How to Start a Postcard Printing Campaign
So you want to start a postcard marketing campaign for your business? Do you know how to start postcard printing? Do you know the different aspects on how to produce a postcard print? If you’re completely clueless about postcard printing then you’re in luck. Below we have created a simple step by step guide on how to start your postcard printing and marketing campaign. Follow them carefully and you should be well on your way to use your postcards for marketing success.
Research your target market The first thing you need to do is to decide and to research on your target market. This should be a standard business and marketing strategy. Do this by examining your product, or in this case the object of your color postcards, and determine what kinds of people will be interested in that object or place. They can be young, old, male, female, rich, middle class, poor, professionals etc. Once you have narrowed down your market to a few key demographics, then you need to understand the nature of them. Try to find out what they like, what they dislike. How do they talk to each other? What are a few of the slang words they use? What do they hope for and dream about? Once you answer all these questions you are ready for the next step.
Create an appropriate design The next step involves creating the appropriate postcard printing design. Armed with the information you have from the first step, you should have a pretty good idea of what your target demographic should respond to. Use the language of your market to create the text content of your color postcard. The art style of your custom postcards should also match the preferences of your target audience. For wiser and more mature audiences, a punk, rocker or chaotic style of design might be a turn off. On the flip side, formal and elegant designs might appear boring and “square” to a more youthful crowd. Mix and match these factors and you should have an appropriate postcard print design that your audience will take an interest to.
Initial testing Of course all designs are not born perfect. Always have a few sample postcards printed first so that you can test out their design. Have people critic them and list down the pros and cons of its design. Judge them by several criteria like design, content, image quality, paper quality and overall appeal. If you can try giving them out to some of your target audiences and you can ask their opinion about the color postcard. Once you get this data, redesign your postcard if it is needed.
Find postcard printing services After you have finalized your design, then it is time to look for a postcard printing company. Most publishing companies have postcard printing services. However some are better than others when it comes to custom postcard printing. So shop around and see where you can get the best quality for the best possible price. As a nice tip, you can check out online printing companies so that you can browse for them easier. Try to be extensive in your search so that you can minmize cost if possible by looking for printers that specialize in printing postcards.
Distribution Great! Once your color postcards are printed, all that is left to do is to stamp them up and send them on out. Since you have that demographic data from step one, you should know exactly to what kind of people you can give them to. This should give you the exposure you want from postcards. A good return of investment.
Kaitlyn Miller
http://www.articlesbase.com/printing-articles/how-to-start-a-postcard-printing-campaign-729221.html
Related posts:
- 5 Common Self Publishing Mistakes That Stamp Unprofessional on Your Book and How to Correct Them
- Print on demand service that allows you to upload your design without anyone else using it?
- On Demand Printing in Ny Actually Saves Money
- Discounts in Book Publishing, Marketing Services Offered by Book Publisher for November
Filed under: How To Start A Publishing Company
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
What is the most cost effective way to advertise with postcards?
I am the owner of http://www.mexicandentalvacation.com and would like to get our message out to people with postcards. We can save people up to 75% of their dental costs in the resort city of Mazatlan, Mexico in a modern, award-winning dental clinic on the beach.
I wanted to start out with 5000 postcards, including the printing, mailing list, and the postage. Most of our clientele are 50 and older, and we feel that they may be better reached by a physical postcard compared to an email or an Adwords/Facebook ad.
We wanted to start with Alaska for the mailing list, it seems to be a place where dental work is very expensive, and where people can save the most money. We can expand from there if our campaign is successful.
Has anyone had success with postcards in a similar marketing campaign, or are we just wasting our money? If it worked for you, where should we go to get started?
Yes, Mazatlan is a port city of 500,000, and does have a large tourism industry as well as a large (5000+) expatriate community.
Regarding the details of the site, it has been converting well, but it may be time for a facelift. Once people contact us either by phone or email, they get interested, and we get a lot of repeat customers as well as word of mouth referrals.
Most of our clients are not just coming for a filling or a crown, they get an estimate of $10,000 or more to fix their teeth, and they are looking for a competent, lower cost alternative, so they are already aware of the cost/benefit.
We have been in business for 9 years now, and have flow for the business. I am looking at postcards to increase business, and am looking for feedback from others as far as how effective it is, and where to go to get it done right, and with the best ROI.
I visited your website – ditch the yellow highlighting of the ‘testimonial’ – it is really like the guys offering ‘free something’ but then you end up having to pay. Ditch all the ‘sign up here’ forms. Doesn’t your web guy know how to use sidebars??? Fire him/her.
I don’t know where Mazatlan is, but if it’s not near a cruise port you’re wasting your time.
By the time someone pays the airfare and accommodations, they can get the treatment from the dentist down the street, and have a lot shorter distance to go for follow-up problems.
On the other hand, I’ve seen cruise people take cruises just to get meds cheap in Mex or Belize. AND.. your target is the 50+ crowd, so move to near a cruise port!
Good Luck!!
TWD
References :
There are direct marketing courses you can buy online, in which professionals go over some fine points that can make all the difference.
The mecca of demographically targeted rental mailing lists is NextMark.com, you might pay about 10 cents a name.
I recall that simple cards may be more likely to be read than glossy ads that don;t pass the over the trashcan filtering process, but like other aspects these marketers test multiple versions tracking which convert better.
Postage is substantially more expensive than the card printing. You can find mailing services that will address and post your cards for about the same price as stamps cost you, they profit by getting lower zip code sorted postage. It’s not a certainty that postcards will be more effective than letters, though postcards seem to be favorites of marketers.
Consider having a dedicated recorded information line people can call, some prefer to not have to talk to a person on first inquire.
A tie-in with a travel service could be a big winner.
References :
There are a number of articles that can give you ideas on how to use postcards for direct marketing, and even case studies of the success of others
Here’s from Deliver Magazine (this is USPS magazine)
http://www.delivermagazine.com/2011/09/award-winning-initiative-ups-the-ante-on-direct-mail/
Target Magazine
http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/aggregatedcontent/why-a-postcard-is-better-than-a-direct-mail-letter
Top 50 Mailers http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/top-50-mailers-the-sixth-annual-listing-top-mailers-measured-volume/2
References :