The postcard printing process will give you a number of choices, and you’ll need to make decisions. 

To start, postcard preparation can be divided into fixed printing and variable printing. Fixed printing refers to the content that stays the same on every card, regardless of recipient. This would include the ‘picture’ face of the card, and the non-address half of the other side.

Variable printing refers to the name and address on the right half, which obviously, will change for every postcard (hence the term ‘variable’). Other parts of the card could be variable, as well, but let’s think of them as fixed (unless we plan a really sophisticated printing process).

We shouldn’t forget the stamp, either, while considering the right half. Sometimes you can purchase ‘stamps’ online, these are printed impressions that look like those made by postage meters. Others, though, don’t offer this service, so you have to use a postage meter, or starting sticking on the stamps yourself. Some experts in this field say affixing a real stamp brings in better results. The way to find out for sure, is to test.

Many marketers outsource the fixed printing, to a company that specializes in postcard printing, and do the variable printing themselves. Of course, this assumes a modest postcard printing run; a run that gets into the many thousands would also get outsourced. The same holds for stamping; you only want to do it yourself on relatively small runs.

When the runs are small, it makes sense to do the variable printing yourself, especially if you’re using your own, rather than a purchase, mailing list. You put the data from your list into a mail merge program or the mail merge function of your word processor, and start running the cards through your desktop printer.

Once again, your decisions will reflect the number of cards you plan to print. If you’re doing a thousand or less, you’d likely want to do the variable printing yourself while getting a professional postcard printing company to handle the fixed printing. When considering postcard printing, or any other type of printing for that matter, keep in mind the set-costs incurred by the printers. Having someone else set up mail merge can add a lot to your costs.

Asses the amount of tijme and money required for each type; this will allow you make a good decision on these options. A good starting point would be to consult with a postcard printing, such as PsPrint to identify your outsourced costs.