Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

Not necessarily. The call to action would be the same...but they'd keep it around if it had a menu.

Michael

I think any direct mail piece is more valuable when there's information that people can use on it. I think including a menu on it is a dynamite idea.

A coupon along with your graphics on one side and a menu on the other is something that can be used immediately AND saved for future reference. When a consumer clips the coupon, he/she may post the rest of the card on the refrigerator, message center or place in menu files (those of us who carry out a lot have files for our menus!) and your business logo and message may be seen by them daily.

If your shop is new, you may want to invite people in for a sample of your sandwiches. Cut a sub into quarters or sixths and hand out complimentary "slices" to new visitors. The buy 2 get 1 free is nice, but maybe not incentive enough to get new folks through the door.

Dear gsproducts94 -
You don't indicate what your response rate was, but it obviously was not in line with your expected goals; neither do you indicate to whom/how/where audience did you mail these postcards against/to (saturation or targeted mailing, geographic/zip select, etc.).

If, as you indicate, your postcard carried an attractive offer incentive (buy 2 get one free), was visually exciting (colorful graphics), and had a strong call to action (although I don't necessarily believe that driving calls or visits to your website are what I would classify as "strong call to action", as these would be the response "tools/devices").

One example of a strong call to action: did you have an expiration date on the offer to create a sense of urgency in redeeming it?

I cannot imagine why adding an abbreviated menu to the postcard - although I guess a nice to do - might have made a significant difference in the response that you expected; in fact, adding the menu might have cluttered the messaging as you were using a postcard format with limited "real estate" space.

This is just a small consideration answer based solely on the information you've provided - I'm sure there are more strategies/tactics that can be entertained, but I have not seen your creative piece and know nothing about your business (except that you are a sandwich shop) thus, I offer my limited response. Best of luck!

rocafortmercado

I agree with Phil. My personal experience has been that I have gotten advertisements in the mail or on my door, and been ready to throw it away because I thought I wasn't interested in the place (discount offer or no discount offer)... until something on the menu caught my eye.