Rack Card Marketing for the Tourist Industry

Rack card marketing is vital to the tourist industry, especially if you're a newcomer without an established name outside of your local area. There are five components to a successful rack card marketing campaign: target audience, design and copy, offer, printing and distribution. Follow these steps to launch a rack card marketing campaign that reels tourists in:

Target audience

Do you think that tourists are your target audience? If so, you're wrong. The fact that your customers are tourists is just one demographic. Maybe your customers are tourists in their 50s who like trains. That's a target audience. Your rack cards do not have to convince every tourist to visit, only tourists who are already interested in what you have to offer.

Design and copy

Your rack card design should represent visitor experience in imagery, colors, shapes and size. Your copy should be quick, clean and convincing. Large headlines accompanied by larger photos work well for rack cards, because you have to quickly steal and maintain attention away from your competitors. Your images should be compelling and inspiring - you want tourists to take one look and say "I want to do THAT!" Apart from the headline, your copy should illuminate key features and benefits and include a call to action. More detailed information and maps can be included on the back of your rack cards.

Offer

Your rack card is an offer for a good time, a fine dine, a twist of lime. But a great offer comes with value-added incentives such as discount coupons, a free product or service or something else that motivates response. Have your rack cards die cut for a tear-away tourists will use - remember that 40 percent of your success is contingent on the quality of your offer.

Printing

Printing has more to do with marketing success than you think, especially when your rack cards are lined up against dozens, if not hundreds, of competitors. High gloss equals high attention, so print your rack cards on high-quality, super-thick 16-point gloss cover stock for rich, stunning colors that captivate your audience. You can also print oversized rack cards - up to 13 inches by 17 inches - when you go with an online printing company such as PsPrint. Oversized rack cards are impossible to ignore and make your business seem more important than others, making this rack card printing technique one of the most cost efficient available.

Distribution

Once you've printed rack cards, you need to put them where your audience will find them. Rack card distribution for the tourist industry includes welcome centers, convention and visitor bureaus, chambers of commerce, restaurants, bulletin boards and niche-related businesses and tourist attractions. Anywhere and everywhere your audience is likely to visit is a potential distribution point for your rack cards. Rack cards are an efficient way to market to tourists. With the right strategy, you can stand out from the crowd and attract the most visitors who are likely to buy to your venue.