In 1940 there was a man by the name of Theodore Hook. He took it upon himself to draw a picture of a postal worker on a postcard and then sent it to someone. That was the very first known picture postcard. Today, there are all kinds of customized postcards being sent in the mail. We refer to these cards as direct mail postcards. However, direct mail postcards were being sent even before the picture postcard came into being. The souvenir postcard for example, was sent from Vienna in 1871. They didn’t print the first souvenir postcard in the U.S. until 1893 though. That one was printed up and used to advertise the World’s Colombian Exposition that was going on in Chicago at that time. That was the first time custom postcard printing was done for advertising purposes.

Today, all kinds of business postcards are being printed and used for advertising purposes. Advertisers like using direct mail postcards because they are helpful tools to use to determine how many people respond to them. Postcards are very valuable for a direct advertising campaign in terms of ROI. The public may think that direct mail postcards are irrelevant now because of the internet and the fact that just about everyone is using mobile devices, but that is simply not true. Studies have been done that show that direct mail postcards are still highly effective and in use today by all kinds of businesses. For example, you will see real estate agents sending out real estate postcards to advertise properties they have for sale or to get property owners to use them when they want to sell their home, etc.

Both large and small businesses find direct mail postcards to be a great tool to use to increase sales. Using direct mail postcards is a very affordable way to reach potential customers. You can also track the success rate of the direct mail postcards that you send out. They have different kinds of direct mail postcards today too. For instance, some businesses prefer using the jumbo direct mail postcards as opposed to the standard postcards. Double postcards are also being used by marketers today as well.