Postcard Printing: Low Tech, High Performance Marketing

Once a quaint social convention, postcard printing today can boost your business by providing inexpensive advertising opportunities. Just as recently as a decade ago, postcards where sent by snail mail from faraway places to let people know you were traveling somewhere out in the world, or to just say a quick hello. Postcards have since evolved to become effective tools to promote your product or business. And while social media and online marketing seem to be all the rage these days when it comes to business marketing, there's a world of untapped business potentials in old fashioned, low tech postcard advertising.

Postcard advertising offers a number of significant advantages that make postcard printing a valuable addition to your marketing mix.

Postcard printing is cheap.

You can get immediate results. The right image and message on the postcard can instantly attract a person and spur him to act on it immediately. There are no cumbersome envelopes to open so communication takes place as soon as the recipient gets the postcard.

You can get creative. Unleash the full force of your creative energy on to the postcard. Don't hold back, but make sure you follow the principles of effective design and print communication.

Postcards keep you in touch, and your prospects informed. Even if you don't make a sale now, you get the opportunity to send more information and materials to your prospects in the future. You can follow up directly, or continue to send information on a regular basis, keeping your business name continuously in front of your prospects.

Invite the customer to take the next step. The limited space on a postcard forces us to make sure the advertising message and the corresponding call to action are clear, unambiguous and direct to the point. Postcards are great for getting customers to call, come to the store or visit a website.

There's nothing new nor revolutionary about direct mail postcard marketing. It's the same old system that's been in practice for decades by marketers and sales organizations. But there's a reason this old reliable has remained in the marketing mix for as long as it has. If done correctly, postcard marketing can be extremely successful, allowing you to build a huge network marketing business. Postcard printing can add hundreds of people to your mailing lists. There are a few things you need to keep in mind.

Know your audience. Just like any other marketing communication tool, postcards are most effective if the messages they communicate are relevant and targeted toward the intended recipients. Knowing who will read your messages lets you identify their needs, and opens up opportunities for you to address those needs for them.

Use the postcard to ask questions. Instead of jumping right into your pitch about how great your products or services are, or about how affordable your prices are, start off by getting the reader to ask questions that cause him or her to stop and reflect on the answer. If you ask the right questions you might hit some emotional buttons in the audience, and so you stand a better chance of getting a response. The brief reflective pause is very important because in that brief moment, your target is deciding if there is indeed an issue, and if there is, he is led to evaluate his options. If you set up your communication correctly, you or your company will be right among the list of alternatives in the client's head.

Provide access to more information without the prospect having to get in touch with you directly. People really don't like to be sold to. They like it even less if they are maneuvered to speak to a salesperson. Many people also find the prospect of speaking with strangers daunting, if not outright irritating. They would rather go through any information themselves, picking up any marketing materials you have available for them on a website or toll free recorded message.

Here are a few more tips to help you succeed at marketing through postcard printing:

• Consider using a larger size so your postcard stands out from among the recipient's other mail.


• Keep your copy brief and to the point. As one of your calls to action, encourage the recipient to get more information.


• Have your postcard designed by a pro. Unless you are a capable graphic artist, your work will not look polished and professional.


• Choose a printer that can provide a full set of postcard printing and marketing solutions.


• Send a series of postcards over a period of time, not just one postcard.


• Make sure you have a clear purpose and you clearly communicate the courses of action you want your prospects to take.