Common Postcard Pitfalls
by Janice JenkinsI would say that the number one mistake I see in the postcards showing up in my mail is that they often are trying to say far too much. This is not the only issue I am going to be discussing about postcard printing, but I do consider it to be one of the most important ones, mainly because it happens so often.
A postcards needs to accomplish two things. The first is getting someone’s attention and the second is delivering a message. These can sometimes be in conflict with each other, leading to the problem of saying too much.
A lot of text is not very good at drawing the eye, and can often have the exact opposite affect. If I see a lot of text on a postcard I might be less inclined to even pick it up because I do not feel like dealing with reading through all of that information.
The eye catching part of the postcard usually has to do with having a good image or picture of some kind on them. These kinds of things take up quite a bit of space, which is why it can be in conflict with your need to deliver your message, especially if you have a long message to deliver.
The solution is to limit the length of your message and only use short, to the point marketing messages when using postcards. Remember that there is a long list of advertisements out there for you to choose from, and you might need something longer than postcard printingg to deliver your message. If you do have a longer message than use the right advertising for your length, and do not try to cram too much into a single postcard. You will not be doing yourself any favors by trying.
The next problem has to do with the eye catching part of the postcard. A very common reason why I am not going to look at a postcard is because it did not give me enough of a reason to. The postcard was not interesting enough, nor did it give me a reason to take interest in it.
You do not always have to go with images to get a person to look at your postcard, and strong headlines can achieve this. But whatever you go with you have to be certain that your postcard immediately makes a person want to look at it.
The final mistake comes from postcards that do not deliver their message fast enough. This can relate to my first problem, but this is a little different. The reason is that a company can use a short, appropriate message for their postcard, but they do not phrase it in an easy to understand manner.
I have to read through it completely in order to understand what they are trying to say. The best postcards are going to have a few short sentences at most that a person can glance at in order to understand what it says. Really you should have a headline that conveys the basic message, and everything else is just extra details.
The faster you deliver your message the sooner a person finishes reading your postcard and the better the odds are of them absorbing what your message was.