Choosing a Postcard Company by Brandon Cornett, Part 1

How to Choose a Postcard Printing Company
by Brandon Cornett

Direct mail postcards can help you promote your business easily, effectively and affordably. But to capitalize on these benefits, you need a reliable and efficient program in place. That's where postcard printing services come into the picture.
These days, there are dozens of postcard printing services, but not all are created equal. This can make the selection process overwhelming. But it doesn't have to be. To understand the differences between postcard printing companies, you simply have to evaluate and compare their services in a systematic way.
Here are some key criteria you should look at when choosing a postcard printing service:
Knowledge & Experience
When shopping for a custom postcard printing service, you should find out what background and experience they have. The good news is, you can go about it fairly easily — just visit their website, or pick up the phone and call.
A postcard printing company is only as good as its people, so find out:
• Who makes up the company?
• What unique skills and experience do they have?
• How much do they know about printing and direct mail marketing?
• Do they offer educational tools as part of their service?
• Have they published relevant articles in magazines or online?
Postcard Design Options
As far as your prospects are concerned, your direct mail postcards reflect your company as a whole. Design matters, so ask each postcard printing company what kind of design options they have. If they say they only do the printing, and that you're on your own to create a design, keep shopping!
Some postcard printing services offer a variety of design options to match the varying skill levels of their customers.
Common design offerings include:
• Web-based design tools
• Complete design templates that customers can personalize
• The ability for customers to upload their own designs
• Stock images for customers to use
• The ability for customers to proof their designs online before checkout
Choose a postcard printing company that offers at least two of these design options. If you find one that offers all of them, even better!
Mailing List Options
When it comes to direct mail marketing, your list is more than just a way to reach your audience. Your list is your audience.
Most marketers maintain an in-house database of customers and/or prospects. So when reviewing postcard printing services, ask if you can upload your own list. This is a common offering, but it's best to make sure.
But what if you don't have a mailing list? Or what if you want to do a mailing to a new group of prospects, people who aren't on your in-house list? In such cases, you'll need a postcard printing company that offers some way to build a list online.
This kind of feature is not as common as the "use your own" approach, so when you find a postcard company who offers this, write them down for further consideration. Then proceed to evaluate them based on the other checkpoints in this guide.