National Clothesline

While walking in the highlands one day, a Scotsman happened on a young boy’s cap lying in his path. It was a nice cap… bright, colorful and practically brand new.

It would be perfect for some wee lad, he thought, and yet he had no son of his own. In the end, he couldn ’t bear to throw away such a wonderful find, so he decided to adopt a young boy to wear the cap and they lived happily ever after.

Have you ever had an opportunity come your way that was just too good to pass up? At the time, you weren ’t exactly sure how to take advantage, but you refused to ignore it and let it go. And did you ever resort to extremes just to make the “opportunity” pay off?

Not long ago, a cleaner I know stumbled onto a “little boy’s cap” — a print shop offering 5,000 colored postcards for a mere song and dance. He was pretty excited about his discovery and posted his find on the drycleaning forum asking if anyone had used the printing company.

Apparently, this cleaner can sing and cut the rug, but by his own admission, he doesn ’t know how to write copy or do graphic design and layout. He doesn’t know how to define his market or how to order prospect lists for his area. He obviously doesn ’t know the size of his market, which is nowhere near the 5,000 cards he would be dropping in the mailbox. But what the heck … who can throw out a nice “cap” like that! There must be some way to make this cheap printing offer work? Right?

As I watched and read, an interesting thing happened. Cleaners began to respond with postings of “I found one cheaper than that” and “that’s far too much too spend!” One guy even offered a site where you can build your own card from start to finish and have the thing mailed in a day or two from your computer … for next to nothing!

Mind you, these are cleaners who criticize one-price and low price cleaners for offering inexpensive service, claiming they don ’t know how to clean, spot or press… let alone make a profit. On one hand they argue against low prices and on the other they compete to see who can spend the least for other services they need. In the end, however, you get what you pay for.

Remember do-it-yourself drycleaning? You dropped a quarter into a 20-pound Amatek then threw your “wet” load into a reclaimer at the end of the cleaning cycle. It was simple enough for anyone to do, but there were still the issues of spots, wrinkles and … “Hey, where’s that nice hanger and bag that my drycleaner gives me?” We won’t even mention the lack of detergent and distillation nor the strong smell of solvent in the air.

Yes, it’s possible to do it all yourself, but more often than not the job never gets done. Instead, why not make an effort to do something now?

After all, countless cleaners have bought and implemented programs that work while this guy is still out kicking tires. His colleagues have already hooked, filleted and fried countless prospects while he ’s out fishing for the lowest price. A truly impressive discovery would be to find a company that delivers ads for cheap — like a nickel or dime apiece. After all, the real cost is delivery.

With all that said, if you’ve recently discovered a “little boy’s cap” and want to make the most of it, here are a few tips on designing a postcard that will get results.

The purpose of a postcard is to grab attention, and this must be done quickly… within three seconds. Most people sort their mail over the wastebasket and your window of opportunity is very brief, so you have to make an impact right away.

There are two ways to do this. First, your postcard should have an attention grabbing photograph or graphic and second you need a very strong headline that either arouses curiosity or promises a benefit. It must be simple yet effective.

It is also important that the text and photograph compliment one another.

For example, let’s say you want to offer $20 in free drycleaning with any order of 10 items or more. The headline on the front of the postcard could read “$20 FREE with 10 Items of Cleaning.”

The photo or graphic might show a pile of dirty clothes including suits, ties, shirts and dresses on the floor — exactly the image facing many of the prospects that receive your card. This is a simple yet effective way to get the potential customer to turn the card over to learn more about your offer.

Depending on how your mail is delivered, the back of the postcard might be the first (and only) side of the card that is seen by the reader, so it ’s important that your offer be clearly stated on the back as well. The only difference between the front and the back of the postcard is that the recipient ’s address is found on the back. You could include another photo or a graphic with some bulleted items outlining the advantages you offer over your area competitors.

Don’t forget to include your contact details on both sides of the card, and make certain the information is clearly visible and easy to read.

Although postcards are small, they can have a major impact using very few words and attention grabbing headlines. Ideally it will create enough curiosity for the customer to either contact you or pay you a visit with an armload of clothes for cleaning.