Category Archives: Postcards

How to Grow Income with EDDM Postcard Marketing

Direct mail marketing is not dead. In fact, it’s very much alive and well, thanks to Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM). EDDM is a direct mail service that allows businesses to target specific neighborhoods with their marketing materials. Best of all, it’s an affordable way to reach a large number of potential customers. Here’s how you can use EDDM postcards to grow your income.

  • Know Your Target Audience
     Before you can start designing your EDDM postcards, you need to know who your target audience is. Who are you trying to reach with your marketing materials? Once you know who your target audience is, you can start designing your postcards with them in mind.
  • Keep It Simple
    Your EDDM postcards don’t need to be complicated or flashy. In fact, simplicity is key when it comes to direct mail marketing. Keep your message clear and concise, and make sure your call-to-action is easy to understand and follow.
  • Include a Call-to-Action
     Speaking of call-to-actions, every EDDM postcard should include one. A call-to-action is simply an instruction for the reader on what they should do next. For example, you might include a coupon or special offer on your postcards and tell recipients to “bring this postcard in for 10% off their purchase.” Make sure your call-to-action is clear, concise, and easy to follow. You want recipients of your postcards to take action, so make it as easy as possible for them to do so.
  • Get Personalized Postcards Printed
    Personalized postcards are more likely to be noticed and read than generic ones. When you personalize your EDDM postcards, you can add the recipient’s name or address on the front of the card or even include a personalized message on the inside.
    Online printing companies such as BlockbusterPrint.com offer EDDM postcard printing services.
  • Test, Test, Test!
    As with any marketing campaign, it’s important that you test different versions of your EDDM postcards before settling on a final design. Try different images, messages, calls-to-action, etc., and see which ones generate the best results. Once you have a winner (or two), roll out your campaign to the rest of your targeted neighborhoods and sit back and watch your income grow!

Conclusion:

EDDM postcard marketing is a great way to reach potential customers in specific neighborhoods without breaking the bank. By following these simple tips, you can maximize the effectiveness of your direct mail campaign and watch your income grow in no time!

Everything Your Need to Know about Postcard Printing

If you think that postcard printing is only useful for sending out souvenirs to people from the places you visit, think again. These cards are a very handy marketing tool that can help introduce a brand to prospective customers, reach out to existing buyers, and personalize one’s connection to a business. Fortunately, there are many companies offering online printing and they can print out not just postcards but also all the other materials for your print marketing campaign: business cards, envelopes, notepads, brochures, flyers, stickers, etc.

When deciding which online printing company to go with, there are a few things that you need to consider. First, what’s the printing process that they use? It’s better if you will go with one that utilizes state-of-the-art printing presses instead of just a digital desktop printer. The equipment used will make it easy for them to print out a huge batch of the same marketing material. The colors pop, the print will not easily fade, and you can choose from different sizes and finishes.

Postcard printing, for example, will give you numerous options in terms of sizes. The most popular is the 4” x 6” postcards which are used by travellers. Some variations are 4” x 9”, 5” x 7”, 6” x 9”, or it can even go as large as 6” x 11”.  As far as the material is concerned, the most common is 16-pt. which you can have printed using an ultra-smooth matte finish, or an ultra-smooth glossy finish.

When printing postcards, make sure to not crowd the available space that you have with too much text or images. Include a call to action – indicate whether you want the recipient to use a discount code, or head over to your website for more information. More importantly, mail out these postcards regularly. Doing so will help embed your brand’s name into the minds of your customers. Regular postcards mailing also helps establish customer loyalty while giving your marketing efforts a more personal, yet still professional touch.

Why Should I Go for Printing Postcards Online?

You decided that you want to include printing postcards as part of your to-do list while running your business’ daily operations. You are already on the right track for this because printing postcards is an effective way to connect to potential and existing customers. They are cheap, easy to design and print, and mailing them out gives you a chance to have a very targeted marketing campaign.

So how can you actually have postcards made? The traditional way is to look for a printing company near your place of business, pay them a visit, ask about their design and material options, then pick up the postcards after they have been printed. In today’s very busy and risky environment, however, ordering postcards online is a more convenient and safe option. The good news is that even if you will order the postcards online, you can still get the same quality and go through the same ordering process as if you physically visited a printing company. Only, the process is purely online.

Next, how can you choose a suitable printing company to create the postcards for you? First, check out the different printing companies available online. Make sure that they use state-of-the-art printing presses. You can go with digital desktop printers – but the quality is just not the same as real printing presses. Second, check on the available sizes, materials, and finishes that they offer. Would you like a 4” x 6”, 16-pt. ultra-smooth matte postcard? Or maybe you want to make a statement with a 6” x 11” postcard with an ultra-smooth, glossy finish? The next thing to do is upload your design. For this, make sure not to crowd the surface with too much text or unnecessary images. Your message should be direct, and make sure that there’s a call to action.

Finally, ensure that the online printing company offers good customer service. Ask about the turnaround time, determine what to do in case you have questions about the design, and make sure that they reply to order-related inquiries swiftly. With a purely online ordering process, it really is the best decision to go with online printing companies when mailing out postcards for your marketing campaign.

 

Effectively Reach Out to Your Target Market by Printing Postcards

Are you on the lookout for a postcards online printing company? If yes, then you are already one step ahead of your competitor when it comes to print advertising. Even if digital ads are the advertising medium of choice, there is still something about printed materials that make them click with a target market of all ages. If you’re manufacturing a product for female teenagers, for example, they will most probably be curious once they receive a well-designed postcard in the mail. Snail mail is a novelty for them, so this curiosity will fuel their interest and make them visit your website to learn more about your product. Those who are on the older age spectrum will, on the other hand, appreciate the nostalgia of receiving something in the mail. This is precisely why you need to include printing postcards as part of your to-do list in print advertising.

What are the other benefits of printing postcards? Here’s a quick list:

  • Postcard mailing is a highly targeted form of advertising.

When kids watch an ad that’s targeted for adults, it is one example of an advertising method falling flat – simply because the message is not being delivered to its intended audience. With postcard mailing, you can have a highly targeted audience – so those who will receive your postcards are exactly the customers that you’d like to buy your product or take advantage of your service.

  • Postcard mailing is cheap and effective.

If you want, you can take advantage of the EDDM service or Every Door Direct Mail Service of the United States Postal Service. Here, they will mail out postcards to every doorstep within an area that you will specify. Instead of putting together a mailing list by yourself – which takes a lot of time and effort – they will take care of it for you, at a very affordable price per postcard. This makes postcard mailing a cheap and effective form of print advertising.

  • Postcard mailing establishes customer loyalty.

Finally, when you regularly mail out postcards to your target audience, you are actually establishing loyalty to your brand. This is why you should not simply mail out postcards once – you should do so regularly. Use it to greet your customers during the holiday season. Better yet, include a promo code that they can use when they visit your store.

With postcard mailing, you can effectively reach out to your target market without having to pay too high a price for it.

Master the Technique of Printing EDDM Postcards

One of the easiest, cheapest, yet most effective forms of print advertising is postcard marketing. Specifically, you need to print EDDM postcards and take advantage of the “Every Door Direct Mail” service offered by the USPS or United States Postal Service. Here, the postal service will send out your printed marketing material to a specific group of people or even all the households in an area of your choosing. Using the US Census data, they can filter the addresses by age, income, household size, or any other demographic. This makes for an effective yet affordable print marketing campaign.

The Physical Aspects of Postcard Mailers

Consistency is key if you would like to succeed at postcard marketing. If you have an in-store promotion, for example, you can mail out postcards which can serve as the customer’s discount coupon. During holidays or a customer’s birthday, you can do the same thing and print EDDM postcards then mail them out for good measure. The more regularly you send out those promotional postcards, the better brand retention is – and the more loyal your customers will grow.

Now, to master the technique of postcard marketing, you must learn about the physical aspects of these unique mailers. Here are a few things to remember when you print EDDM postcards to use for promoting your brand:

  • Make sure that the postcard is the right size.

Since you will be using the EDDM services of the USPS, there are some size-related requirements that you need to stick to. Other sizes may not be accepted as EDDM, so it’s better to choose the acceptable options. A 6” x 11” postcard is said to be the most effective in mail promotional campaigns while small business owners prefer the 6.5” x 9” size. If you want, you can also go for half the size of a computer paper, or one that’s as large as a greeting card.

  • Also consider the thickness of the paper used.

There are different card stock options when you print EDDM postcards. The thinnest is a 12-pt. card which is like a very thin cardboard, while the thickest is similar to a credit card, with a 32-pt. stock number. The thicker the paper, the heavier the weight. In terms of cost, if one piece of postcard does not exceed the minimum dimensions declared by the postal service, then you will be charged minimal costs for mailing. If you exceed the maximum sizes, you might have to pay more for postage.

Make sure that the overall design of your postcard matches the card stock thickness, size, finish, and the material used. By familiarizing yourself with the various physical aspects of postcard mailers, you can turn your print marketing campaign into a huge success.

Size Matters: Selecting the Right Size when You Print EDDM Postcards

You may have noticed how a lot of companies offer to print EDDM postcards, along with other printed materials. But what’s the difference between a regular postcard and EDDM postcards? If you are launching a full-fledged print marketing campaign to promote your business, it might be difficult to mail regular postcards – especially if you don’t have an extensive collection of customer mailing addresses just yet.

With EDDM, you can simply choose a zip code, neighborhood, or even demographic like a certain age group within an area – and the USPS will take care of mailing out those postcards for you. The service is called EDDM or Every Door Direct Mail, which is just what the name implies: your mailers are delivered to every door within a certain area. In the next section, we will find out which factors you need to consider when you print EDDM postcards to promote your business.

Factors to Consider when Printing Postcards

You naturally want your print marketing campaign to be a success. When printing postcards, what are the most important factors that you need to consider? Take a look:

  1. Size

When you print EDDM postcards, here are some of the most popular sizes to choose from:

  • 4” x 6” – The size of a typical neighborhood flyer.
  • 5” x 7“ – Greeting card size.
  • 5” x 8.5” – Half the size of a computer paper.
  • 5” x 9” – The size preferred by small business owners.
  • 25” x 11” – Popular among big corporations.
  • 6” x 11” – The size which is most effective in mailing campaigns.
  1. Thickness

Next, consider the thickness of the paper used. There are card stocks which have the same thickness as a credit card. Others are thinner or thicker, ranging from 12-pt. to 32-pt. depending on the design of the card and probably your budget, you can opt for very thin, medium thick, or ultra-thick cards.

  1. Material & Finish

Finally, go with a company that provides good quality paper material. For the finish, you can choose from high gloss, matte or a combination of both.

When deciding on the size, thickness, material, and finish as you print EDDM postcards, all these factors should blend well together to come up with a printed promotional product that will effectively get your marketing message across.

 

A Glimpse at the Process & Benefits when You Print EDDM Postcards

The United States Postal Service (USPS) encourages the use of EDDM or Every Door Direct mail services, which is why it pays to print EDDM postcards if you want to promote your business. Here, we will have a glimpse at the EDDM promotional process and its benefits for entrepreneurs – whether they have a small or big business venture.

EDDM: The Process

The goal of the USPS providing EDDM services is to help business owners promote their brand within the local community. Whether you are having a big sale, opening another store in a new location or if you want to bring more customers to your doorstep, you can print EDDM postcards. Through USPS’ EDDM, printed ad materials like postcards are distributed to every home along a specific route. If you have a barbershop, for instance, the postcards you had printed out will be mailed by USPS to every house within the area – thus the name Every Door Direct Mail.

EDDM: The Benefits

Next, what are the benefits of EDDM? When you print EDDM postcards to promote your business, you can enjoy these perks:

  • No need to put together a mailing list.

One of the biggest challenges of marketing any brand is putting together a mailing list which you can use to reach out to customers. With EDDM, there is no need for you to collect email or mailing addresses. By simply identifying the carrier route and the date when you’d like the postcards to be sent out, the USPS will assign a mail carrier to deliver your marketing message to every household in the area.

 

  • Enjoy excellent marketing results within a reasonable budget.

The fact that you’re distributing marketing material to everyone within the vicinity of your business makes your marketing campaign highly targeted. Another bonus is that USPS has great rates so this advertising technique is very affordable.

 

  • Have a flexible print marketing campaign.

Finally, you can print EDDM postcards or any other marketing material that you’d like within your target area. After having them printed out, simply arrange them into bundles, attach a facing slip, then deliver the marketing materials to the nearest USPS branch. After making a payment, the postal service will handle the delivery of your marketing message to every household within your target area. It’s that easy.

 

Must-Remember EDDM & Postcard Printing Tips

EDDM stands for Every Door Direct Mail marketing. It can be part of your business’ print promotional campaign where you can finish a 4 x 6 postcard printing task and have it mailed out to every door within a specific address. If you have a line of organic products targeted towards women, for example, EDDM will work because there is a large percentage of households with women. On the other hand, if you are offering a service like real estate brokering, you might be better off going with a targeted 4 x 6 postcard printing and marketing list. Not all households would have owners who are interested in selling or buying property, so it makes more sense to create a targeted list first.

Whether you decide to launch an EDDM or a targeted 4 x 6 postcard printing mailing campaign, here are a few tips to make it more effective:

• Invest in high-quality postcards.

When looking for a 4 x 6 postcard printing company, go for offset instead of digital printing. There might be some extra cost involved but considering the professional look of the results, offset is worth it in the end. The images are razor sharp and there is a wider color palette that you can use in the design, not to mention more options in terms of paper finish.

• Include a call-to-action.

Be it an EDDM or a direct mail marketing campaign, you must know what to write in the postcard in the first place. The smallest postcard size available is 4” x 6” – which gives you very limited space to work with. The call-to-action should suit your marketing message, and it should be attention grabbing.

• Test a small portion of the market first.

What’s good about postcard marketing is that you can use it to test out a small portion of the market first. If you are launching a new scent, for example, you can mail out postcards as discount coupons to your first 100 customers first. If you get a good response, that is when you can mail out the same postcard to the rest of your mailing list.

• Be aware of hidden costs.

Lastly, EDDMs are usually part of a printing package offered by companies working with the United States Postal Service. When taking advantage of printing and mailing packages, make sure that you are aware of all the costs involved. Also take note of the size restrictions – you might have to spend more when mailing jumbo postcards as compared to the standard-sized ones.

 

The Importance of Call-to-Action when Creating an Every Door Direct Mail Campaign

Online printing serviceYou’re a business owner and you decided to use every door direct mail (EDDM) service when mailing out postcards. This is a good decision on your part because with EDDM, you can print and send out postcards to every address within a specific area, without having to pay too much for the service. Now, when it comes to postcard mailing services, no matter how many times you send out postcards to the recipients, it will all be for naught if you do not have a call to action. Remember that you have very limited space when it comes to sending out postcards using postcard mailing services. You need to maximize the available space in such a way that the reader of the postcard will be triggered to act after taking a good look at your offer.

Check out our list of tips on how to create a call-to-action when sending out printed material for every door direct mail marketing:

• Based on the product or service that you are offering, would every door direct mail marketing work? Or are you better off creating a targeted list first, then looking for postcard mailing services? Let’s say that you are offering a specific service like pet grooming. For this, EDDM might not work because not all households in your area would have a pet dog. It’s better to establish a targeted mailing list first. If you have a general merchandise store, it does make sense to send out postcards to every door in a specific area – because every family might have something that they would need from your store.

• Go for the tried-and-tested offers like offering freebies, discounts, free one-month trials, buy-one-get-one-free offers, or free shipping.

• Phrase your offer in such a way that the reader will be compelled to take action. It makes sense to include a deadline – something like “this offer expires 15 days upon receipt”. That sense of urgency will bring the user to respond to your call to action immediately.

• Whatever it is that you are offering, make sure that it is valuable and relevant to the recipient of the mailer.

With postcard marketing, you have very limited space so make sure that the content is attention-grabbing. Also pay attention to the details when designing the card – make sure that the overall design reflects the image you are portraying as a brand. Finally, look for postcard mailing services that updates you with the status of the delivery so that you can track the results of your every door direct mail or targeted mailing campaign.

 

Combine Direct Mail Services with Postcard Printing to Boost Your Business

Do you know about direct mail services? If you’re a business owner, you can include postcard printing as part of your printed promotional marketing efforts. Combine this with direct mail services and it can surely give your business a boost. But what exactly is direct mail marketing? For this, a mail service like that of the United States Postal Service (USPS) is used to deliver postcards to your target market. It can be an EDDM or Every Door Direct Marketing campaign where all addresses in one area will be sent the material. Or, it can be a more targeted campaign where only existing customers will receive the mailer. No matter which of these two techniques you end up applying, what is important is that you take full advantage of the benefits of direct mail services and postcard printing in general.

How to Make Postcard Printing Effective

Now that you already know the basics of direct mail services, here are some tips on how you can make postcard printing more effective:

• Your message should be short but sweet.

What’s your goal for postcard printing in the first place? Are you a real estate agent who would like to generate leads? If yes, create compelling content on the first page of your postcard and make sure to include a call to action. If this call to action is to call a 1-800 number, state that explicitly on the postcard. In short, your message should be direct and, well, short.

• Invest in offset printing.

With postcard printing, you have two options: digital or offset. In terms of quality, nothing beats offset printing because high-tech printing presses are used. Remember that you have very limited space to write content in or print images on with postcards – so the print should be as sharp as possible.

• Opt for the standard or be bold with unique postcard sizes.

With postcard printing, you have the option to go for standard sizes like 4” x 6” or go bold with huge postcards measuring 6” x 11”.

• Make sure that the overall design reflects your brand.

Include your company logo in the design of the postcard. Make sure that the text does not look crowded on the space, and the overall design should reflect the image that you would like to project as a brand.

• Be consistent!

Finally, consistency is key. Use direct mail services frequently that your customer remembers you – but not so often that they would consider it spam mail. By combining direct mail with postcard printing, you have an effective way of advertising your brand without having to spend too much for it.