Direct mail marketing in the Charleston Lowcountry
An oversized postcard, shared between a handful of local businesses that do not compete with each other, mailed to every home in a zone. Here is how it works, what it costs per household, and where it goes.
Still weighing your options? Compare it with the other ways to reach local customers.
Why the mailbox still works here
Almost every other channel a local business can buy has got noisier. A Facebook ad competes with everything else in the feed, a search ad competes with whoever is willing to bid more, and both disappear the moment the budget stops. A postcard sits on the counter until somebody decides what to do about it.
That matters more in the Lowcountry than it does in a dense city. These are neighborhoods where people own their homes, know their neighbors, and hire local trades on a recommendation. A card that arrives from a business two streets away is not junk mail. It is the answer to a question they were going to ask somebody anyway.
The catch has always been cost. Designing, printing and mailing 5,000 postcards on your own is a serious line item, and most small businesses never get past the quote. Sharing the card is what makes the math work.
What is shared postcard advertising and how does it work?
Shared postcard advertising puts several non-competing local businesses on one 9x12 postcard, with one business per category, and mails it to every home in a zone: around 5,000 households per mailing, with a 10,000-home option. Each business pays for its own spot, and design, printing and postage are in the price. A 9x12 card is big enough that each business gets a real ad rather than a coupon, and the cost of the mailing splits between everybody on it.
Oversized, so it does not get shuffled in with the letters. Both sides carry ads.
Every deliverable address in the zone, not a rented list of names.
You are the only business of your kind on the card. No competitor beside your ad.
We write and lay out the ad. Artwork is due seven days before the card mails.
What a mailing costs
Prices are per mailing to 5,000 homes and include design, printing and postage. Nothing else gets added afterwards.
| Spot | Size | Per mailing | Per home |
|---|---|---|---|
| small | 3×2 | $249 | 0.05¢ |
| medium | 3×4 | $349 | 0.07¢ |
| large | 4×6 | $599 | 0.12¢ |
Larger formats and the 10,000-home run are on the pricing page. For how that compares with mailing on your own, see what EDDM actually costs.
Where the cards go
Twelve zones across Dorchester, Berkeley and Charleston counties. Each has its own page with the zip codes it covers and the homes it reaches.
Neighborhoods within a zone
Not sure which zone covers you? The coverage map shows all twelve, and the mailing calendar shows when each one goes out next.
Working out whether it is right for you
The questions worth answering before spending anything, written out properly rather than turned into a sales page.
Common questions
One 9x12 postcard carries several non-competing local businesses, one business per category, and is mailed to every home in a zone, around 5,000 households. The cost of design, printing and postage is split between the businesses on it. You get the reach of a full mailing for a fraction of what mailing on your own would cost, in exchange for sharing the card with businesses that are not competitors.
A spot on a shared 9x12 postcard starts at $249 for a mailing to 5,000 homes, which works out at about 5.0¢ per home with design, printing and postage included. Mailing a comparable card on your own generally runs three to five times that per home once postage and print minimums are counted.
Only one business per category appears on any given card. If you are the roofer on the October Summerville mailing, no other roofer is on it. It is the main reason a shared card is not the same product as a coupon envelope stuffed with competing offers.
Twelve zones across Dorchester, Berkeley and Charleston counties, including Summerville, Mount Pleasant, Daniel Island, West Ashley, North Charleston, Goose Creek, Hanahan, Moncks Corner, James Island, Johns Island, and Sullivan's Island with Isle of Palms. Each mailing goes to 5,000 or 10,000 homes within one of them.
Calls typically start within a few days of a card landing and continue for two to three weeks. Postcards get kept, so a slower trickle carries on well after that, which is also why running three mailings in a row outperforms one mailing at triple the reach.
See which zones still have room
Live availability by card, with the categories already taken.