The best trade show leads are the ones who already knew to look for you. Copies America prints and mails the pre-show postcards that get your booth number in front of attendees before they ever set foot on the show floor - so your booth is a planned stop, not a lucky pass-by.
A well-timed postcard sent two to four weeks before a trade show puts your company name, booth number, and reason to visit directly in the hands of the people already planning to attend. Unlike email invitations that compete with a crowded inbox, a physical postcard sits on a desk as a visible reminder until the show date arrives.
We handle the full process - design, printing, list preparation, and mailing - so your team can focus on booth setup and sales strategy instead of chasing a mail vendor two weeks before your event.
| No Envelope to Open | A postcard's message is visible the moment it lands on a desk - there is no envelope to discard unopened, so your headline and booth number are guaranteed exposure. |
| Lower Cost Per Contact | Postcards print and mail at a lower cost than letter packages or brochures, making it practical to reach a full attendee list or prospect list without stretching your event budget. |
| High-Impact Visual Space | A 6x9 or larger postcard gives you enough room for a bold headline, booth number, and a single clear reason to visit - without the clutter of a folded brochure. |
| Pairs Well with Digital Invites | A physical postcard reinforces an email or social media invite, giving your message two touchpoints instead of one and improving overall recall before the show. |
| Booth Number and Show Name | The single most important piece of information - make it large enough to read at a glance, and repeat it on both sides of the card if space allows. |
| One Clear Reason to Visit | A new product demo, a show-only discount, a giveaway drawing, or a scheduled speaking session - pick one hook and lead with it rather than listing everything your company does. |
| Call to Action | Tell the recipient exactly what to do - stop by booth 412, scan this code to book a meeting, or bring this card for a free gift. Vague invitations get skipped. |
| QR Code or Scannable Link | A code linking to a meeting scheduler, product page, or show-specific landing page lets you track how many recipients acted on the mailer before they arrived. |
| 4 Weeks Out | Ideal window to reach attendees who are still finalizing their show agenda and deciding which booths to prioritize on the floor plan. |
| 2 Weeks Out | A second wave or reminder mailing to a smaller, more targeted list - past customers, hot prospects, or attendees who registered for a related session. |
| 1 Week Out | A short window remains for first-class mail to local or regional attendees; for national lists, this window is generally too tight for standard postage classes. |
| Day Of and Follow-Up | Save your budget for a post-show mailer instead - reaching attendees who visited your booth with a thank-you or offer performs far better than a mailer timed to arrive during the show itself. |
For national or out-of-state attendee lists, plan to drop your mailing three to four weeks before the show date to allow for standard mail transit time and to reach recipients while they are still building their show agenda. For regional shows where most attendees are local, a two-week window is often sufficient, and first-class postage can compress that timeline further if needed. We recommend building in a buffer beyond the minimum required transit time, since postcards that arrive too close to the show date compete with a recipient's final pre-travel checklist and are easy to overlook.
Many trade shows and industry associations sell or provide an attendee list to exhibitors as part of the exhibitor package - check with the show organizer first, since this is often the most targeted and cost-effective source. If an attendee list is not available or does not fully cover your target audience, Copies America can build a supplemental list filtered by industry, geography, job title, or company size to reach prospects likely to attend even if they are not yet registered. Combining an official attendee list with your own house list of past customers and prospects typically produces the strongest results.
The 6x9 postcard is the most common choice for trade show mailers, offering enough space for a headline, booth number, and call to action while still qualifying for standard postcard postage rates. Larger formats, such as 6x11 or a folded self-mailer, give you room for a secondary message or product image on the back panel, which can be useful if you are promoting a specific new product alongside your general booth invitation. For most single-message invitations, though, a clean 6x9 card performs as well as a larger piece at a lower cost per unit.
Yes - postcards and email invitations work best together rather than as substitutes for one another. Email is easy to send but competes with a full inbox and is frequently skimmed or deleted without a second look. A physical postcard sits visibly on a desk until the recipient acts on it or the show passes, giving your message a second and more durable touchpoint. Companies that combine a pre-show email sequence with one physical postcard mailing typically see stronger booth recall and traffic than either channel used alone.
Yes. Using variable data printing, we can personalize each postcard with the recipient's name, company, a scheduled meeting time, or an offer tailored to their industry segment - all within the same print run and at a modest cost increase over a single static design. Personalized mailers consistently outperform generic ones, particularly for high-value prospects such as existing customers or attendees you already have a scheduled meeting with. Ask about our personalization and automation service if you want to explore this option for your next mailing.
Standard postcard presort postage rates require a minimum of 200 pieces, though most trade show mailings we produce run several hundred to a few thousand pieces depending on the size of the attendee or prospect list. If your list is smaller than 200, we can still print and mail your postcards at first-class single-piece rates - the postage cost per piece is higher, but for a very targeted, high-value list this is often still the most efficient way to reach key prospects before the show.
We handle both as a single service. Once your design is approved, we print your postcards, apply addresses from your list, sort the mailing to qualify for the appropriate postage rate, and deliver it to the postal facility for mailing - you do not need to coordinate a separate mail house or handle any of the sorting yourself. If you prefer to handle your own mailing, we can also print your postcards only and ship them to you unaddressed for in-house distribution.
Send us your show name, booth number, and target audience, and we will put together a design and mailing timeline that lands in your prospects' hands at the right moment. Prefer to talk it through? Call us at 1-800-423-2679, Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM EST.
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