"I've had a number of positive comments about my business cards and brochures - they really are different than 99.9% of those used by REALTORS®.  Like them very much!"

Jim Duke
Naples, FL

Marketing Tip #5:

Use Master Stock To Save Money On Postcards

If you are using a lot of postcards to get your message out, you already know how much printing and postage adds up. Although there are ways to save in postage (as will be addressed in a future marketing tip), there are also ways to save on the printing of your cards.

Consider using master stock when farming via postcards to your targeted areas. Master stock refers to a quantity of sheets that are pre-printed with text and/or graphics and imprinted with more information at a later date.

For example, lets say you want to mail out 500 postcards each month displaying your favorite recipes. You decide that the front side of the postcard will be the same for all cards while the back side will change each month with the different recipes. Based upon 5 months of postcards at 500 each month, you'd mail 2500 total postcards. Let's see how utilizing master stock can save you some money.

Let's first show you the traditional method of printing and mailing postcards one month at a time. If you used ExpressCopy to print and mail your cards (8.5"x5.5"), they will charge you 82¢ per card = $410 per mailing times 5 mailings = $2050. Now let's see how you could save some money by using master stock.

Saving money with master stock will be done in a few steps. First, you'll print 2500 postcards in full color on the front with nothing on the back side (will be white). The cost to print 2500 full color postcards on the front is about $350 (14¢ each). The front side should have your photo (hopefully your photo logo), your branded style, return address and whatever else you'd like on there. Be sure to leave the bottom right corner white for the mailing label. The upper right corner should also be left clear for the stamp or permit indicia. This covers the front side; now let's talk about the back side.

For the back side - which will contain the food recipe for the 1st month - you can either bring it to a local quick printer or print it yourself through your own desktop printer. The less expensive method would probably be doing it yourself. Using your own printer will only cost you toner or ink. Let's say it costs you $25 in a color ink cartridge to print 500 recipes onto your postcards (equates to $.05¢ per card). The last production expense is printing the adhesive labels, which might cost you $10 ($.02¢ each). The total cost of printing this way was 14¢ + 5¢ + 2¢ = 21¢ each. The last expense you have is postage. If you apply stamps, it will cost you 44¢ per postcard (assuming an oversized postcard, such as 8.5" x 5.5"). 21¢ plus 44¢ = 65¢ per card x 500 cards = $325 per mailing times 5 mailings = $1625. Although doing it this way is a little more work on your part, you've also just saved $425 compared to the ExpressCopy method.

EXTRA SAVINGS POTENTIAL:

• If your office has a permit with the United States Post Office, you should have that printed on the label side of your postcard so you can save a bunch in postage. For example, let's say you use a Presort Standard permit from your office to get the postage due per postcard down to 30¢ each. By taking advantage of the reduced postage rate, you've knocked the overall price of each mailing piece down to 51¢ each (14+5+2+30=51¢). Mailing 2500 cards at this rate will now only cost you $1275, which saves you a whopping $750!
• If you'd rather avoid the many steps and have one company do it, consider using First Place Publishing for your mailing. It would cost you 70¢ per postcard to be printed, addresses and mailed, a savings of 12¢ each compared to ExpressCopy, or a total savings of $300 (5 mailings x 500 each = 2500 x $.12). Call 800-423-2049 and find out how easy it is to do it this way.
• If you don't have your own color printer, consider leasing it. One of our best clients leases a desktop Xerox color printer for $50 a month plus 10¢ per printed sheet. He printed two postcards per page so his imprinting charge is only 5¢ per postcard for a full color professional look!

If you have marketing questions, feel free to contact us at 864-855-8090. We've helped thousands of clients across the country and we like making life easier on agents in this tough economy. To help you reach your 5:1 return on investment, look into getting branded with the Marketing Made Easy Branding package.