Whether you are new to postcard printing or have made them a part of your direct mail campaign already, there are always ways to improve. Constantly testing your design and refining your direct mail techniques will continue to enhance your ROI. Three areas which need to be examined regularly in marketing postcards are design, printing, and mailing.

1. The most effective postcards contain very little information. You do not want to include an entire sales pitch; you only want to lead prospects to your website or other point of contact where you can make the sale personally.

2. With this in mind, only include information that will intrigue readers enough to take that next step. The headline should offer something that your customers need or solve a problem they may have. In bulleted style, list the benefits of the offer and then tell the audience what they need to do to find out more. Last of all, include your company name, logo, contact information, and possibly a map.

3. Two more tips: use both sides of the postcard to avoid clutter and create it to look like a friend has sent the mail piece. A friendly appearance is more pleasing to receive than one that looks like an advertisement, which can anger or frustrate consumers who are constantly bombarded with marketing mail.

Printing

1. You do not need to go all out on expensive layouts for postcards to be effective, but you will want to use a commercial postcard printing company if you have a large mail list. Printing out large quantities of postcards on the office printer can become too time-consuming and expensive.

2. Choose a full color printer as this will insure high quality results. A full or four color printing company uses the three primary colors of ink (cyan, magenta, and yellow) along with black for colors that blend well and show up in photographic quality when printed.

3. When the quantity has gone beyond what you can handle on your office printer, be sure to not only choose full color but also wholesale printing. A wholesale company can produce two-sided colored postcards for about $0.25.

Mailing

1. If you do not have a client list for mailing your postcards or are looking to expand your mail list, use a friend's list. This "friend" would be any non-competitor who has the same target audience.

2. Use first class mailing. It only costs a few cents more and yet gives you more benefits than with bulk mailing.

3. Never send your postcards so that they arrive to customers on Monday as this is the busiest day of the week for mailing. Instead, have your postcards arrive in the middle of the week, which is when customers receive the least amount of mail.

If your results are less than satisfactory with your first few attempts at postcard mailing, avoid the urge to give up. Continue to make changes a little at a time, keeping track of responses, until your postcard printing is working for you. Just remember that when you make any change to your message, you will need to test again. So go ahead and begin testing the effectiveness of your direct mail piece. The tips above should give you a good place to start.