Today, I want to talk about MLM Postcards and share my postcard marketing tips for network marketers.
If you’re looking for a new way to generate leads and grow your MLM business, you should really learn more about postcard marketing. This is the process of sending cheap, ugly postcards to qualified prospects. It’s a really simple and effective concept that is often overlooked by most network marketers.
In the paragraphs below, I want to answer the most common questions about postcard marketing for network marketers, so you can be informed and know what you need to do to succeed. Let’s get started.
Why Use Postcards to Grow Your MLM Business?
The major benefit of using postcards to promote and grow your MLM Business is that they are simple and easy to do. Anyone can lick a stamp and mail a postcard. Even grandma can do it!
Most people look forward to getting their mail every day. Think about yourself for a moment. What’s the first thing you do when you get home from work? Chances are you check the mail.
In addition, many people who receive your postcard in the mail will keep it for several months. Postcards have a long shelf life. I have people call me from time to time who received a postcard from me several years ago.
Compare this to email for a minute. How many emails do you get a day? 100? 200? And what do you do with most of these emails? Delete them without reading them? Send them to your spam folder or unsubscribe?
What about phone calls? How many phone calls do you get a day from those auto-dialers? How many unsolicited phone calls do you get every day? Two? Five? Ten? I know I get called about 10-20 times per day from people trying to sell me something or recruit me into something.
On the other hand, how many postcards do you get each day? If you got a postcard in the mail tomorrow, wouldn’t you at least read it? If you liked it, wouldn’t you check out the website or call the sizzle line? Wouldn’t you put in on the refrigerator or keep it on your desk? I know I would.
And that is why postcards are so effective. Let’s face it, the mail system has been around MUCH longer than the Internet. It’s not going away, anytime soon. The bottom line is that direct mail is a proven marketing strategy, even if it isn’t sexy.
What Type of Mailing List Should I Use?
You really have three options. You can pick a mailing list of people already involved in network marketing (the best list), people looking to work from home, or people who might be interested in the products you are selling.
The mailing list you choose should match your offer on your postcard. For instance, if your postcard is promoting a weight loss product from your MLM Company, I would purchase a list of people who have recently purchased weight loss products.
Another good option for a list is to create your own in house mailing list using the Internet. Use the Internet to generate leads and then stay in touch with those leads by sending them postcards each month.
Remember that your list and your offer are your two most important things that will determine if your mailing is a success or failure.
You definitely need to test different mailing lists to see which ones end up giving you the best results.
Where Can I Buy Leads?
There are literally hundreds of lead companies to choose from. You want to look for a reputable lead company that has been in business for a while (at least a couple of years), has great customer service, and is selling you what they say they are selling you.
Here are a few lead companies you can research.
- InfoUSA
- ArmLeads
- LeadConcepts
- LM Associates
***** I am not affiliated with any of these lead companies
Remember that cheaper is not always better. Expensive is not always better, either. You will have to experiment with several different lead companies and different lists until you find the lead company that is right for you.
When you buy leads you want to ask the list broker the following questions:
- How were the leads collected?
- Are the leads buyer leads or free response leads?
- How many times have the leads been sold?
- How old are the leads?
- Do you think these leads would be a good match for my offer?
- Do you offer a replacement for expired leads with bad mailing addresses?
- Do the leads also come with a phone number and email?
- How many times can I mail my offer to these leads?
Asking these questions will show the sales rep that you know what you are doing, and it will also allow you to find the best mailing list possible.
What Type of Postcard Works Best?
There are many viewpoints to this question. Personally, I like cheap, ugly postcards because they are different and they really stand out.
What matters most is your message on your postcard. Graphics are irrelevant. I prefer simple card stock with no graphics on them.
Yes, you can use fancy postcards. But, keep in mind that they are more expensive and won’t necessarily generate higher conversion rates.
If you are undecided, you could do a test with two different types of postcards to see what type of results you get.
It doesn’t matter what the postcard looks like. At the end of the day it’s the message (your offer) and the mailing list that matters most.
Should I Make My Own Postcards Or Buy Them?
In the beginning, I encourage people to design and print their own postcards. You can search the Internet and find plenty of free templates to use. This gives you some basic experience about copy-writing and formatting.
Once you’ve mailed 1,000 postcards and know you will continue mailing postcards, I highly suggest you purchase your postcards from a print company. If you buy in bulk, you can get them for $.01 to $.02 each, or less. They will be much cheaper than printing them yourself. For example, I can buy 5,000 postcards for about $130 with free shipping from my vendor.
In addition, you can hire designers on upwork.com or fiverr.com to design a postcard for you.
What Should I Promote On My MLM Postcards?
This might just be the most important question on this page. Whatever you do, DO NOT promote your MLM Company on your postcard. That is the fastest way to go BROKE.
Instead, promote a generic training product or system and then offer your MLM Company to people who respond (by calling or visiting your website). Ideally, you will promote a MLM System or Recruiting System (that you create or find) and then back-end people into your MLM Company. This is what smart marketers do.
Another good alternative is to offer something for FREE, such as a free report. You can send people to your capture page where they can download your free giveaway, in exchange for their email address. Include information in your free report about your business opportunity. Always use a two-step selling process.
If you are set on promoting your business opportunity or product on your postcard, do NOT mention the name of your company. Ever. Instead, keep it generic. If you say the name of the company, it’s likely your prospect will head straight over to Google to do their research, and end up joining someone else.
How Many Postcards Should I Mail per Day?
Your key to success with postcard marketing is consistency. Make a commitment to mail at least 20 postcards per day, every day, for at least one year. If your budget allows you to, try to send 50 to 100 postcards per day, every day for one year.
The more consistently you mail out postcards, the more likely you will succeed. Whatever you do, be consistent. You can’t mail a few hundred postcards one time and expect big results.
Do I Need a Website?
In today’s internet age, you should have a website URL on your postcards. You want to send people to a capture page first, so you can get their name and email and use an auto-responder to follow-up with them automatically. If possible, I would also include a toll-free pre-recorded sizzle call line, where prospects can listen to a short 2-3 minute recorded message to get additional information.
How Much Will It Cost?
The price will vary, but you can normally send 1,000 postcards for about $400 to $500.
At the present time, a postcard stamp is $.35 (as of 2019). You can normally get leads for less than $.08 each, if you buy them in bulk, plus the cost of the postcard, which should be $.01 to $.02. Using this example, you should pay 43 or 44 cents per postcard you mail out.
The more you buy and mail, the cheaper it will cost you per postcard. That’s because you can get nice discounts on leads and postcards when you purchase them in large quantities. You can also get a discount on shipping if you use the bulk rate.
If you’re mailing more than 2,000 postcards per month, you might want to outsource the entire process to a mailing house.
What Type of Results Can I Expect?
If you search the Internet, you will find people claiming a 3% to 5% conversion rate. Personally, I’ve never experienced anything like that, especially if you are trying to SELL from your postcard. I think a 1/2 of 1% to 1% conversion rate is much more realistic if you are trying to sell something.
On the other hand, if you are giving away something for free you will have a much higher conversion rate, maybe 3 to 5 percent or more! Think of it this way: if you can convert 1 out of every 200 people, you need to have an item that pays you $97 to $100 profit per sale, to be at a break even cost with your mailing expenses (give or take).
If you are trying to sell a $10 or $20 item from a postcard you will go broke fast! Individual results will vary based upon your list and your offer.
The two biggest things that affect your conversion rates are your list and your offer. You will want to split-test both of these things and look for ways to tweak and improve your conversions.
What Are Your Best Postcard Marketing Tips for Network Marketers?
My best tips are to include a website and pre-recorded toll-free number with a sizzle call on your postcard. Provide multiple ways for your prospect to get in touch with you. Use cheap and ugly postcards with no graphics. Print it on bright yellow, bright orange or bright pink card stock.
Also, I suggest you never lead with your MLM Company. You will promote that on the back-end. Instead, lead with a product or service (such as a MLM System) that will pay you at least $97 profit per sale. This will give you enough profit to keep sending postcards and grow your team.
Another important tip is to start small and test your results. Rather than spending your entire marketing budget at one time, do smaller mail campaigns to see what type of response rate you get.
My final tip is to send postcards every day (at least 20 per day) for one year, before you decide to give up. Success will take time.
Recommended Reading
Here are a few must read books and articles about postcard marketing for network marketers.
Final Thoughts
In summary, these are my best postcard marketing tips for network marketers.
Many Fortune 500 Companies (and top MLM distributors) have been using postcard marketing for YEARS. Even with the invention of the Internet, postcards are still very effective. If it works for other businesses, I know it can work for you.
By following the advice in this article, you will be well on your way. It won’t be easy or instant, but if you get started and stick with it I know you can achieve great results with postcard marketing.
On a side note, I would love to hear from you. Please share your personal story using postcard marketing to promote your MLM Business. Tell us what went right and what went wrong and what type of results you got. Just leave a comment below to share your thoughts. I look forward to hearing from you.
Chuck Holmes
20+ Year Network Marketing Professional
Top Earner & Top Recruiter
Email: mrchuckholmes@gmail.com
P.S. Learn how to grow a successful network marketing business. Secret tips, training, and practical ideas. Free training delivered by email.
Brilliant stuff Chuck. Combining postcard marketing with something like MLSP , now that could be explosive.
Definitely. With MLSP, you can earn pretty decent upfront commissions for each sale, so it’s pretty easy to break even on the front end of your mailing, assuming you have a good mailing list.
Awesome article I do postcard marketing every month and after months of trial and error I finally found the two cards that work best for me and saw 45% jump on my website views from people in the USA.
Also Just a tip. If you have great handwriting than Handwrite your own cards it really makes it stand out.
Good for you. Great tip about handwriting your own postcards. That is brilliant. Thanks.
I have read about postcard marketing when I was researching the Real Estate Investment field. I think this is a great way to advertise. I guess I just never thought about using with with my MLM businesses. Its a great a idea and maybe something I will try and track in the future.
It does work pretty well.
I am glad I ran across this blog post!
Using a campaign of cheap postcards makes very good sense. I agree with you on using the cheapest cards you can find. It isn’t what the card looks like, it is what it says on it that will garnish the most attention.
I have studied humans and have found the word FREE is very grabbing. Offering a free E book or Whitepaper can draw many. Or, depending on your MLM, maybe there is a very cheap item you could offer free for there response?
I have also developed another idea from this post. Have you considered cheap flyers? Hiring a person to place flyers on cars at locations that may be a viable opportunity to your MLM. Just a thought.
Great idea on the postcards!
Fliers can work too. They are cheap and easy to hand out. I’d recommend doing a small test and seeing if it proves beneficial. I like postcards better because you can zoom in on your target market. When you hand out fliers, even though they are cheaper, 90% or more of the people who get one are not in your target market and won’t be interested in your offering.
I agree Chuck. One way to use fliers to get to your target market is to go places where your target market may be. If your business is weight loss, health food stores, gyms, and weight loss clinics may be a good place to distribute fliers. I just think a person should use every opportunity available to them. Find what works and use it more, but never completely stop using the others.
Very true. Focusing on where your target market might be is one of the best things you can do.
Postcards sound pretty neat, but with the postal rates going up again this year, I’m surprised that people keep doing it. It just doesn’t seem very cost effective compared to promoting a business online.
As of December 2019, I pay 35 cents per postage stamp. I typically pay more than that per click when I do online advertising, so it’s still quite cost effective.
Great post, Chuck. Sending out cheap, ugly postcards definitely makes sense to me. What I like most about it is that anyone can do it. It’s so simple. I’ve been doing online marketing for a few years now and I have to tell you that I am fed up with it. There’s just too much to learn. And things change all the time. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life trying to keep up with all the changes on the internet. I think I’m going to learn some new marketing strategies for my MLM business, specifically postcard marketing.
Roman
Good for you, Roman. Postcard marketing does work. Good luck with it.
Postcard marketing is a great strategy and one that gets passed over too often. The internet gets first choice when it comes to marketing, but the “old-fashioned” methods still work as well, and reach an audience differently as well. Postcards are a perfect complement to an existing marketing strategy. There are a number of good sources for purchasing qualified leads, and Salesleadsplus provides a host of categories you can choose from, including MLM leads.
Plenty of big businesses still use postcard marketing. This includes Amazon and eBay! I’ve received postcards from both of these companies during the past year. While the Internet is definitely exciting, it’s often saturated and overly competitive. Most people get hundreds of emails a day and tune out all ads online. But most people are excited to get the mail. And everyone LOOKS at their mail before they throw anything away. That’s half the battle, getting people to read your advertising.
I think postcard marketing for network marketers is a great marketing strategy when (1) you get paid more than $300 per sign up, and (2) when combined with other strategies as well. It shouldn’t be your sole marketing strategy for your MLM Business, but it will work very well when combined with other strategies.
Chuck
I had questions about how to successfully use postcard marketing. It is good to know that the focus should be on affiliate products and not the company itself. Wouldn’t want to waste time and money doing something that is not going to be effective. The fact that all the top earners use the strategy of promoting such products and then getting people to their MLM company on the back end reassures me that this is the right way to go.
If you only make a few dollars on the initial sale when you sign up a new rep or customer, this is not a good strategy to use. Ideally, if you make less than $100 per transaction on the sale, I would not use postcards, because you won’t be able to do it and break even. Earning a small $10 or $20 commission per sale won’t cut it.
I’m not sure if I would use postcard marketing to grow my MLM Business, but I would use it to sell training products, leads, systems and services and then backend these folks with my business opportunity.
Great post, Chuck. It sounds like direct mail and postcard marketing might just be the best way to go.
I never thought about using postcards to grow my business, but you do make some good point, Chuck. I’ve NEVER received a postcard in the mail to promote a network marketing business. But if I did, I would read the postcard and check out the website. Maybe, I should give this a try in my business!
It can be a good option. I always tell folks to start small with their postcard marketing efforts and test their results. You might have to experiment with different lists, different offers, etc. but if you are patient, I’m sure you can find a winning formula.
Compared to pay per click advertising, mass-producing postcards and sending them to anyone you legally can is a much cheaper way to generate leads. Not every person is a viable postcard marketing recipient and you could get into some nasty trouble for mailing the wrong things to the wrong people. Be sure you are using legitimate mailing lists.
Actually, there aren’t any laws making it illegal to mail postcards to someone. You just have to make sure that your postcard meets postal regulations and doesn’t violate any FTC laws with promises to get rich quick. I think postcards for network marketers is a great strategy, as long as you earn a generous commission on each person’s first purchase. Otherwise, you will lose money on the front end.