Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Seven Real Estate Postcard Designs With Curb Appeal



Savvy real estate agents are doing more than just baking cookies before an Open House. Now they're creating a multi-channel marketing plan.  And this includes mailing real estate postcards to announce new listings, sold listings or to promote their services in general. 

Unfortunately, if you look around the web you'll realize many of these postcards aren't very pretty... 
So we thought it would be helpful to spotlight the best postcard designs we've come upon. Here are seven truly great postcard designs for real estate:


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We love the simplicity of this card by BrightSpot Creative. The vitals are all here. We know the company name, we have an understanding of what they can do, and the black and white photos on the bold colorful background really pop.

 -2-
Kennedy Real Estate put together something really great. This postcard shows a beautiful property and a pleasant looking real estate agent. The contact information is clearly visible and well organized, but what really set the card apart for us was the artistic touch of the green apples. 

Apples are a common motif in their promotional material and branding, and because they're not home related in an obvious way, it feels fresh (pun fully intended) and surprising.



-3-
Sergio Reyes really nailed this one. The cards objective is clear: showcase a property. The photographs are pleasing and prominent. The type is minimal and informative. There's a great sense of visual hierarchy here: the most important information is the largest, while other key details are differentiated by color. It's basic design textbook stuff, but it's stuff people often forget.

 -4-
limelight marketing created a beautiful card for real estate agent Nancy Fong. The colors are pleasant, the information is clear, and perhaps most importantly, the portrait is tasteful. Many real estate agents like to show themselves on their promotional material, and it makes sense. An agent's picture goes far to help establish trust and rapport.  (Just be careful -- no picture is better than a bad picture.)

Thankfully, that clearly isn't an issue here.  Nancy, and the room setting behind her, looks great!

-5-
I really enjoy how up-front Marsid-M&M Group's postcard is. It's quite literally 'inviting.' And  information is organized and clear. What's worth noting about this postcard is that it makes good use of variable data to customize the postcard based on who and where it's going.
Personalizing postcards always makes a bigger impact.


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This postcard for REALTOR® Sarah Martin Properties by designer Ela Leitner is simple but elegant. The clever thing here is the list of useful phone numbers on the side. I'm sure this increases the likelihood of recipients holding on to it.



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And last but certainly not least, we have this Foldup Magnet Mailer from our friends at magnetbyMail and designers at stocklayouts.com

It has all the mailing ease and convenience of a regular postcard, but it opens up and unfolds so you can fit more information about the property inside. A big issue we often see with Realtors postcard designs is cramming too much information on a card. It becomes overwhelming and uninviting to the viewer. The Foldup version is a great solution.  The extra space the Foldup offers
really makes a difference. 

Oh, and the Foldup comes with a useful refrigerator magnet -- so potential clients will have the agents's information for a long time to come.



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Do you have examples of a great postcard design?  We'd like to see them!  Simply use the Comments feature of this blog and let us know a little about your project -- we'll respond with how to send your images to us. Thank you!


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Friday, May 1, 2015

Six Healthcare Postcard Designs That Made Us Smile



Today's spotlighted postcard designs prove that health and happiness go hand-in-hand. All of our selections are from healthcare marketing, and as you'll soon see, they have a lot in common. 

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This postcard by Children's Hospital Boston uses the time-tested formula of a cute kid with a big smile. Only this time, there's an added impact because the card is advertising the cleft lip and palate division of the hospital. We're actually looking at the positive results of a successful medical procedure.
Source: Brett Pollard 
postcard design for childrens hospital
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Crosby created the following two cards for the Veterans Health Administration.

What's interesting about this first card is that it's targeting someone who's close to the veteran, rather than the veteran. It recognizes how important the spousal support system is for veterans. This idea is reinforced by the very photogenic and very happy couple.

Also, please note the nice big Call To Action "Every Veteran Should Enroll."  If you want to make your postcard design effective, make sure you have a Call To Action that stands out.
design for va healthcare
This second postcard also focuses on family, although in this case it's appealing more to veterans directly. They want to be there for their children. The Air Force shirt the dad's wearing is a nice subtle touch. It feels like a natural moment instead of in-your-face military advertising. It's also nice to see he's playing catch with his daughter. The military has taken many steps to ensure gender equality lately, and I can't help but wonder if they intentionally chose to show a girl doing an activity many people would have associated with boys in the past.   
postcard design for veteran health care

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This postcard the Kidd Group designed for Houston Healthcare is deceptively simple. There's copy about a digital mammography, and a woman sitting in the woods. Is that it? Well no, not if we look a little closer. The woman's sitting on a brick wall, something we subconsciously associate with strength and sturdiness. She's smiling, so we know she's happy with the choice she made. And speaking of the choice, pay attention to the position of the white box and remember this is about mammography.
 Pretty clever, right?

postcard design for mammography
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This postcard for Timber Dental by OMAC Advertising is fairly self-explanatory. A beautiful family with beautiful smiles, what's not to like? Like the cleft lip postcard, not only is this demonstrating happiness, it's also showing quality results. It says if you go to Timber Dental, you can have a beautiful smile too.
poscard design for dentist
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Finally, we have a design for postcard magnets from magnetbyMail. It's unique from the others because it has a removable magnet that can be placed on fridges and filing cabinets. However, from a design standpoint, it's very similar to Timber Dental. So rather than focusing on the smiling family again, I'd like to point something out that's present in this card as well as quite a few of the others: Nature

If we're being honest, most people don't enjoy the dentist or doctor's office. It's an uncomfortable environment and often times the sacrifices that have to be made for the sake of sterility bring about a certain... ambiance. So it only makes sense to show the great outdoors. It's serene and peaceful. Those are pretty good qualities to associate with dentistry.
postcard marketing for dentist

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Do you have examples of a great postcard design?  We'd like to see them!  Simply use the Comments feature of this blog and let us know a little about your project -- we'll respond with how to send your images to us. Thank you!


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