By M. H. "Mac" McIntosh, CBC

As marketing costs continue to climb you need to find ways to maximize your results without blowing your budget.

With that in mind, here are 10 tips for using postcards as part of your direct marketing and relationship marketing programs:

Use postcards to cost-effectively:

1. Keep in touch with longer-term prospects.
2. Upsell, cross-sell or resell existing customers.
3. Reactivate inactive customers.
4. Give customers your new addresses (mail, email and Web site) and numbers (direct dial, cell phone and fax).
5. Invite prospects and customers to your seminars and events.
6. Drive prospects and customers to your Web site.
7. Thank customers for their business.
8. Announce new products, services, people or locations.
9. Remind customers of appointments.
10. Announce a sale or special offer.

And here are two bonus ideas:

11. To clean up your mailing list, mail your postcards using First Class postage and use the endorsement "Address Service Requested" printed on the address side below the return address (see www.usps.com) of the post card. That way you will get the new address and the postcards will get forwarded if the address is changed and returned if it is expired.
12. Think in terms of a campaign rather than a single mailing. For example, create a list of the top 10 benefits of your product or service, then create a series of 10 postcards, each designed to highlight one benefit.

I've found that using relationship marketing to keep in touch with your prospects via a series of ongoing communications and offers throughout your prospective customers' consideration processes lets you pick up sales others leave on the table. Relationship marketing develops longer term relationships with customers rather than individual transactions. Relationship marketing involves understanding the needs of the customer through their sales cycle. If you use well-crafted communications designed to keep in touch with and inform prospects through their consideration and buying processes, relationship marketing will not just be feel-good jargon: relationship marketing will pay off at the bottom line.