Design of the Week: Resort Lifestyle Communities

by josh.nelson posted in Design of the Week on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012 at 11:55 am

Why it’s the “Design of the Week”

• Headline – In most instances you want to get the whole point of the postcard covered in the headline. This postcard does just that as it succinctly states the purpose of the piece. The headline is further repeated on the backside to ensure the message is understood.

• Advertising Events – Using postcards is a great way to advertise for events. Having a physical advertising product helps serve as a reminder to prospects.

• Clean and simple – The card carries a simple elegance and by keeping it clean and simple it maintains an appealing look.

• Consistency – The message stays consistent on both the front and back of the postcard. This helps get the message across clearly.

Background
Resort Lifestyle Communities builds and manages independent living retirement communities with several locations across the country. Resort Lifestyle Communities’ mission is to provide a fulfilling living experience for their residents.

Josh Nelson: Cynthia thanks so much for taking the time to do this interview. I noticed you run a lot of event postcards, why is that?

Cynthia Dark: We want people to know that our residents lead an active lifestyle. Event postcards bring new people in to a community and keep prospects interested in what we have to offer. Due to the nature of our business, our prospects are generally people in an older age bracket.

Josh: How do postcards fit into your overall marketing plan?

Cynthia: Basically, it’s our main form of direct advertising. It’s critical that we are able to bring prospects in to see our communities so we can show them what resort-style retirement living is all about. We have sophisticated lists to help us target the right audience for these postcards. Sometimes we even purchase mailing lists to catch anyone we might have missed.

Josh: Excellent, so you use services like our targeted expresscopy.com mailing list to find more prospects?

Cynthia: Yes, like I said, we have a main database we draw from and that database factors in things like age and income however, we also find it valuable to purchase mailing lists. We usually do it by radius just to make sure we cover an area thoroughly.

Josh: What is it about your postcards that appeals to your audience?

Cynthia: I can’t say it is one particular thing but I think the fact that our communities offer a full social calendar is attractive to people. I try to make sure that the postcards are eye-catching and easy for people to read.

Josh: I think you are doing a great job with the postcard designs. That was one of the first things I noticed when I saw your card was that it was that it looked great and it was easy to digest the message. Do you mail to the same group consistently?

Cynthia: It depends. Each community has different responses and so based on the responses we get we may advertise more consistently or less. But generally, yes, we try and stay consistent.

Josh: Good. Consistency is one the biggest keys to successful postcard marketing. What kind of response rate do you get?

Cynthia: It varies for each community. I can tell you we did a recent postcard that advertised an event we held that was a workshop on dealing with Alzheimer’s that was extremely successful as far as response rate goes. It was a higher-end event so we actually charged for it, something we don’t normally do, but I think having that price tag on the event really signaled to people that it was something of value.

Josh: That is exciting to hear! We love when our customers get great results. What role does expresscopy.com play in your marketing success?

Cynthia: Well, expresscopy.com is my primary source for postcards. Your service is fast, easy, and reliable. I think the quality is quite good. Your customer service reps are conscientious of any possible accidents that might occur. I remember one time I had the date for an event labeled wrong on the card. They caught that error and called me before the cards were sent out! Little things like that make all the difference when you need to provide an accurate and attractive message. Expresscopy.com helps me achieve those goals.