What makes a postcard with artwork different from typical direct mail that gets thrown away?

Most direct mail that arrives - tree trimming services, solar company promotions, maid services - consists of tiny, poorly designed business cards with little thought or effort. These go straight into the trash. But when a postcard featuring beautiful artwork lands on someone’s porch, it gets treated completely differently. People don’t throw away beautiful things. The card ends up on the kitchen counter where it’s seen and discussed by family members. It might move to a desk where it stays visible. No one has ever seen an artist or photographer use this technique for local marketing, so it has novelty value. Your artwork itself is the differentiator - you have some of the most beautiful visual assets available. When people pick up something that beautiful, their natural instinct is to keep it, show others, and talk about it. This fundamental difference in how the piece is received and treated is what makes the technique so effective.

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Asked by an artist skeptical about direct mail effectiveness · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2024-06-13