One of the most overlooked and quite possibly most profitable tool you can add to your practice marketing is the lowly postcard. There are many reasons why postcards work so well. They're cheap to send out, they're quick to write, they're fast and easy to mail and they absolutely get read!

Why do postcards work? Postcards give your offer or message instant visibility in the mailbox. You're not fighting with 200 other ads in the newspaper or on the television. With the postcard, you can single out your targeted recipient and address only them.

Postcards are probably the easiest and quickest way to start using direct mail to build your practice. For an investment of only $.26, you can attract qualified prospective patients or you can keep in contact with current patients to build a stronger bond. They are also great for resuming contact with your old or inactive patients.

Your mailing list is essential to your success. You cannot just take a random resident list of nearby zip codes to your office. What you need to do is consider who your ideal patient would be and then find a way to target your message directly to them.

Look through your patient files for where your patients come from. Do they live close to the practice? Do they travel from all over to see you? What are the income levels, education, ages and other factors your best patients have in common?

You can get lists of prospective patients with certain demographic and geographic characteristics that match your ideal patient profile. Then you would send them a postcard offering them a free report, free DVD, free tape or some other way for them to identify themselves as interested prospects.

You can't expect your postcard to do more than it is intended to do. The purpose is to get people to raise their hands and say, “Yes, I'm interested”. It is not for them to call and schedule an appointment from this postcard or even come in for free consultation. This is too much of a threat for most prospective patients. That's why you've got to walk them through the process with little baby steps, like request your free report on a disease process or procedure.

What’s the difference between creating a trickle of new patients with your postcards and a tidal wave? The secret is in your headline. Every postcard must have a headline that answers the single most important question on your prospective patient's mind, “What's in it for me?”

Every time someone picks up your postcard they're asking themselves that same question. And your practice name or your name is not the answer. Your headline needs to quickly and powerfully telegraph to your prospects that you either have a big benefit they are looking for or a solution to their biggest frustration of problem.

On average, people read five times as many headlines as they do the body copy (words). So unless you've attracted prospects into your postcard using a compelling headline, you simply cannot get people to respond to your offer. But if you do manage to get people's attention with your headline, they will read the rest of the postcard since it's a quick and easy read.

To keep more active patients in your practice, you should be making between six and 15 contacts with them every year. And postcards offer you the perfect way to create a solid bonding relationship if you cannot afford a patient newsletter. A postcard gives a perfect opportunity to stay in front of your patient on a consistent basis for a small cost.

A mistake many doctors make when having postcard designed is to forget to use both sides. A postcard really has two fronts. The first front is where you put your return address, postage and mailing label. Even though you must leave space for these elements it doesn't mean you can't put more reasons to respond to your offer on this side. A great place for a testimonial or two is on the side with the mailing label.

The second front is completely open and free for any message you want to place. The old mail order adage, “The more you tell the more you sell” applies here. Numerous tests prove that the more you write, the more response you generate, so you should have a headline on each side.

To get a postcard out for a $.26, it needs to stay inside the post offices guidelines of 4.25" x 6". Anything bigger than that size, you'll have to pay for first-class postage of $.41. And the cheapest in easiest way to get postcards out and simply to use regular 8.5” x 11” card stock from your printer and divide it up to do four postcards, measuring 4.25" x 5.5". Plus, as an added bonus the post office will send back any undeliverable addresses. This makes postcards the most economical way to update your patient and prospect database.

By using this information, you'll have no reason not to add postcards as an inexpensive and highly effective tool to building your practice.