAME>" seemed kind of creepy. Maybe thats what I should have done though.

Not really sure where I went wrong. I think maybe the timing was off. I understand the concept of multiple mailings and keeping your name in front of people but its not exactly cheap to send these things out. Even if I had gotten 1 or 2 bookings from it, maybe enough to break even on it, I might have thought about sending out another one.

Maybe I'll try again sometime. I'd love to see cards from other photogs that have been sucessful.

[Outlaw]

Hmm, sounds like you made all the right moves. It sounds like an outside factor killed your response; again, either a more ingrained competitor, or as you said, perhaps a timing issue.

I believe you should have gotten at least a few bookings off the mailing. Are your prices extremely high? I'm not sure what could have been so deterring that interested persons passed.

Were they my shoes, I would do another mailing in a month or so, this time with perhaps more striking imagery and a big lead-in headline. Kind of like a juicy newspaper story or magazine cover that draws your eye and demands at least a moment of attention. Use the front to grab, then the back to sell and call'em to the barn.

Sneak over to Marathon Press and take a peek at some of their marketing materials. Perhaps that might stir your creative side and give you some ideas for a knock'em out mailing. Even if you get no direct response, you want people to say "wow" and remember your name, one way or the other.