easy postcard marketing

Small Business Starter Kits Offer Entrepreneurs Professional Appearance

HAMILTON, BERMUDA–(Marketwire - March 26, 2009) - VistaPrint Limited (NASDAQ: VPRT), the small business marketing company, today announced that it will act as a marquee sponsor for Babson College’s John H. Muller Jr. Undergraduate Business Plan Competition, which takes place on April 16, 2009. The college is well known for its business and entrepreneurship programs, and VistaPrint is happy to support its talented students that have the ambition to start out on their own.

Along with the sponsorship, VistaPrint will provide the students competing in the contest with small business startup kit, which includes matching business cards, postcards, brochures, Website and letterhead. A VistaPrint representative will be in attendance for the April 16 competition and serve on the panel of judges selecting the contest’s winner. Contestants are judged on their business plan’s content as well as a live presentation to the panel.

"Entrepreneurs have been turning to VistaPrint for nearly a decade to produce high-quality marketing materials that give them the look and feel of a large business," said Chief Marketing Officer of VistaPrint North America, Trynka Shineman. "Sponsoring the John H. Muller Jr. Undergraduate Business Plan Competition is a great opportunity for us to help the next generation of local entrepreneurs start off on the right foot. We hope that all of the competitors go on to great things and succeed in the small businesses they are proposing."

VistaPrint has acted as a trusted partner to countless small businesses over the years, providing tremendous value on everything from business cards and postcards to Websites. As entrepreneurs and their needs have continued to grow, so have the company’s products and services; over the years, VistaPrint has expanded its product line from just business cards, to an entire suite of printed and electronic marketing materials.

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Marketing Postcards

One of the best things about postcard marketing is its cost-effectiveness. For just a small amount of budget, you can launch an effective marketing campaign with a promising Return on Investment (ROI). In this article, we’ll discuss how you can make sure that your postcard advertising campaign would generate positive results.

Increase Your ROI With These Proven Techniques

Pay attention to your postcard design. Does it really make a big difference how your postcards are presented? Yes, of course. People pay attention to great designs. If your postcard is boring, chances are people won’t even bother to look at them. However, this doesn’t mean that your postcards should be overly designed. Spend some time and choose a design that best matches the concept of your postcard.

Focus on one message. Don’t try to fill your postcard with too many information. Postcards have a limited space and you’ll want to make sure that your message would be easily readable. Make sure that there is enough white space on your postcard. Take time in conceptualizing and putting an effective message together. An effective message doesn’t need to be long. Even just a few RIGHT words or phrase can make a big impact to people.

Track the results of your postcard advertising. Use your postcards as coupons so you can track the results more easily. When a customer brings the postcard to your shop to avail of the discount, you’ll know right away that your marketing campaign is working. You can easily count your ROI based on the number of postcards that were returned to your shop.

If you have a business website, you can also enclose a discount code in your postcard that your recipients can use when they purchase online. If you want to track your results, you can simply count the codes that your customers used for online purchases.

Keep your customers updated with postcards.

What else can you do with postcards? Let your customers know the latest happenings in your shop by sending them postcards. Is there a sale in your shop? Are you introducing a new product? Are you celebrating your store’s first anniversary? Use postcards to announce important events about your business.

Postcards don’t always have to be mailed.

Mailing postcards is cheap but you can also just distribute them personally. For instance, if you’re part of a trade show, hand out postcards to the participants of the event. Hand them out to your friends or ask your friends to hand them out for you.

If you’re on a budget, you can distribute small cards or mini postcards instead of the standard sized cards. For instance, if you want people to check out your website, you can print the URL of your site on a mini postcard, with a short but captivating message and catchy design.

Keep track of the results.

Be sure to monitor the results of your postcard marketing campaign so you’ll know if it’s working. If the results were not as good as you expected, examine the steps you’ve taken. Remember, you may need to send out postcards to the same group of people at least three times before you get the response you want.

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Advertising Postcards

BRIDGEPORT — Elaine Carvalho’s grandmother stored old city postcards in a scrapbook, which Carvalho — the city’s acting assessor — mistakenly threw away six years ago.

In her quest to reclaim some of her grandmother’s personal mail, Carvalho became fascinated with the wealth of city memorabilia and collectibles up for sale on the Internet.

Zoning Inspector Neil Bonney began traveling the city four years ago as part of his zoning enforcement work. During that time, he became enthralled with the city’s architecture. Last year, he took to walking the city streets during his lunch hour and taking photos of new and old business signs, as well as "ghost signs" — old fading murals drawn onto the sides of buildings advertising a business or product.

Since they began compiling city history, Carvalho and Bonney have assembled collections worthy of a shelf in the city’s historical collections department at the Burroughs and Saden Library. Instead, though, both city employees use their city offices to display their proud pieces.

Bonney, who doesn’t consider himself a photographer, has a collection of about a dozen images of signs — like the one touting the now-defunct Conty’s restaurant — and ghost signs, like the one displayed downtown advertising the old Corbit’s Studio.

"Ever since I started working here, at lunch I took walks downtown so I started noticing the architecture. When you’re on foot and you’re a visual person like myself, you

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Marketing Postcard

One of the most important elements in the success of postcard marketing is using the right mailing list.  To achieve the best results, you need to send out those postcards to the right people.  Otherwise, handing out your business postcards to the wrong market could make your campaign futile or unsuccessful. 

Obviously, people who are not interested with the message of your postcard may just throw it in the trash can. For instance, bachelors or yuppies won’t be interested in postcards that advertise about children’s books, diapers or other products for kids.  On the contrary, mothers would be very interested to find out more about these products. 

Remember, even if your recipients take the moment to read the message of your postcard, if it doesn’t appeal to them or if they have no need of what you offer, your postcards won’t initiate a response.  Therefore, it is very important to make sure that your postcards are reaching your target market. 

Do you know who your target market is?  If yes, do you know where to find them?  More importantly, do you know how you can reach out to them?  The answer is by using the right prospect’s listing or mailing list.

Using the Right List in Postcard Advertising

So the next question is, where can you get the right mailing list?  Some long time online internet marketers prefer to use their own opt-in list.  If you’re offering newsletters from your business website, the people who sign up for your e-zine subscription are the most promising prospects.  They signed up for your newsletter because they’re interested in what you have to offer.  Therefore, sending these people your advertising postcards is most likely to generate positive results for you.

But what if you have just started your mailing list, or you don’t have a mailing list?  In that case, you may also buy a mailing list from a reputable broker.  If you search the web, you can find companies that offer mailing lists for business owners and internet marketers.  But don’t just buy from any broker.  Check the companies background and reputation and their policy in collecting their prospect lists.

Watch out for mailing list companies that may sell you poor quality listing.  You may be provided with a thousand names and emails for a cheap price but some of the names or emails may be inexistent.  Avoid listings that have not been updated for a long time as the email addresses on these lists may not be working.  It is also advisable to get a list that includes a demographic report of the names on the list.  This way, you can choose your prospects more effectively.

It is also recommended to start building your exclusive mailing list today.  You can distribute free newsletters so visitors on your site can easily sign up if they agree to receive your e-zine through email.  In just a few months, you should be able to build up your own quality listing.

Read More How To Make Postcard Marketing Work?

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HUDSON, Ohio, March 15 (UPI) — An insurance agent in Hudson, Ohio, says he received a postcard from someone he did not know and was dated 1962.

Insurance agent Dave Conn said he was confused by the postcard signed by someone named Fran that appeared in his post office box recently, the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal reported Thursday.

After doing some digging, Conn said he connected the postcard to the late Beacon Journal reporter Frances B. Murphey, who routinely traveled the nation and sent postcards to friends.

While the postcard’s sender and intended recipient — Marion White, who died in 1998 — have been identified, the reason for the delay in its delivery from Montana remains a mystery.

‘’It could have been stuck in equipment,'’ U.S. Postal Service spokesman Victor Dubina suggested.

"We will never know, but the important thing is once we see it, we will get it delivered,'’ Dubina added.

Conn told the Beacon Journal he is equally uncertain as to what he will do with the postcard.

From UPI.com

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Post Card Marketing

If you plan on sending postcards to a large number of people, it is advisable to have them printed with a professional postcard printing company.  There are many printing companies that offer postcard printing services, and each company varies in rates and offers. 

Why choose a postcard printing company when marketing postcards? 

The internet is a great source of postcard printing services. Online companies present a more convenient way of accepting orders from customers. As a business owner, online postcard printing is a great advantage because it saves you time and effort in preparing your postcards.  Let’s discuss some important points about online postcard printing companies.

In the past, creating a postcard design has to be done manually and scanned manually so that they can be printed out.  Today, a postcard design can be done right from your computer.  Afterwards, you can send your finished design to a postcard printing company right through the internet.  Some postcard printers even have the customizable design option, where the customer can create his own design himself from the printing company’s website.

A customizable postcard design presents ready-to-use templates to make designing easier.  Here, you can create your own headline, message, choose your own photos or images for your postcard. Of course, you can simply input all your business contact details such as your business address, telephone number, e-mail address, website, etc.

Once done, you’ll be able to view your finished design which can be saved as a JPEG or PDF file.  If you need to make some changes, you have the option to go back and edit your design. On the other hand, if you’re satisfied with your design, you can go right ahead to the next step.

There are printing postcard companies that also offer its own mailing list for customers.  Thus, if you don’t have your own mailing list, you can use this option and get a list right from the printing company’s website.  However, if you already have your own mailing list, you can just upload the file to the website.

Most postcard printing websites allow its customers to choose the materials that will be used for the postcards.  If you want colored, glossy postcards, all you have to do is choose the options from the web page.

Next, the customer will choose his preferred mailing option- whether a Standard Mail or a First Class Mail which gives additional mailing options like the “return to sender” option and a faster delivery service.  Once done, a confirmation page will present your final postcard design and your order instructions for you to approve.  After completing information and submitting the order page, the printing company will start processing your orders.

As you can see, the postcard printing company will take care of everything – from printing the postcards and sending them to the appropriate addresses in your mailing list.  It takes a lot of tasks off your workload so you can use your time attending to other areas of your business.

Read More  Why Choose a Postcard Printing Company

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The recession is deepening, the dollar is falling but there is one thing it appears we are not yet prepared to give up, travel.

But despite being tempted with picture postcard images, people are thinking twice before splashing out.

When ONE News recently attended a travel expo inside the interest was definitely there.

According to expo organisers, House of Travel, the big difference is that in 2009 there is no need for a hard sell. Consumers know it is a buyers market and they are after a bargain.

"This is the second expo we’ve been to this year and these are what we were hoping to get. We didn’t the first time but we’re getting what we want now," says bargain hunter Sue Stone.

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Post Card Marketing

Launching a postcard marketing campaign requires planning and preparation.  If you have plans of marketing with postcards, have you given it enough thought and preparation?  In this article, let’s talk about three things that must be considered before starting a postcard marketing campaign.

Start with the Right Mailing List

A good mailing list should be on top of your priority.  Sending the postcards to the right people will ensure the success of your campaign.  On the contrary, sending postcards to the wrong market could be a waste of time and money.  Do you already know who your target audience is?  Be sure that you have clearly defined a target market and if not, be ready to do some research about it.

Every business has its own target market.  For instance, if you’re in the women’s clothing business, then you might want to focus your marketing efforts on women who are within a certain age bracket.  If you’re selling children’s toys, then your target market would be parents or families with children.  Thus, every business needs to know the right audience to promote its products and services to.

You may also divide your postcard marketing campaign between your old customers and new prospects.  You could send two different messages for existing customers and for people who have never tried your products or services before. 

Therefore, the right mailing list is crucial in the effectiveness of your campaign.  Knowing who you’ll send your postcards to will be a great advantage in creating an effective message.  If you don’t have a list of names of prospects, you can also buy a mailing list from reputable mailing list company.

Your Headline

Postcards are great because the message gets read right away.  The recipient doesn’t need to open the envelope to read the message.  That is also why it is crucial for your headline to immediately capture your reader’s attention.  If your headline fails to attract your reader’s interest, you lose your chance of getting the rest of your message read.

In order to be effective, make sure that your headline reaches out to your target audience.  Make it short and precise.  Don’t use ambiguous headlines that can be misunderstood.  Keep in mind that you only have a few seconds to capture a reader’s attention with your headline.

Your message

Postcards are used to generate a positive action from a prospect.  Unlike a sales letter, postcards cannot contain all the advantages of all your products and services.  Thus, you can use postcards to invite customers to come to your store, check out a website, try out a new product, or grab a discount. 

State the benefits of your offer.  If you have a sale going on in your store, say so.  Entice your audience by offering benefits for taking action.  After stating the benefits, make sure that you use call-to-action statements in the end.  Remember, a postcard can only contain short messages so make sure that each statement you use is powerful enough to gain response from your audience.

Read More  3 Things to Consider Before Postcard Marketing

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With the nation’s economy in a recession, high-profile financiers under investigation for fraud, joblessness on the rise and home foreclosures increasing, Texans are understandably nervous about the nation’s economy. And hard times always raise new questions for Texans who are looking for the best way to protect their hard-earned money.

Generally, a well-balanced financial strategy combines insurance and investment options, but it can be difficult to understand all of the options available in the current marketplace. So it is imperative that Texans educate themselves about their financial opportunities and make sure they are dealing with reputable companies and sales agents.

The Office of the Attorney General works with the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) and the Texas State Securities Board to help protect investors from fraud and deception in the financial services industry. Specifically, the OAG monitors how insurance companies market their products and pay benefits. Under the Texas Insurance Code and the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, the OAG is authorized to pursue anyone in the “business of insurance” who seeks to defraud their Texas customers.

The State Securities Board, which is the state’s primary securities regulator, is authorized to investigate when Texans complain about the sale of securities, notes, limited partnership interests, commercial paper, oil and gas investments, and investment contracts. The board is responsible for detecting and preventing violations of the Texas Securities Act, including the illegal sale of unregistered or non-exempt securities, securities sales by unregistered dealers, and fraud committed in connection with the sale of securities and investments.

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Search the internet and you’ll find thousands of money-making opportunities that may instantly attract you. Yes, these are legitimate opportunities and anyone who is determined to make it online, really has great potential to succeed.

But why do some internet marketers fail with their online business? What are the obstacles they faced that you can expect to meet as well? In this article, let’s discuss some of the challenges of starting a homebased business as well as some practical advice on how to get over them.

Insufficient skills. The lack of skills particularly when it comes to the technical aspects of internet marketing is often a major set-back for many. Before you venture into a home-based internet business, ask yourself, “Do I have the technical skills needed to run an online business?”

For instance, do you have a basic knowledge of computers and the internet? Do you really understand what internet marketing is all about? Do you know how to set up or maintain a website? If not, then it is recommended to get the necessary training before even starting to take on this type of business.

Poor product. If you’re going to start a home-based business, one of the first questions you should think about is, “what do I sell?” Not having an effective product or a service to offer will definitely hinder your success. Before starting a business, make sure that you have something to offer your target market, otherwise, you won’t be making it in the industry.

Not enough budget. Another challenge that every new online marketer must face is the financial challenge. Sadly, many aspiring marketers immediately jumped into the business without considering their budget. Many have the false notion that they will be able to get back the money they invested right away.

But the truth is, most businesses need to wait a few months before they start enjoying profits. Aside from the start-up capital, you need to make sure that you have enough funds to support you and your family while your business tries to establish its footing. The principle applies to an internet business.

Lack of patience. Again, challenges can be expected and if the entrepreneur doesn’t have the patience or the drive to face up to these challenges, the business will surely fail. In some cases, an aspiring internet seller gets into a business that he’s not really interested in.

For example, you may not be interested in making scrapbooks but since it’s in demand in the market, you’ve decided to start an online scrapbooking business. Unfortunately, because you were not genuinely interested in that type of business, you lose the drive after just a couple of months of opening the business.

Thus, if you want to start a business, it is recommended to choose one that is related to your passion. This way, even if you encounter some difficulties along the way, you won’t lose the drive to continue until you reach success.

Read More The Challenge of Making Money From the Internet

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