Not only does full color aspect of postcards attract more attention than all of envelopes in any given day’s stack of mail, but it will allow you to get your message across while recipients are making decision of what to read and what to throw away.

Let’s use this example:

You are sitting on subway and guy next to you leans over and says "I have something I would like to sell you and it’s under my trench coat, are you interested?" So as any sane person would do, you move to furthest seat from him so not to be bothered.

As you now sit in farthest seat from untrustworthy freak in trench coat you are approached by a smiling little Girl Scout who holds out a box of cookies and says "Would you like to buy a box of cookies? Everyone loves Thin-Mints!" So this time you pull out your wallet and plunk down $3 for a box of delicious cholesterol and sugar.

See difference? Don’t hide your message behind a trench coat. For all we know "untrustworthy freak", as I have affectionately named him, could have had a box of Thin-Mints under there.

We may never know, and neither will your customers if you don’t stop stuffing your promo into bland looking envelopes.

Now, make final step easy and take out hassle of direct mail.

It’s one thing to get postcards designed and printed. It’s another to get them into hands of recipients rapidly, efficiently, as inexpensively as possible and without too much hassle. You have choice of doing it yourself in house or getting someone to do it for you.

The apparent advantage of doing it yourself is that you don’t pay someone else what they charge to do it for you. The disadvantage of doing it yourself is that it’s going to cost you more in long run.

Why?

Normally your postage for a 4.25 x 6" postcard is 23¢. Direct mail companies can lease special software from USPS which reads addresses and barcodes them. The post office gives a significant discount for bar-coded mail. Updating this software often (every three months) ensures that addresses you are mailing to are good. If person is no longer at that address then it’s a waste of your money to mail to them.

Because of high tech equipment and software direct mail companies use, you can sometimes save as much as .04 cents per card. And you don’t have all hassle of getting mailing out yourself.

I call it a no-brainer: a technical term for saving money and hassle by getting someone else to do your mailing for you. If you have been doing it hard way, switch over to a direct mail marketing company. I am sure they will be glad to help you save money, time and trouble.

5. What is total number of booths and what is occupancy rate a few weeks before show? The thumb rule is that a trade show can have about 5 to 10 percent of empty stands about 2 weeks before event which eventually gets filled in my last minute confirmations or by sponsors. If numbers are higher that this, you should check official reason given by exhibitors to ensure that you don't end up participating in a show which has too many empty stands.

6. Is tradeshow provider offering a 'desperate' discount and doing unusual number of follow ups? If you get an offer for a trade show booth which is just too good to believe then it is probably too good to believe. 'Desperate' discounts are offered by event planners as a last ditch attempt to sell all booths as you should only participate is such tradeshows if you have unique reason to do so.

7. Testimonials and repeat number of participants year after year is another good way to check on trade show. If you see a large number of repeat participants over a number of years, it is a good way to determine quality of event.

Quality of location and association with service providers also help in getting to know seriousness with which trade show providers approach their work. I hope this article is also read by trade show providers to realize what exhibitors look out for!