Use picture postcards to promote your home

[thisfrenchlife]

Hi

Something I've very rarely seen is holiday home owners leaving a dozen postcards on the table every changeover.

With the cost of printing 200/300 postcards featuring your holiday home on one side, with your website address in the corner, costing very little it's not likely to break the bank.

A company that provides a range of different printed material that I've personally used and who have produced good quality items is PhotoBox.

http://www.photobox.com/

For example, 320 cards (149mm by 105mm) work out at £101.30, including postage.

You can easily imagine people writing: "Hi mum, we are staying at the lovely place on the front of this postcard."

Just a thought.

Regards

Craig

http://www.thisfrenchlife.com/

[Sue Dyer]

Photobox is great - I can't recommend it enough. I have had postcards/photos/photo mugs printed by them and been really happy with the quality. That is a good idea leaving the cards for guests though.

What I also prdered was the see thru keyrings, these feature a photograph of our cottage front door (bright red, very effective). That's on the keys I send out to guests and they can match up at a glance where they are headed for. Maybe a security risk if the keys are lost but in the village its pretty safe.

I also use photobox to back up all of my photos, its totally free and everytime you order they up your storage space. Ideal for letting friends access your photos and you never lose them if your computer crashes and you haven't backed up (tsk!!). They have an offer on if you introduce someone you get both get free prints so it's worth looking into. And no, I don't work for them!!!

[HolidayWebs]

What a brilliant idea! My mind is spinning (as I also run a portal which could be promoted). A printers that I use for business cards - who do postcards but not sure of the price - is www.vistaprint.co.uk - they are always having promotions & the cards have been very good. but will look at photobox too. Thank you for that.

Zelda.

[HolidayWebs]

I think you may have meant http://www.photobox.co.uk They have a very good reputation for printing digital photographs,

Z.

[paolo]

In issue 4 of the newsletter I mentioned vistaprint.com - they struck me as really good value at £35/$50 for 250, £50 for 500. No idea about the quality though.

These postcards are a great touch. Include your website address on the back and they are a good word-of-mouth marketing tool too.

[Linda Freese]

I have used Vistaprint both for postcards and business cards. They are very good value and good quality.

[HolidayWebs]

When you used vistaprint for PostCards do they do a standard design for the back of the postcard? i.e. space to write & put the address?

I just got a price quote (from Vistaprint) - see http://www.vistaprint.co.uk/vp/ns/splas ... ?xnav=left

Total product cost of Standard Size Postcards: £34.99

Shipping and Handling Costs:
Slow £4.48 21 Days
Standard £7.00 14 Days
Priority £10.07 7 Days

Options selected:
Quantity: 250
Colour Options: 4/1
Paper Stock: Glossy
Country: United Kingdom

All Prices shown exclude applicable VAT plus it's £3.49 for each design you want to upload but this is a one off cost. This going to be great fun. Am looking forward to designing a promotional postcard. I've also though of sending out a few business cards with the apt address on & the phone numbers of our managing agent for people to take out with them.

[Linda Freese]

When you used vistaprint for PostCards do they do a standard design for the back of the postcard? i.e. space to write & put the address?

I actually used one of their templates for the design which was appropriate for the marketing that I was doing at the time. There was space on the back of the card to type in whatever you wanted. Great value for money and very effective.

[Maggiem]

We've just received our Vistaprint postcards, and we're very pleased with them. The quality is excellent, and the whole process was unbelievably easy. I usually start to upload things, go wrong then let my husband finish off, but I managed the whole process myself. (That might not sound like much of an achievement, but believe me, it is!)
I can't remember who started this thread, but I'm very grateful to them, the postcards are an excellent idea.

Maggie

[vrooje]

Agreed -- I nabbed this idea and ordered my postcards about a week ago from Vistaprint.com. With shipping, I think the whole thing ended up at US$70 for 250 postcards. I used one of our best photos and wrote at the bottom left of the image, "Wish You Were Here" and our web address.

The back of the postcard was totally customizable -- I believe I even wrote "2BR, 2BA holiday rental" or something like that, and of course left plenty of space for the address and text.

I'll post again once they arrive and I've seen how they turned out!

[Sue Dyer]

Photobox have a February Sale on with 25% off prints, gifts and cards. I take it this will include the postcards too.
http://www.photobox.co.uk/widestatic/newsletter.html
Worth stocking up at sale prices if you are going for postcards.

If anyone wants to sign up as a member (free!) I'd be happy to refer them as a friend. This means we'd both get 10 free photo credits. PM me with your email address if you're interested. Paolo, hope this is okay!!! Please advise and I'll edit and remove if not.

[paolo]

Paolo, hope this is okay

Of course it is!

[vrooje]

My postcards arrived a few days ago -- They're great! The photo quality is excellent. So many more than I will ever use, I'm sure... wonder how long it will take to go through 250 postcards!

[rich_sipe]

This is a GREAT idea and I am very interested. My one difficulty is I keep getting all these great sites but they are almost all based in the UK. I know I can order from over here but the shipping is a little bit of a pain and the exchange rate is brutal. Does anybody have a US based site/business they have used or have found that they would have used but didn't because they were in the UK

Also, I am looking for a company to print a window sticker I can put on the back window of my truck that has the website and other information about the place. I have seen some nice ones on other vehicles and I think it is worth a shot to bring some business. It also allows me to advertise within the resort where no signs etc are allowed. I just have to park somewhere public while I am down there and see if I can get some people staying in the lodge or other rentals to give us a try

Thanks as always for your great help.

[vrooje]

Rich, Vistaprint.com is a US-based site and shipping is reasonable. That's what I used, and it was great! I don't know if they print window stickers, though.

I do know that when my Mom started in real estate she had a big magnet printed up at Kinko's that she stuck to her car door. It worked pretty well for her, I think. So for a one-time sort of thing, that may be the way to go!