How to Create Perfect Holiday Postcard Invitations

As the holiday season approaches, many businesses and organizations have events coming up — whether it’s a nonprofit fundraising gala, end-of-year client appreciation gathering, or a big holiday sale. Creating the perfect postcard invitation is important so you can engage your audience and have a better shot at getting the response rates and attendance you desire. It’s the perfect time to start designing your invitations so you are well prepared for the holiday season upon us.

Below, we’ve compiled two lists to refer to when creating postcard invitations: one which speaks to invitation design basics, and another which has a few additional key components to consider when creating your event invitation.

Designing Your Postcard Invitations

We’ll start with our first point: invitation design. Here’s what you should include:

1. A relevant header. Why should your audience come to this event? Will they be able to save a lot of money with a great sale? Or simply get the chance to engage with others in their community? Whatever the reason is, it should be loud and clear on your invitation.
2. Any information which will make your event more attractive to your audience, such as the presence of food, drinks, goodie bags, prizes to be won, new information to be shared or unveiled, etc. How many times have you gone to an event just for the free food and conversation? Just us?
3. All the date, time, location and wardrobe details. No-brainers, perhaps, but absolutely necessary!
4. A call-to-action. What do you want people to do after viewing your invitation? Likely, it’s RSVPing, but through what channel and by what date? Do you want them to RSVP via direct mail? If so, you’ll need to include a postcard with pre-paid postage so that the individual doesn’t have to pay for a stamp. Or do you want your audience to RSVP online? You’ll need to be sure to include the URL for registration. Is registration happening on your website, or an event hosting platform, such as Eventbrite?
5. Inviting imagery or photography. Be sure to include imagery and/or photography that is relevant to the event for visual interest.

Other Considerations

Next up, there are a few other key must-haves:

1. Be sure to include key brand communications information, such as social media handles and your business or organization’s website, as well as contact information, if relevant.
2. It’s important to keep the postcard on-brand. Incorporate standard brand mandatories, such as your logo, brand colors, standard typefaces, etc.
3. Sending multiple “touchpoints” is a good way to assure attendance. As one idea, send a “Save-the-Date,” then and early-bird registration option with a discount code, followed by the formal invitation, then a “last chance” reminder to RSVP. If you don’t get as many RSVP’s as you were hoping for after sending out your direct mail invitation, don’t be afraid to follow-up via email or even with a phone call.

We hope these tips were useful as you consider how to create the perfect postcard invitations for your holiday event. For quality direct mail invites, consider printing with QuantumPostcards. We have next-day business turnaround and have a variety of finishes and sizes available. Order your invitations here to get started.