Inexpensive but Effective Direct Postcard Mailings

If you're spending money on a direct postcard mailing, but you're not spending the time needed to develop good headlines, you're wasting time and money.

Good headlines are essential in postcard mailings. If you're spending money on a direct postcard mailing, but you're not spending the time needed to develop good headlines, you're wasting time and money. Why is the headline so important? A headline is defined as a line of text at the head of a document. Its intent is to briefly describe what follows. When you think of headlines, you might think of newspapers, but headlines have a wider application than that.

The purpose of a headline is first to get attention and second to keep attention. You want the headline to draw the reader in and keep him reading. To write an effective headline, you have to know your audience. In direct mail, there's a financial incentive to getting your message across. If a person buys a newspaper, gives it a quick glance, and then tosses it into the trash, a sale was still made, but if your direct mail is given a quick glance then tossed in the trash, you’ve lost money.

A headline should grab the reader’s attention within the first five seconds. It should promise the reader something. Maybe they can save money, live longer, be healthier or happier, avoid something terrible, have fun, or accomplish a task easier. It should elicit an emotional response and make the reader want to take action.

Your postcard might offer something for free in order to generate phone calls for more information or orders. You might refer to a website where they can get a free trial or sample or some valuable information. Your offer is a vital part of your direct mail and the headline should highlight the value they will receive by responding to your offer. If the headline is weak, ambiguous, or misleading, recipients are not likely to read any further than the first couple of words. Regardless of how great a deal you have to offer or how spectacular your product, if your headline doesn’t draw them in, they’ll never know it.

If your headline fails to do its job, your direct mail piece is worthless. A headline that doesn’t grab and hold the reader’s attention and evoke an emotional response to take action is no headline at all. Don’t tack your headline on as an afterthought. Don’t make the mistake of putting all your creative energy into cool prose and clever phrasings only to leave off the signpost that gets readers to read your ad copy. Experiment with headlines. Write, revise, test, track, and hone them until you know you’ve got them right. It’s the most important part of ad copy.