Learning > Why postcards?

Postcards: A mainstay in direct mail marketing. When you have an important message that needs to be conveyed in a timely manner to an exact list of recipients or to residents in a very specific geographic region, it’s time for a postcard! A big announcement, a special offer, a reminder, an invitation or a request to set aside time for an upcoming event; all say “postcard” loud and clear. Many other circumstances can also demand the ease, speed and accuracy with which your message will arrive as a postcard. With a technically correct design, print quality that stands above the rest, a fresh list*, and mailing service professionally executed, postcards simply get the job done well.

Briefly, the concept of a mailing piece printed on one side to be used as a notice in the mail emerged in 1861 here in America. They were first used as an advertisement in 1872 and multicolored postcards first appeared in 1889. It originally took two cents to mail one unless you used a “government postal” with a one cent postal mark printed directly on the front. It wasn’t until 1901 that any print or writing was allowed on the back of postcards and the very next year the “divided back”, which separated the message from the address first appeared. When the “divided back” style was formally adopted by the U. S. Postal system in 1907, it ushered in the Golden Age of postcards, which a century later, still continues to dominate advertising through the mail.

*Like a loaf of bread, a mailing list can get stale. Since on average 30% of American households change their address every year, it doesn’t take long for even the most recently compiled list to bear incorrect names. That’s the reason “Or Current Resident” finds it’s way on so many mailed pieces.

*It’s no longer mandatory for the postman do leave material at an address that includes the wrong name. At DPandM, we never recycle lists or utilize anything but a list purchased right before it’s needed. When we use your database of names and addresses, we cleanse it with postal software for address accuracy and remove any duplicate or improperly formatted entries. We want your mailing campaign to succeed as much as you do and we’ll do our part professionally.