Postcard-sized Newsletters?

(Ideabook image)

Chuck Green at Ideabook may be on to something. In a recent article he wrote,

"Conventional thinking says a newsletter is a good way to keep your name in front of prospects and customers. And that producing one is both time consuming and costly. Conventional thinking also says a newsletter should be a minimum of four 8.5 by 11 inch pages and costs at least the standard letter rate to mail.

All well and good. But if you’re going to grab attention in the chaos of today’s marketplace, you’ve got to think outside convention. You’ve got to reinvent big business ideas in small business terms—smart, practical, and cost-conscious. In this case—by boiling a conventional newsletter down to its essence—a postcard newsletter."

Green, then does what he does best: gives us step-by-step instructions on how to implement.

I have mixed feelings about this type of direct mail. As a consumer, would I read it? Could I read it?  I'm used to scanning postcards, and I'm not sure I would change my ways to glean column after column of what surely must be "downsized" text.

What about you? Would a postcard-sized newsletter work for you as a communicator? Would it serve your communications needs? How about your preferences as a consumer? Tell me your thoughts by submitting a comment!

-- Brenda Friedrich