Postcards are one of the most affordable and highly effective direct-mail marketing strategies. Postcards work for every industry, business to business and business to consumer. The best postcards incorporate simple, proven design techniques that attract instant attention, reinforce a message and funnel attention to an offer and call to action. The following postcard design tips will help you take your postcard designs to the next level of profitability:

Enhance the message

The ultimate goal of your postcard design is to highlight your message to motivate your audience to take the next step in the purchasing process. Start with your headline: Make it big and bold, and contrast it against the background. Use shapes, lines, boxes, fonts, and colors to help the most important parts of your message stand out. Your design should lend a natural flow from the attention-getting headline, through features and benefits, and finally to an offer and clearly defined call to action.

Balance visuals

As with all design, white space is your friend. Resist the temptation to show off your graphic design skills with a cacophony of graphic elements if you can simply enhance the message and move on. The last thing you want is for your design, however beautiful, to distract readers’ eyes from the content. Again, your design should work to enhance and reinforce the message, so incorporate a few graphics and colors that capture your tone and style, but make sure the message is the focal point of your piece.