How to Inspire Action with Highly-Engaging Postcards

What do dentists and direct mail have in common?

New clients! Direct mail has proven to be a remarkable investment for small businesses of many kinds, especially for entrepreneurs looking to grow their client base.

Dr. Diep Truong (of Viva Dental) gave direct mail postcard marketing a try in 2011. After streamlining a process for mailer design, demographic targeting, and ROI reporting, this Indiana-based facility consistently experienced a 400% ROI on their postcard campaigns, with a 50% conversion rate of inbound calls for scheduling appointments.

As 2020 kept people closer to home, attentiveness to direct mail has grown. As a result, response rates are high, and now is the time to invest in sharp, unique direct mail campaigns! Postcards are a particularly good investment, with oversized postcards garnering one of the highest direct mail response rates.

According to recent statistics, 23.4% of consumers say they would respond to relevant postcards of interest to them (compared to 7.9% for letter-sized envelopes).

Ready to wade into the water of a new postcard campaign? Here are a few steps to success in 2021:

Take a Multi-Pronged Approach

One of the biggest trends direct mail is seeing is the consolidation of online and offline advertising.

Take a multi-pronged approach to generating leads, so your social media ads prompt curiosity, but your print ads pack some punch with greater neurological impact.  

Keep it Simple and Succinct

People are busy, and if they’re going to look at your mail, they’ll need a good reason.

Make sure your postcard leaps off the counter with unique imagery, splashy colors, a memorable catchphrase, or an unbeatable offer. And remember, when it comes to direct mail, less is more. Postcards that are sharp and straightforward will communicate much more than those packed with content.

Grab Emotions

According to one Harvard marketing study, 95% of purchasing decisions are made subconsciously.

If people’s hearts are in the driver’s seat, then direct mail should aim straight at this target. Research shows that the primary emotional appeals that prompt action are:

• Fear


• Greed


• Anger


• Guilt


• Flattery


• Exclusivity


• Salvation

Experiment with Specialty Branding Features

Because postcards are so economical, there’s lots of room to add embellishments.

Try haptic coatings, embossed logos, foil-flecked accents, or even scents.  When Sunsilk co-creations wanted to snag more customers, they decided to add an experiential element to their designs. Its gorgeous lime and hot pink postcards came with a tiny shampoo sample attached and a scented trial as well: “scratch to smell the new fruity fresh fragrance of this apple-coconut shampoo!” Customers may not sniff shampoo in the store aisle, but a scented postcard is irresistible!

Specialty branding makes a stronger impression on readers as they physically interact with your marketing. So build curiosity and engagement with these fresh, creative designs.

Postcards Inspire Action

Postcards are distinct, direct, and easy to read.

50.9% of people say they find postcards useful, and direct mail as a whole is especially inspiring to young people. Because many people today are glued to their phones, millennials, in particular, say that postal mail inspires them to action much more often than email (in fact, 30% say direct mail is effective in getting them to visit a website, go to a store, or make a purchase).

When you are ready to take your postcard marketing efforts to the next level, sign up for a personal consultation with one of our mailing experts. Our work-in-progress partnership will simplify each step and position your business for maximum impact!

How Print QR Code Cards are Marketing Genius

Business cards, postcards, and other print marketing pieces with QR codes can be extremely effective in developing support for your business, especially when starting from the ground floor.

Utilizing the Graphic Ease of a QR Code

The QR code is ideal for an immediate and instant connection to a large range of audiences because it doesn’t require a lot of comprehension.

Instead, the technology behind the QR code uses what people are already carrying, a smartphone or image-reading mobile device. So, all that needs to be done is for your audience to use the mobile device camera and capture the QR code. Then, it automatically provides a hyperlink to the given digital information associated with the specific image.

Effective Communication

Unlike QR images on doors, posters, or websites, did you know the QR code on a card or postcard can actually be retained better?

While one QR code can easily be scanned right away, the problem is when a viewer has multiple QR codes to deal with. They start scanning and clicking, and soon enough, the first code is forgotten, and the second or third becomes the attention focus.

However, with a business card or postcard, one can store it quickly and then remember it again later when there’s more time. That retention often makes printed QR code handouts far more effective overall from a marketing perspective.

Affordable and Budget Competitive

One of the best advantages of printed QR code postcards and business cards is how cost-effective they are.

Small businesses and cost-conscious larger players can all take advantage of print orders for low market expenses and high-impact results.

Raster Images vs. Vector Graphics - What's the Difference and Why is it Important?

Do you ever wonder why something you printed turned out pixelated or blurry?

That’s because the image used was raster -- meaning that it’s composed of pixels that can only be scaled to a certain degree. Therefore, to achieve a crisp and clean look, a file must be vectorized. Confused? Don’t fret. Continue reading to understand what these terms really mean.

Raster Images

The most common form of raster images are digitized photographs, detailed graphics, or scanned artwork.

Raster images are pixel-based, meaning they’re composed of a grid of individual pixels in which each pixel is coded in a specific hue or shade. Because raster images are pixel-based, they suffer from image degradation (this is not a disease, rather an effect of a cause). The same way a photographic image gets blurry and imprecise when enlarged, a raster image gets rough and jagged.

In order to maximize the quality of a raster image, the resolution must be high. Meaning from the time the image was created, it must be created at a high resolution, as it becomes much more challenging to take a low-resolution image and attempt to enlarge it to a high resolution. This is nearly impossible unless you have the right equipment. The most common raster file formats include JPEG, GIF, TIFF, PCX, and BMP files.

Vector Graphics

When understanding vector graphics, think of geometric shapes such as polygons, lines, curves, circles, and rectangles.

These graphics are mostly images that have been created or designed rather than images that were captured or scanned. Examples would be a business logo, a t-shirt design, or the graphics in a catalog. Vector images are quickly and easily scalable. There is no limit as to how large or how small a vector graphic can be scaled. No matter what size, the graphic will never look pixelated or blurry. Because these graphics aren’t composed of millions of tiny pixels, they’re much more efficient and versatile when developing and printing. File formats most commonly used for vector graphics are AI, EPS, SVG, and sometimes PDF.

Both raster images and vector graphics are used for printing purposes. Neither one is better than the other. Applying the knowledge of why their differences are important will help when deciding how to create an image and the best option for printing.

Why 2021 Direct Mail Marketing Still Matters for Retail Food Businesses

While people are finally able to obtain a vaccine for COVID-19 and the ability to travel, move around, shop, and dine out is increasing, restaurants have a long hill ahead of them before getting back to a business “normality.”

In fact, entire behavior patterns have changed in people after a year of completely living at home and avoiding regular work presence, school, commuting, and traffic. And that means businesses have to work extra hard in diversifying how they produce income and revenue channels to stay viable.

Many restaurants realized early the only way they were going to stay in business was to boost their ability to handle delivery, ordering out, pick up, and other forms of fresh-cooked food transfer to customers who could no longer dine in.

While people generally tried producing their food regularly at home, overall, Americans are used to picking up and eating out. So, the demand never actually left; it was stifled by COVID restrictions.

However, even now, many communities are still maintaining social restrictions to prevent new COVID infections until vaccinations are fully in place at every age level. That means restaurants and food preparation businesses have to continue leveraging direct mail to be heard, seen, connect and remain on the attention radar of customers.

4 Reasons Direct Mail Works

1. Direct mail is almost always local.

The most likely customers that can and will visit a restaurant from the surrounding area are the primary target for print mails.

2. Direct mail is significantly lower in cost than other marketing channels.

This is a key factor for food businesses that are already strapped and trying to stay in breakeven with the loss of income thanks to COVID.

3. Direct mail has a higher return on investment.

The return on investment of a simple print card mailer can be thousands upon thousands of dollars when a customer responds to an included call to action.

Add in the additional benefit of discounting, and that same customer is likely to buy even more, increasing a business's revenue and cash flow per sale.

4. Direct mailers should be designed to be re-used.

Customers love the ability to use a marketing tool or coupon repeatedly.

And that creates both business retention and a greater amount of income stream for a restaurant or food business, again the primary goal of the effort in the first place.

Now is the Time

Restaurants and food businesses that rely on retail traffic shouldn’t be waiting for social restrictions to lift further.

Marketing takes time to have a positive effect, which is why direct mail efforts need to be sent out on a cyclical basis, pushing and reminding folks of a restaurant’s presence and availability.

As people keep being reminded, especially as they start commuting to work again, the food business will become viable and convenient for a warm meal, even if it is still takeout or delivery. Card stock direct mailers can help tremendously. So don’t wait for the market to reappear. Get out there and chase it now!