A couple of years ago I joined Send Out Cards, which is a company that allows you to design cards, or use existing templates, to send out cards to anyone you wish via their website.  Good quality printed cards at a low price. I began using it as I wanted to get cards printed with my own photos on them and to bulk print was both costly and not effective, i.e. I didn’t want 1-200 copies of the same card printed. I wanted to be able to do lots of different cards and just one or two of the same one (My own photos means photos I’ve taken, not ones of me 🙂 ).

In 2010 I wrote about how this could become a niche for some VAs and I know of a few who do use this system. Recently it’s become the topic of discussion at a very busy business forum and also at a LinkedIn marketing forum.  So I thought perhaps it was worth raising the subject again. Especially since I have a lot more experience with the program and also have introduced several clients and other contacts to it too.

One of my client contacts is a legal firm that sends birthday cards to their clients every single month. They had two admin staff handwriting these cards and spending hours every month buying cards, writing in them, writing on envelopes and taking them to the post office. Now they have their database uploaded to the system, have their handwriting also uploaded and automate the cards to go out. It takes one staff member less than a couple of hours at most each month to update it and they’re saving money and man hours because of it. Another is a web design company and they create a new postcard for each new client’s website, sending it out to that client’s database, announcing their new look site.  Cheap, cost effective and gets attention, more than an email out would announcing the same information.

When our daughter and her husband were planning their wedding, their invitations were designed on postcards with Send Out Cards and then after the wedding, once they’d returned from their honeymoon, they created thank you greeting cards, with a photo from their wedding, and sent that out to everyone.  So simple, easy to use and very personalised. Oh, and quick too, no waiting for a designer or checking a proof before going to the printer and then waiting on the printer too, not to mention handwriting and addressing envelopes, and… you get the drift don’t you?

If you’d like to try the system out, why not send a free card to check it out? And it doesn’t matter if you’re in Australia, the US, or elsewhere, you can still use Send Out Cards.  I believe it’s a great tool to use and very useful in business.  A good way to keep in touch with your clients and to say thank you.