Use Postcards in Your Marketing – Design Postcards That People Want to Keep & Share

Posted on March 2nd, 2009, by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D.

Postcards are a fabulous way to market yourself, your services and your products. Here’s why:

They don’t have to be ‘opened,’ so even if they are getting tossed, people will see what you have to say (or what you are showing).
You can get a variety of sizes – so it’s worth considering an unusual size so that your message stands out. However, choosing traditional 4 x 6″ and 5 x 8″ makes sense because the postage is traditional postcard and regular letter-size (in the U.S.) respectively.
Other people will see your postcard (and what you are marketing) even when the card isn’t addressed to them. Mail sorters, postal workers, administrative staff, etc. will all see your message, which wouldn’t be true with a letter or some other type of parcel.

There are many places to access postcard-design services, but the purpose of this article is to give you some suggestions for how to create your own. You may be wondering,

How do you design a postcard?
Are there templates (like when you’re doing an Avery label) or some such that could go straight to a printer?
Are there minimum amounts of space for the stamp that the post office requires?

Here are some answers to help you think through this process:

When I design a postcard, I use Microsoft Publisher. It’s an inexpensive and easy-to-use tool. MS Publisher provides templates (size-wise) to create postcards. I put in my own graphics, but with their templates, it’s easy to see how much space I have. And pretty much, you can utilize ALL the space. You only need a place for the stamp and the label. Almost all the rest of the “real estate” can be used for your information.
Then, once I’ve designed the postcard and proofed it 100 times (with others’ editing eyes, too), then I send it both in Publisher and as a PDF to my printer and then they do the actual printing there.
Consider designing a postcard that is one that people want to keep – either with statistics, a quote, a picture, a cartoon, or something along this line. That way, it’s less likely to get tossed. For most entrepreneurs, if you think about the work you are doing and the message you are sending and the people you are sending it to, then you can generate a ‘keeper’ postcard. You want to design a postcard that stands out enough that people post it on their walls, pass it around to others, or even contact you to get more of them. Then you know you have created a clever postcard.
And, with that being said….this may be a time for “elance to the rescue.” You could spend your time putting together the content (most of which would be lifted right off your website) and they could worry about the design. My guess is that you could get a professionally-designed brochure for less than $100-maybe significantly less. If you post this as a job, I’d give about a 48-hour window for them to respond so you have fewer ones to go through…and maybe even a 24-hour window. Elancers would see this as fairly simple and so you could be overrun with proposals if you leave the window open too long.

If you haven’t used postcards up to this point, try them. In addition to mailing them out to prospective clients, you can also hand them out in workshops, at networking events, or instead of a business card (as long as it’s clearly representing you).

And if you would like to receive some examples of postcards I’ve used with great success, just email me with your best mailing address (US only, please) and I’ll send them along. You’ll find my email address on my website,

**http://www.meggin.com

Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh changes what people know, feel, dream, and do via seminars, workshops, writing, coaching, & consulting.

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