Postcards, like coupons, event invitations, sales announcements, and real estate postcards, are a tried-and-true way of marketing small businesses, especially if you’re marketing to your local community. Even in the digital age, postcards are still a credible, well-established marketing strategy—even more so with ads and screens on every corner.
The key to making them work is their design. If you’re looking for inspiration, I’ve rounded up the best business postcard examples below and what makes them work.
1. Welcome or “New to Town” Postcard Examples
One of the most basic types of marketing postcards is a Welcome or “New to Town” postcard. These postcards are sent to new members of your community (hence its name) to introduce your business and build your brand presence.
Welcome postcards can work for any type of business or industry, and they’re a great way to make an excellent first impression on new audiences. Design-wise, they can also be as creative and eye-catching as you want.
Think of your postcard as a blank canvas where you can shape your audience’s first impression of your business. Don’t be afraid to incorporate your brand identity, like in the postcard design ideas and examples below.
An easy way to automatically send Welcome postcards to new members of your community is through Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) postcards through a postcard service like PostcardMania. These postcards are sent to every address in a certain location or zip code, saving you time and money.
2. Coupon Postcards
One of my favorite things about postcards is they’re one of the most versatile marketing materials. You can use them for just about any stage of the marketing funnel—including offering coupons for customer retention. Coupons are a staple in local marketing, even to this day. Studies even show that 78% of consumers look at every coupon they receive in their mail.
And no matter your coupon strategy, postcards are a good avenue to offer them. You can use your entire postcard for your coupon or even offer multiple coupons customers can tear off to use at another time (aka to keep them coming back to your business).
3. Creative & Interactive Postcard Design Ideas
Postcards don’t always have to be monodirectional. On the contrary, some of the best examples of postcards for businesses are the most unexpected and out-of-the-box ones. The best marketing strategies are always engaging and memorable—even through something as simple as a postcard.
Take, for example, the postcard design ideas below, which are both unexpected and interactive. They can guarantee that your postcard will immediately stand out from a pile and make your message more memorable.
4. Loyalty Program Postcards
If you have a loyalty or rewards program, one of the best business postcard ideas is to invite your most loyal customers to them via direct mail. While it’s perfectly fine to send them via email, traditional mail gives it an extra touch of exclusivity, making your customers feel more valued and appreciated.
Plus, you can even use premium paper to make your postcards feel even more special. Make sure to include instructions on how your loyalty program works, or you can even add a QR code that links to a landing page for more information.
5. Event Invitation Postcards
Aside from inviting customers to your loyalty program, you can also use postcards as regular event invitations, say if you have an upcoming grand opening or a workshop. Physical event invitations aren’t as common in the digital age, which is all the more reason they can help you stand out from the crowd. You can even be as creative as you like in your design to really leave an impression.
6. Holiday or Birthday Greetings Postcards
Remember those postcards you would send friends and family members during birthdays or holidays? You can also do the same for your most loyal customers—for instance, the members of your loyalty program. Greeting cards are a genuine way to keep your customers engaged with your business and show them you care.
You want to keep your greeting cards simple and professional while still incorporating your brand identity. Take inspiration from the business postcard designs below—they’re festive but professional while keeping their designs on-brand.
7. Thank-you Postcards
For a small business, one of the best ways to incorporate postcards into your marketing strategy is by including a “thank you” postcard in your orders—especially if you have an ecommerce business. A little gratitude goes a long way and builds stronger, more genuine relationships with your customers—showing you truly appreciate them.
Because postcards are versatile, your thank-you card can even double as a product information card. One side of your card can have your ”thank you” message, and the other side can have product care tips and instructions or more information about your small business.
8. Sales Announcement Postcards
If you have an upcoming sale at your store, say a Black Friday or seasonal sale, you’d want your community to know. Postcards are a good way to spread the word about your sale and get people excited. They’re especially effective as part of a multichannel marketing campaign that might also include email, social media, and SMS marketing targeted at your local community.
There are no rules about your postcard design, but you want your focal point to be your upcoming sale, so I recommend keeping the rest of your postcard simple. Focus your content on the important details of your sale, like when it lasts, where your store is, and what customers can expect.
9. Restaurant Postcard Examples
Restaurants are always one of the most frequent candidates for postcard marketing because they’re a natural fit for direct mail marketing. Restaurants have a physical location and always target their local community.
But if you’re in the restaurant business, you also know that it can be incredibly competitive. So, if you plan to include postcards in your marketing plan, you’ll need to stand out with your visual design. This can mean including high-quality photos of your food and even listing your menu, like in the postcard design examples below.
10. Real Estate Postcards
Aside from restaurants, postcards are also a natural fit for the real estate industry. They can help you find prospects in your area. In fact, many real estate agents send postcards several times throughout the year to be the go-to when people are ready to buy or sell a property.
As with restaurant postcards, real estate postcards should also be both informative and well-designed. Use high-quality photographs of your properties and include how clients can contact you. Think of your postcard to double as a business card you’re sending out to prospective clients.
11. Home Remodeling or Interior Design Postcards
In a similar vein, for interior designers or home remodelers, postcards are also a great way to get new prospects from your community. Postcards give you a large space to showcase photos of your previous work, and you can even target people in a certain area through EDDM postcards.
12. Travel & Tourism Postcards
If you work in travel and tourism, for instance, or if you own a travel agency, what better way to let people know about your services than through a postcard? Postcards and travel are always interlinked, and they make for a very on-brand way to advertise your agency. Scenic travel photos, like those in the postcard examples below, always make for an eye-catching design. On the back side, you can also include your contact details and a call to action.
13. Cafe & Bakery Postcards
Any business with a physical location can benefit from postcard marketing, including bakeries and cafes. If you own a bakery or a cafe, your local community is your lifeblood, but you can’t generate any foot traffic without letting them know you’re there. Postcards are a good way to help with that.
Postcards can be especially helpful for introducing your brand identity to your community, so you can be as creative as you like in your design. Include details like your menu, your store location, or even your social media handles.
14. Spa & Salon Postcards
Like cafes, if you own a salon or a spa, you also need to let your local community know. Service-based businesses especially thrive on word-of-mouth marketing, aka recommendations from family and friends about your business, which is also where postcards can help. Your existing clients can pass them around along with their recommendations.
You can even take this further by adding coupon codes or vouchers to your postcard as an extra incentive, along with your business information.
15. Car Wash or Car Services Postcards
Postcards also work if you offer car wash or auto repair services; they can work especially well as EDDM postcards if you’re based near a suburban neighborhood.
Car wash or repair postcards are mostly straightforward in content and layout, so the key is to make your copy and designs attention-grabbing. For example, you can opt for a more retro, color-coordinated look, like in the postcard design ideas below.
16. Clinical Services Postcards
If you’re offering clinical services, whether as a doctor, dentist, or even a veterinarian, you want to project credibility and professionalism as part of your branding, including in your postcards. If you’re including photographs of yourself, make sure they’re professionally taken with studio lighting. Also, be as informative as possible—without being too overwhelming.
A good idea is to include an overview of the services or areas you cover. If you have positive testimonials from previous clients, you can also include them in your postcard.
If you offer clinical services, keep your postcards professional to project credibility. (Source: Behance)
17. Plumbing & Handyman Services Postcards
Postcards for plumbing and home repair services are also very straightforward. Generally, you’ll tell audiences about your services and how they can contact you. However, one way to stand out is by offering valuable information in your postcard, such as home repair tips.
Using your postcard to offer valuable information not only helps you stand out from other plumbing and handyman services but also positions you as an authoritative and trustworthy source. It shows that you’re an expert in your field and are worthy of your customers’ trust and business.
18. Fitness Postcards
Like home repair services, postcards for gyms and fitness studios can sometimes look generic, as they’re generally simple content and layout-wise. But one way you can stand out is by using a specific design aesthetic, or even a specific color scheme.
Then, once you have your recipient’s attention, keep it with impactful copy and a clear call to action.
4 Postcard Design Tips
Postcards are very versatile, but getting started with them can feel a little intimidating. Where do you start with your content or design? The good news is there is no right or wrong way to design a postcard. It all comes down to how well you know your target audience and the message you want to send them. Here are some other tips on how to get started with your marketing postcard.
- Know your primary objective. Everything about your postcard, both in content and design, will depend on your main objective. This is why it’s the first thing you should always finalize when planning your postcards, whether it’s simply to raise awareness about your brand or to drive more foot traffic into your store. Also, consider if your postcards are part of an overall marketing campaign.
- Keep your message clear and stick to one call to action. Postcards have a very limited space and will only have your recipients’ attention for a very short time. This means your message needs to be clear and easy to understand. Don’t confuse your audience with multiple messages and calls to action.
- Keep your brand identity in mind. Because it’s hard to pinpoint your target audience’s specific interests when you’re sending postcards, design with your brand identity in mind. The more distinct your brand is, the higher your chances of being remembered.
- Consider localizing your content. In postcard marketing, the only common point among your target audience is their location. So, consider localizing your postcards, whether in your copies or your design. Something as simple as mentioning your audience’s location or something special about it can help you connect with your audience more effectively.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The standard size of a postcard is 4×6 inches or approximately 1200×1800 pixels. Larger postcards can be up to 5×7 inches. Postcards are often printed on standard 14- or 16-pt matte card stock, but you can also have other finishes like gloss or linen. There are no strict rules on the formatting of your postcard, so your design can be as creative as you like, although most follow a landscape orientation.
What you should include in your marketing postcard depends on your main objective and your industry. For example, if your objective is to generate more sales on your online store through coupons, you might offer postcards with discount codes to previous customers. Meanwhile, if your objective is to generate brand awareness, you might simply send EDDM postcards with your business’s basic information.
The best way to make promotional postcards is through postcard printing and delivery services like PostcardMania or VistaPrint. These services have postcard templates you can easily customize, and they can even handle all the printing and delivery for you. Some also offer EDDM services at low costs. If you want to design your postcards from scratch, you can use graphic design tools like Adobe Photoshop or Canva or outsource from a graphic designer.
Bottom Line
Postcards aren’t a thing of the past—at least not in marketing. As the postcard examples above show, they’re a versatile marketing tool and can be a helpful addition to any part of your marketing strategy, no matter your business’s industry. This is especially true if you have a physical store and want to market to your local community. A good marketing postcard is well-designed, visually appealing, and with a clear message and call to action.
