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Electronic Postcards
Electronic postcards provide a fun and amusing way for an organization to interact with its audience.
Sending an electronic postcard is as easy as sending an e-mail message. Users simply select a picture
or image and send it to another individual.
Web users are able to select a variety of holiday-related or all-occasion graphics to send to friends,
family members, or whomever they wish. Some Web sites allow users to send electronic postcards to celebrities,
or even the White House. Users can include messages on the postcards, which can consist of text, images, or
links to other Web sites. Users are allowed to preview the postcard before sending, and can make changes if
they wish. Postcard recipients are notified by e-mail, and must have Internet access to receive the postcard.
Recipients may receive their postcards as either an e-mail attachment or by claiming it at a particular Web
site (instructions are given in either case).
Electronic postcards are normally free to users because advertisers pay to have their images distributed on
the postcards. Thus, this form of marketing is extremely effective for attracting customers to a Web site.
Therefore, if your organization wants to produce its own electronic postcards, it could do so at a relatively
low cost. First, create a GIF image of any picture by saving the image in the GIF format. Then, when the user
selects the image to send as a postcard, the image can be sent as an attachment to an email message, or can be
saved for the recipient to view later through an Internet browser, depending on your set-up.
Electronic postcards can be used to expand your audience. You can use the names and e-mail addresses of
your postcard users to produce a mailing list or enlarge your database. Because the postcard users and the
recipients are likely to have similar interests, you can collect recipient names and e-mail addresses and then
use them to market your service or product.
Some examples of sites with electronic postcards can be found at the following locations:
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