Handwriting is fast becoming a lost art. Between email and instant messaging do any of us really need to communicate through the use of handwriting anymore?

Well, it can still be a good idea. One of Ron McDaniel’s 57 buzz challenges is to send a surprise letter.

The idea is to surprise someone with a handwritten letter and express interest in what they’re doing. I particularly like his idea of sending a letter with a testimonial. Everyone loves receiving testimonials and you might find it being used on a company’s website or in the person’s next book.

People love recognition for the work they’ve done. Who wouldn’t! And a surprise letter is a great way of accomplishing that.

With that in mind and applying my own twist to the idea to generate some buzz, I’ve sent out 6 Montreal postcards to people. Four postcards are going to people I know, two are going to people I don’t know but admire and want to meet.

The postcards have a brief, personal note written on them. Each one also has a unique number written on it in big, bold lettering, and a call to action. Those numbers will hopefully help me generate some buzz. I won’t go into the details just yet — but if you receive a postcard from me please email me and let me know.

This is a fairly small experiment. Six postcards isn’t a lot. But once people start emailing me I’ll share the experience further. And if it works it’s easily replicated on a much wider scale.

This post is part of my 3-Week Buzz Marketing Challenge which ends on Sunday, February 11th. My goal is to accomplish as many buzz marketing efforts as possible! Feel free to join the fun and try them yourself!