Should a local newsletter sell print postcards with its ads?

"Local business owners love print. They want to touch it. They want to know, oh, this person is going to get it and have to take it out of their mailbox. Digital is just so foreign to them."

Business owners are more open to spending on print than on newsletter ads. You can fight that, or use it.

Why do business owners like postcards so much?

They understand it. Most business owners don't understand digital at all, and newsletters are even harder. Mail they get. "This goes to 5,000 homes" means 5,000 people get it in their mailbox. Nobody has to talk about open rates or click-through rates.

I watched it play out in a local Facebook group. A guy posted that he was mailing a postcard to 10,000 homeowners in my area, one business per category, exclusive, so get to him soon. About 20 people said yes. A later post got another 10 or 15. All he did was post in a Facebook group.

Meanwhile our model is better in so many ways, and owners aren't nearly as interested. Local business owners are obsessed with print.

How does a postcard bundle work?

Here's the model another operator told me about:

• A postcard mailed to higher-income households
• About 16 ad slots per card, at $250 to $400 a slot
• Bundled with a newsletter ad, an article and a social post
• Package price around $1,200 to $1,500 a month

An operator in Florida I've helped sells $250 postcard slots and says they're easy as hell to sell, because the fee is small and he sells it many times. He packages them with the newsletter, like six months of newsletter ads for $500 or $1,000, plus Instagram. Those are their results, not mine.

A postcard publisher told me the first card is the hardest to sell, because you have nothing to show. Once local businesses see a real card, it gets much easier.

Is a postcard worth selling on its own?

Probably not. A peer told me about a newsletter operator in Atlanta who made $5,800 in postcard sales but took home only about $1,000 to $2,000 after costs. Chasing postcards for their margin alone doesn't look worth it.

As part of your offer, it's different. Your brand does postcards, magazines, a newsletter and Meta ads. Make the postcard an upsell: sign up for the main plan and I'll give you half off the postcard price.

It's simple but not easy: business owners get it, it works if you get in front of the right ones, and it takes effort. Anything that's a lot of work is a moat right now.

Why postcards instead of a magazine?

Cost and workload. A partner pointed out that a print magazine franchise needed roughly $12,000 in print costs before it turned a profit. A postcard is a much smaller bet, it carries no editorial work, and the physical piece still gives the advertiser something to hold. I think postcards are a way better deal than magazines. Magazines do have the prestige.

There is a shortcut on the content side. I met someone selling a ready-made, 60-page magazine for active seniors. The stories are generic, blueberry muffins and how seniors should exercise, but it's done, it has ad slots, and you put your own cover on it. You pay for the magazine and all you do is sales. The usual money trick is charging a local business owner around $2,500 to be on the cover with a story written about them.

That solves the content, which is the part of print that scared me most.

Do I have to learn print?

No. Have a partner produce the postcards so the seller doesn't have to learn print. You sell the bundle. They handle the production.

How big can a full local media package get?

"When you can walk into a business and have a newsletter, a website, social media, a magazine, postcards, and a digital marketing agency, I feel like that's a home run. But you got to do all of it, and you got to get out in the community."

From my Williamson County audience of about 30,000 subscribers, I think $5,000 to $6,000, up to $10,000 a month, is possible with that kind of bundle. That's my estimate, not a result. I've also floated franchise-style packages for other operators, digital plus print and later an agency offer, at a fraction of what legacy franchises cost.

Position the bundle as becoming known, not as lead gen.

"You're not positioning it as put your ad in and get leads. You're positioning it as become known as the brand for..."

Trust is the scarce thing. You need either a creator presence or in-person time in the community to earn it. The postcard helps because it's tangible. See how to package a multi-channel sponsorship.