Just by choosing a direct mail campaign around the use of real estate agents postcards, you've already made a solidly budget conscious, cost effective decision. Take into account the high response rate, low cost per unit, and the amount of time it will take you to create real estate agents postcards and get them in the mail, it is the most advertising that your dollar can buy.

But how many dollars, exactly?

1 Design. You have a few options here and each of them will take different dollar amounts as well as time and effort on your part. First, you could choose preprinted real estate agents postcards, postcards that are already decorated with the industry in mind. You simply upload your information onto the website and you're done. The dollar amount will vary depending upon the supplier.

The same dollar amount variations apply if you choose to design your own individual real estate agents postcards. If you pay a designer, your cost will rise considerably, but if you intend to use the same picture on every card, it may be worth the investment. If you use software created for design, then the initial cost of the software and the time involved in learning how to use it, trying it out, and perfecting your card will be additional costs.

2 Printing Cost. The amount you spend on printing the cards depends upon the style of the design, the weight of the card stock, the number of real estate agents postcards you purchase. Buy in bulk and your cost per card drops. Choosing to print your own is an option but it is so very time consuming and still expensive in terms of ink cartridges, that is really is much more efficient to outsource the job.

The other printing cost depends upon your use of color: black and white only, black with one color, two colors, or four. Each level of color is successively more expensive, but it's worth the money to go for full color real estate agents postcards.

The other part of printing with a company involves the cost of shipping. Ask for media mail or the slowest mail for the cheapest rates. If you need it shipped or the print job rushed, you'll have to pay extra.

3 Postage. The postage stamp rate just went up for postcards, but it's still very inexpensive. Make it even cheaper by getting all your real estate agents postcards ready to go at once and you can pay bulk mail rates and lower the cost even more.