Don’t forget to write! Using postcards to stay in touch

Many of us will still send a postcard back to the office or to friends at home when we are away on holiday. Why choose this medium in a digital age? Well it’s effective, it’s inexpensive, and the format allows us to convey as little or as much as we like. From the recipient’s perspective, a postcard is personal, fun to receive, quick to read and demonstrates that the sender is thinking about them. What’s interesting is that all of these same attributes apply in a business context too.

With a little imagination, postcards can make a valuable contribution to your sales and marketing effort, especially when they are used alongside other online or offline communications, as part of a campaign. Over a period of time, postcards can help to build awareness, develop relationships, and ensure your brand stays front of mind.

Postcards are a very versatile communication medium - use them to distribute a series of messages over a period of time, or drip-feed a story in parts to create interest and intrigue - we’ve worked on projects involving both these routes recently:

·         A client offering a high-tech service ran a campaign using postcards designed to look like iPads. We printed a stock of cards, leaving the ‘screen’ area clear to overprint digitally with a series of messages which changed throughout the campaign. Printing all the postcard stock in one go, but overprinting messages digitally was a cost-effective way of enabling our client to tailor messages according to responses as the campaign progressed.

·         Another client made very creative use of postcards by designing a series based around a town centre street scene. While all postcards showed the same view, the scene changed progressively over the course of several mailings with shop fronts changing, lights coming on, cars moving and so on.

Summer is a great time to mail out postcards; here are a few basic things to keep in mind as you plan how to use them in your next campaign:

• Grab attention with an eye-catching image and a strong headline
• Be clear about why you are making contact – don’t just list your services.
• Have a strong call to action – say clearly what you want the recipient to do next!
• Consider using a ‘handwritten’ font to give more personality to your communication.
• Be sure to use other communication channels in conjunction with postcards.

We’re sure you will have plenty of ideas on how you might use postcards to boost your sales and marketing, but if you’d like some help developing creative concepts; our studio is brimming with inspiration!

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Client Spotlight: Holywell helps prepare high spec Hangar8 brochure for take off!

We don’t have a company jet at Holywell, but if we did (well we can dream!), we know who we’d task with looking after it for us. Headquartered at Oxford Airport, just around the corner from our own offices, our client Hangar8 specialises in chartering, managing and maintaining executive jets, and supplying pilots and air crew to a discerning, international customer base.

With more than thirty jet aircraft based around the world, Hangar 8 is the largest aircraft operator in the UK, one of the top five in Europe, and the only publicly listed business jet operator on the London Stock Exchange.

Hangar8 delivers exceptional levels of service to demanding clientele who have high expectations, and the superior quality of their offering is reflected in all of the businesses online and offline marketing collateral. When they needed to create a corporate brochure for use at an international aviation exhibition, it was essential to carry this through and create an outstanding print piece.


When they approached us, our client already had a stylish design - incorporating beautiful full colour photographic imagery, but needed help and advice on the all-important refinements, materials and finishing touches that would make certain the end result would deliver their corporate message with real impact.


To ensure a truly dramatic first impression, and emphasise the premium nature of the brand, we produced the cover of the A5 brochure on a high quality, 350gsm uncoated material called Colorplan black and foil-blocked the Hangar 8 logo onto it in two colours. The visual effect is simple and striking, conveying far more about the brand than words could ever do.

For the main pages of the brochure, we selected a 200gsm silk card, and in order to really show off the iconic images to their full effect, applied a matt varnish throughout.

To complete the elegant look and feel, the brochure was Perfect Bound in-house on our BQ270 binder; this also enabled the text to be 10 pages - a saddle-stitched brochure would have to be multiples, of 4 pages or include a fold-out leaf.

We also printed business cards for staff representing Hangar8 at the show. In keeping with the understated theme, the business cards also featured a foil-blocked logo, and a selection of the brochure images were reproduced on the reverse.

All in all, this was an Executive Class project if we do say so ourselves!

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A simple card trick to bring you more business!

Even in a world packed with high-tech communication gadgets, the role of the traditional business card remains as important as ever, and no introductory meeting is complete without the ritual exchange of these humble business tools. The history of business cards and the etiquette around them can be traced back to 17th century Europe, where they were used to announce the arrival of prosperous merchants and aristocrats.  As a way of quickly conveying who you are, what you do and how you can be contacted, they are a simple and effective solution which has still not been bettered.

As an investment, your business cards will be a drop in the ocean compared to other sales and marketing tools such as your website or corporate brochure, but it’s not an exaggeration to say that they have the potential to win – or lose you business. Your card will probably be your first opportunity to make an impression and to demonstrate the values of your organisation - and when your face to face meeting is finished, your card will hopefully ensure your business stays front of mind.

So are your cards working as hard as they should to promote your business? If you want to maximise their impact, there are 3 key areas to consider; design, material and functionality:

Design
Within reason, the scope for creativity is limitless, so it makes sense to engage an imaginative designer who will help you to make the most of the space available.  Why confine yourself to just two sides?  Folding business cards can give you loads of extra space to communicate additional information. There are a wide variety of configurations - see Functionality below for ideas of how to use this extra area. You might also like to consider shaping your card to reflect the nature of your business – a light bulb for an electrician, a PC screen for a computer engineer and so on. Whatever design options you choose though, it’s a good idea to stay close to the regular, credit card size – there is nothing more annoying than a business card that doesn’t fit into a standard wallet!

Material
Before reading a card, you have to hold it, and the material you use can help you make a real statement about yourself. Many of the cards we produce at Holywell are printed onto a smooth board, and then laminated both sides for a clean, professional look, but for organisations seeking a more tactile card, there is a wide selection of material to choose from.

An uncoated card can give a sophisticated look and feel – especially where there is little ink coverage, allowing the surface area to be shown off. Using different coloured boards can create a really interesting effect too, with endless options for mixing inks and cards of different colours - and if you choose Duplex – a material made from two boards of different colours fixed together – you double the possibilities!

Functionality
When it comes to additional uses you can put your cards to, your imagination is your only limiting factor. Here are a few ideas for starters:

• Promotions - Promote special offers and discounts. Have your card double up as a loyalty card. Print a QR (Quick Response) code onto your card to take customers straight to a landing page on your website. 
• Appointment cards - Give clients cards with an area for recording appointments so they will never miss a meeting, and will always have your details to hand.
• Price Lists - Listing prices for services will help ensure your card is retained for easy reference.
• Portfolio - Display images of your products, or examples of your work. Create a set of cards with different images.

Have we got you thinking? Next time your business cards are due for a reprint, why not take a little time to consider how you can extend their use and get more business from them? Our studio will be very pleased to work with you and help give you some ideas.

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