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We rotate them constantly. Humor is best. People will look forward to your next one if the last one gave 'em a chuckle.
Feature some new service or feature. (Or create one.) Shine the spotlight on an old reliable capability from a new angle. If you can't think of fresh ideas, start bringing your resume up to date and go get an honest job in CorporateWorld. YOUR BUSINESS IS MAKING UP FRESH IDEAS!
Look at the stuff that tickles you. Find a derivative fresh idea all your own. People are bored by the usual pompous "digitalstateoftheartcomputerizednonlinearmultimedia" babble. Everybody's Digital. Everybody's State-of-the-Art. (For another week, anyway.) Everybody's got a Big Fast Computer. But nobody's got a YOU!
No matter what is said or done, no matter what "boxes" anybody owns, the only real product is your skill and creativity----and to a slightly lesser extent, your special knowledge and interests and style. Highlight those in your postcards. Take risks. Not crazy risks, but push the edge a little. We all remember such people. They're fun.
"Papers Direct" is a company that supplies a wide range of artsy pre-decorated paper stock for laser printers for letterhead (which we don't use), for business card stock (which we do use), and postcards---to name but a few.
Get their catalog 1-800-A-PAPERS (800-272-7377). This will stimulate your "creative juice" production. It may sound silly, but you'll be amazed at the bang you get for the buck. Nobody needs a print shop anymore except for very special items.
Buy a good laser printer. Color printers are still kinda slow; but plain old black ink on the colorful paper stocks will have a lot of impact. We've had a Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4L for a couple of years now. It's always worked perfectly without incident. Don't scrimp on this. A crummy printer is its own punishment. Like Nike, a good one will, "Just do it."
Postcards work.
Object Mailings and Promotions
A closely related mail-based promotional is an "object mailing". An object mailing is a thing. A keeper. A calendar. A credit-card sized calculator with your logo on it. Baseball caps, coffee mugs---the list is endless. Obviously, this can get expensive if you send everybody Cross pens. So we make them highly selective. And we apply far more creativity than just sending calendars or some other crappy stupid little ugly trinket.
Recently, we sent out maybe 300 child's alphabet blocks---one to a name---in a small cardboard box. Each recipient was a writer or a "prime creative" type. There was no packing material. It rattled wonderfully, delightfully. Each one was painstakingly selected
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