The Little Black Book of Online Business: 1001 Insider Resources Every Business Owner Needs

19.1. PRINT/MAIL POSTCARD SERVICES

Well, the great thing is that you can send 5,000 real paper-and-ink letters with the click of a button. It's not something you're going to do if you're strapped for cash, because you have to pay something for printing and mailing those letters—but not as much as you might think.

For instance, as of the writing of this book, I found one place that would print 5,000 postcards and mail them for $1,444 (including postage). The list rental would be another $500 or so. Just remember, it's not your marketing cost that matters—the return on investment is what you should be looking at.

Also remember, you don't have to start with 5,000 postcards. You could just send out 350 to your existing customers (who are likely going to be more responsive to your new offer in any case).

Here are some of the services that offer print/mail postcard services online:

http://amazingmail.com/

http://www.postcardpower.com/

http://www.sonicprint.com/

http://www.48hourprint.com/

http://www.fishdirectmail.com/ (USPS affiliate)

http://www.click2mail.com/ (USPS affiliate)

http://www.zairmail.com/

Another bonus: direct mail is very scalable, so once you have a proven winner, you can roll out in a big way (assuming you've chosen a big enough market).