Direct Mail Postcard - A D.I.Y Guide

 

Direct mail postcards form part of the direct mail solution of many businesses. Yet the costs associated with them are often astronomical as this involves not only a graphic design team capable of rendering a professional look, but more often than not a professional copy writer capable of supplying effective wording. If you’ve tried either the design or the copywriting yourself you’ll have to admit that it is not always an easy task, until now. In this article we’ll show you the basics of direct mail postcard design and copy writing.

Direct Mail Postcard Design

Creating your own direct mail postcard design can be done in any one of three ways. First off, as already stated, you can invest in the services of professional graphic designers, however this might end up as being rather costly. As a second option you can do the job yourself – from blank page to finished postcard – with the aid of software like Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. Although this might be cheaper than the previous option, it will definitely be more time consuming and requires prior knowledge of the software you want to use. A third option, and probably the cheapest, is by using the internet to design your own direct mail postcards. This is done by simply logging onto any of the online design sites available on the internet and following their instructions.

Direct Mail Postcard Copywriting Tips

Direct mail postcard copywriting, like most other types of copywriting can be considered an art. It consists of sentences carefully woven together to grab the reader’s attention and hold it. It is from that point of view that you should set out to write the copy for your direct mail postcard.

Among the key things to remember is that you should keep it simple, allowing for a vocabulary suitable for almost all people from the different walks of life as those more often than not the intended audience. Additionally sentences should be kept short, informative and spicy. Our recommendation is that you write it down on a piece of paper first and read it yourself. After you’ve read it, pass it around to family and friends until you get an overall and resounding “Yes!”. Do keep in mind that the copy should relate to the design of your direct mail postcard to make sense to the intended recipients.

Direct Mail Postcard D.I.Y – The Final Step

You’ve finished your design complete with graphics and copy, now what? Well, you’ll probably want to get it printed first, then addressed and sent. And if you don’t have a contact list, don’t worry as we’ll be covering that too.

Now you could try and print your direct mail postcard on a normal printer, but that would just cause a problem on a number of fronts:

1. Printers aren’t usually suited to print on postcard cardboard.

2. Even if you do get both side printed perfectly, you’re still left with a postcard without a layer of varnish.

3. Your printer’s ink level will drop quite fast.

As a solution to this we’ll suggest one very affordable solution for all your direct mail postcard needs: online printers. Yes, that’s it – online printers. Not only do they have the equipment necessary to print high volumes of direct mail postcards, but they more often than not offer an additional service of addressing, stamping and sending the postcards for you. And just in case you don’t have a contact list, they’ll be able to supply you with that too.

So you see, by using the internet as a platform to design your own direct mail postcard and using online printers to handle everything from the printing to the sending of your direct mail postcards, the only real effort you have to put in is to think of a couple of words that will sell your product to the intended recipients of your direct mail postcard.

 

Article created on 2/23/2009

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