Postcard Design Secrets: Strong Photography
Sports

Postcard Design Secrets: Strong Photography

There is no law that says you have to put photos on your marketing postcards, but a good image, used correctly on the front of a marketing postcard, can add hundreds more words to what the reader sees in their mind and give them a great influence on the message that the card conveys to the potential customer.

Photos used in postcard marketing must be of high quality. All the things that make a photo good in other media apply equally to a postcard. The only additional factor to remember is that your ‘great’ image will probably be smaller on a postcard than on any other type of print media and will certainly have less visual finishing than if it were, for example, in a magazine ad or newspaper ad. newspaper.

If you have or have purchased an image to use for a marketing postcard, the main technical specification is that it should be at 330dpi resolution. That will ensure that it survives the printing process in good health.

Beyond that point, there are a few other points to consider in getting and using good photography for your postcard marketing. For one… where are you going to get one?

There are two basic places: either you buy one or you use one of your own. The photos you can buy usually come from a source known as a ‘stock photography’ site.

Stock photography sites abound on the Internet. Some are free, but with most you’ll pay a small fee for each photo you purchase. The good news is that even a relatively expensive stock photo won’t set you back more than $40. And you can find some for much, much less than that.

There are also free stock photo sites and from time to time you will find something that looks good there. But you have to be very lucky or spend a lot of time searching sites to find a really good free photo.

If a printer prints your cards, most of them have access to good selections of stock photos. And the benefit of letting them select it is that they can make sure it’s compatible with the print job. Also, if your postcard is designed by some kind of graphic studio or ad agency, they also have access to a large number of stock photos and have the staff to make sure it gets to your postcard correctly.

Another thing to keep in mind is that while traditional stock photos are technically close to perfect, the photo you use might have other redeeming qualities that make it effective from a marketing standpoint.

For example, if you’re in a business selling “You” or something unique to you, then you probably won’t find your image on a stock photography site. You may have a photo, recent or perhaps not, that would work well for the purpose of your marketing postcard. Of course, it will have to be a reasonably good photo, but the idea is that the “you” aspect is what is strong and effective.

Similarly, if you sell something that is very unique or there is something very unique about the service you provide, you may not find images on stock photography sites either. So… again, you’ll have to provide the photo yourself. It could be an image of your product, or a part of your product, or perhaps your product in use by satisfied customers. Point is…it still makes for an effective photo for marketing purposes.

Eventually though, you’ll find what you think is a good photo. If you have no other way to get some proofs, online postcard printers are quick and easy ways to get a small batch of postcard prototypes. You compose it online on their site and then order as many as you want and they’ll ship to you pretty quickly. You can use the tests to decide if you like the overall effect of the photo on a postcard, and then print some wherever you like.

If you’re going to have your postcard printed at a commercial printer, some (but not all) of them will include your logo somewhere around the periphery of the image. It’s usually not a very big logo, but if that bothers you, be sure to ask if they do or not.

The bottom line on the use of photography in postcard marketing is that it must be of quality. And quality images, if done right, are worth the price. A strong photo on a marketing postcard will make the recipient want to keep the card almost forever. He can’t get more for his ad bucks than that.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *