What century are we in again?  I thought printed paper was going away with all these online solutions like email, ebrochures and ebooks.  The reality is it's not and life as we know it will always have a use for paper.

Postcards are one of those paper products.  Postcards are still widely used today from friends and family to send a quick travel message, but also from businesses to reach out to potential customers.  Do you use them in your business?  Let's take a look at some of the benefits (why) of using postcards, some of the uses (how) of postcards and some of the places (where) you can get them printed.

Benefits of Postcards

Although there is a long list of the benefits, I'm only going to cover the top 6 benefits in this post.  If you are still in the need for more benefits, take a look at some of the great articles listed in the Related Articles section below.

1. Easy to Make: Since the space is limited, it is easy to create the content you need and focus on key messages.
2. Economical: Printing postcards will cost you about $0.25 to print and mail...that's cheap!
3. Flexible: Since a postcard has limited content and messaging, you're actually able to create multiple marketing campaigns through the year to reach out to your customers and potential customers.
4. Targeted: Instead of generic ad in a newspaper/yellow pages or even online, you can target the type of audience you want to reach out to.
5. Trackable: If the postcard contains a coupon or promotion code, you can easily track the effectiveness of your marketing spend.
6. Effective: Postcards are quick and easy to read which make them more effective.  You don't have to open the envelope to see what's inside.  The information you are sharing is easy to see and is easy to take action.

Uses of Postcards

I am quite sure I'm not going to be able to list all the uses of postcards, but here's a good start of how I have used them in the past:

1. Thank You Cards: Most used and very important.
2. Announcement Notices: New Sale, New Product, New Event, New Promotion, anything New.
3. Best Wishes: Birthday, Anniversaries, etc.
4. Special Appreciation: For your current customers, give them special consideration.
5. Marketing: Broadcasting to get new customers.
6. Reminders: To remind your customers of annual sales, special promotion sales, etc.

Places to Print Postcards

If you Google “printing postcards” you will get many results and it's difficult to know where to start.  Here are some of the places that we have used in the past and do a great job.

• www.moo.com
• www.vistaprint.com
• www.postcards.com

Where have you used postcards?  Please share what you have learned and any tips you have to make postcards an effective tool to build and grow your business.

Related Links

• Jolt Thinking: The magic of mail by Chuck Green
• 8 ways to use postcards effectively by Crystal Uppercue
• Postcard your way to profits by Sue Barret

Main image courtesy of dancingshiba

Just a friendly reminder to enter Meylah's July Contest: What's Your Passion? Name Your Price! for a chance to get your own personalized site at your price...entries will be accepted up until July 31, 2010.