1. Perceived Value - The perceived value of your business to a potential customer is set quickly by his first impression. Business cards and marketing postcards are many times the first item a prospective customer receives from a business. In a few seconds that first item will establish whether the customer believes there is further value in learning more about your business. Hence, the design quality and organization of your cards will subliminally communicating your company's worth. If the design for your marketing postcards and business cards express high quality, good organization, and consistent information, then your company will be perceived to represent high quality, be organized, and offer consistent results.

Every business should methodically strive to create advertising and marketing materials, like business cards and postcards, that develop a first impression of high quality for their business. One way to help with this goal is to have a single professional designer develop designs.

2. Brand Consistency - Your company's brand is what people think of you. As folks see a newspaper ad for your business or an ad on a direct mail promotion postcard, it's of eminent importance that you offer a stable and clear image of who you are.

At every communication point with customers an integrated campaign will create greater results. Hence, every ad, every brochure, your website, business card, and every corporate identity element needs to be designed so it can be identified to come from a common source.

3. Message/Content Quality - As things happen in your business make sure your advertisements reflect the changes your enterprise presents. Keep the content of your ads crisp and interesting. If you offer high-quality information in your ads then your customers will value receiving them. Customers do not appreciate receiving ads full of hype. Respect your customers with the content you offer in your ads and you will increase their respect for your company. Also, be very careful with your proofreading as errors are completely unacceptable. Give attractive accurate and compelling information to make people want to do business with you.

In all your promotions be confident you emphasize the benefits you give to your customers. Benefits are not always easy to distinguish. A benefit is what the customer desires to enjoy via your product or service. It is clearly the reason he will do business with you. Assess the attributes of your products and services and develop a list of how your customers benefit from these. Case in point, a low price can be a product feature which benefits the customers by saving him money. Confidently mention your benefits and do not make the mistake of assuming the customer will figure them out. The better you understand and communicate the benefits your business offers the greater success you will enjoy in your promotions.

4. Self Promotion: Be Your Own Cheerleader - If you're not promoting your latest occurences (new product/service offerings, company news, upcoming educational sessions, trade shows, sales, etc.), no one else is going to. All companies have things going on like listed above. Exploit the prospects of these happenings to be successful by keeping your marketing postcards current with content promoting the events of your business. Keeping fresh information on your advertising postcards tells customers that you are an active company that is on the move.

5. Track Your ROI - The only way you will know whether you marketing campaign is working is to measure results. Put in the extra effort to make sure you have data on how your business cards and marketing postcards are working. Ask your customers to critique your business cards, and note down their response. Review your notes on a periodic basis and make design changes to improve customer feedback.

For your direct mail postcard campaigns you can almost always design in a feedback loop. For example, just have the customer bring in the card for some special offer. Then by knowing how many cards you sent out and comparing that to how many cards were brought back in you can measure results. By measuring the results you can make changes for improvement on the next campaign. It is surprising how many business just do not put in the extra work needed for collecting this data and never objectively understand why their campaign results do not improve.

The Bottom Line - The business cards and marketing postcards for a business make the marketing foundation for building a healthy successful endeavor. If you pay attention to developing a consistent image, keep your information up to date and valuable, and measure your results for improvement then your achievement will be high.