What Modern Postcard does

Modern Postcard (legal entity: Iris Group, Inc.) is a privately held, full-service direct mail marketing and printing company founded in 1976 and headquartered at 1675 Faraday Avenue, Carlsbad, California, where it operates a 75,000 sq ft vertically integrated production facility. The company serves more than 300,000 businesses ranging from small and mid-sized businesses to enterprise accounts, with named vertical exposure spanning real estate, restaurants, retail, nonprofits, and financial services. Its offering spans traditional direct mail (postcards, letters, self-mailers, new mover mailers), automated direct mail triggered by CRM or behavioral events, and integrated direct mail delivered through its Modern Max product, which combines variable-data printing with template-driven campaign management. Supporting services include commercial printing, data hygiene (NCOA processing, list cleaning), and access to 60,000+ mailing lists for prospecting and customer acquisition use cases.

The company extends beyond print via the Modern iO sub-brand, a retargeting and digital advertising platform spanning display, mobile, social, and geofenced media, positioning Modern Postcard as an omnichannel execution vendor for marketers rather than a pure print house. Distribution is primarily direct via the company website, supported by free marketing consultations and account-management services for higher-volume accounts. Revenue mechanics combine transactional print/mail orders (unit-priced by format, quantity, and postage) with campaign-level bundles across direct mail and digital channels. The company is founder-led (Steve Hoffman), holds a portfolio of 19 registered trademarks across its product brands, and reports a 101–250 employee headcount range. No funding rounds, acquisitions, partnerships, or leadership changes are disclosed in the available data, and revenue is not publicly reported.

Name

Modern Postcard

Legal name

Iris Group, Inc.

Website

https://modernpostcard.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1976

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Modern Postcard is a privately held, vertically integrated direct mail marketing and printing company founded in 1976, serving 300,000+ SMB and enterprise businesses from a 75,000 sq ft Carlsbad, CA facility, with omnichannel extensions into digital retargeting via its Modern iO sub-brand.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Direct Mail Marketing Services

NAICS

Direct Mail Advertising (541860), Advertising Material Distribution Services (541870), Directory and Mailing List Publishers (51314)

SIC

Services-Direct Mail Advertising Services (7331), Commercial Printing (2750), Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330)

akta.pro primary industry

Direct Mail Marketing Services (Print, Postcard, Dimensional Mail) (BPAFAKAH)

akta.pro secondary industry

Print‑to‑Mail & Distribution Services (Fulfillment, Kitting, Direct Mail to Students) (EDAEAJAH)

Keywords

• Direct mail marketing
• Commercial printing services
• Mailing list services
• Data append services
• Direct mail retargeting

Headquarters

HQ city

Carlsbad

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Supply Chain, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Direct Mail Services: Complete direct mail services including mailing lists, campaign planning, creative design, printing, and mailing. Includes traditional direct mail, automated direct mail, and integrated direct mail with digital channels.
2. Printing Services: High-quality printing of postcards, booklets, business cards, envelopes, letterhead, newsletters, brochures, and other marketing materials produced in their Carlsbad, CA facility.
3. Data Services: Data append services, data analysis, mailing lists (60,000+ available lists), EDDM services, and NCOA address updating.
4. Design Services: Professional design services, file preparation help, quality checks, layout services, and copywriting.
5. Digital Marketing Integration: Digital retargeting, display advertising, mobile advertising, SMS marketing, and addressable geofencing services integrated with direct mail campaigns.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Modern Postcard is a full-service direct mail marketing company that designs, prints, and mails marketing materials—primarily postcards, folded cards, booklets, and stationery—at its 75,000 sq. ft. Carlsbad, CA facility. It bundles Traditional, Automated, and Integrated (Modern Max) direct mail campaigns with mailing list access, data append, design services, and digital retargeting (including the Modern iO platform) to deliver end-to-end campaigns for SMB and enterprise clients.

Product overview

Modern Postcard is a full-service direct mail marketing and printing company offering a comprehensive suite of products and services. The core offering includes three direct mail modalities: Traditional Direct Mail (strategies, lists, creative, tracking), Automated Direct Mail (daily/weekly automated mailings), and Integrated Direct Mail/Modern Max (cross-channel combining mail with email, social, and digital ads). Supporting these are Printing Services (postcards, flat cards, folded cards, booklets, business stationery) produced in their Carlsbad, CA facility. Digital marketing services include Direct Mail Retargeting, Digital Retargeting, Email-to-Postal, Display Advertising, Geofencing, Mobile Advertising, and SMS Marketing. Data services encompass Mailing Lists (60,000+ lists), Data Append, and Data Analysis. Professional services include Marketing Consultation and Design Services. The Modern iO platform powers their marketing technology including retargeting and campaign analytics. Specialty programs include Web to Print Portals, Personalized Direct Mail, Corporate Marketing Programs, and New Homebuyer Direct Mail. The company also offers Enhanced QR Codes for campaign tracking and a free Clarity Dashboard for customer analysis.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Modern iO: Marketing technology and direct mail retargeting solution that helps businesses reach website visitors and prospective customers through direct mail campaigns.

Products and services

• Traditional Direct Mail Full-service traditional direct mail campaigns including direct mail marketing strategies, prospect lists, creative design, tracking, and campaign management for businesses seeking offline customer acquisition.
• Automated Direct Mail Daily or weekly automated mailings sent to website visitors, email subscribers, new homebuyers, and other segmented audiences to drive ongoing engagement.
• Integrated Direct Mail (Modern Max) Cross-channel direct mail service that combines mail with email, social media, and digital advertising to lift response rates through integrated multi-channel marketing.
• Printing Services High-quality commercial printing of postcards, booklets, business cards, envelopes, letterhead, newsletters, brochures, and other marketing materials produced at the Carlsbad, CA 75,000 sq. ft. facility.
• Modern iO Marketing technology platform (sub-brand) that provides direct mail retargeting, website visitor identification, audience matching via cookies, pixels and data, and campaign measurement.
• Mailing Lists Access to 60,000+ pre-built mailing lists for targeting likely-to-buy prospects, with options to enhance house files and append addresses.
• Data Append Services Service to enhance customer data by appending additional information such as postal addresses to email records for multi-channel marketing.
• Data Analysis Analysis services to optimize mailing list quality and campaign targeting for direct mail initiatives.
• EDDM (Every Door Direct Mail) USPS Every Door Direct Mail service for reaching households in specific neighborhoods without needing individual addresses.
• Direct Mail Retargeting Direct mail retargeting service that identifies website visitors and engages them through targeted direct mail campaigns.
• Digital Retargeting Digital advertising retargeting to reach prospects who have visited the client's website through display, mobile, and other digital channels.
• Email Append Service to append postal addresses to email contacts to enable multi-channel direct mail marketing.
• Email-to-Postal Appends postal addresses to email lists and automatically triggers direct mail to increase conversions.
• Display Advertising Targeted display advertising on mobile devices to reach prospects as part of integrated direct mail campaigns.
• Addressable Geofencing Geofencing capability that targets audiences using mailing lists for precise geographic targeting around specific locations.
• SMS Marketing SMS text message marketing to engage customers and prospects as part of multi-channel campaigns.
• Marketing Consultation One-on-one consultation with Direct Marketing Consultants to develop custom direct mail marketing plans including list selection, creative design, and digital add-ons.
• Design Services Professional design services including file preparation, quality checks, layout services, design templates, full creative design, and copywriting.
• Web-to-Print Portals Custom branded web portals that allow enterprise clients to order printed materials through a private online interface.
• Personalized Direct Mail Variable data printing and personalized direct mail campaigns tailored to individual recipients.
• Corporate Marketing Programs Custom corporate marketing programs designed for enterprise clients with large-scale direct mail needs.
• New Homebuyer Direct Mail Automated mailing program targeting new homebuyers and new movers in specific neighborhoods at critical home-purchase moments.

Quantifiable outcome

• 88% deliverability guarantee on Business-to-Business lists when mailed within 30 days
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• PostcardMania: PostcardMania is a direct mail marketing company offering postcard printing, mailing lists, and integrated direct mail campaigns — almost identical service portfolio and SMB-to-enterprise target market as Modern Postcard.
• Lob: Lob provides programmatic direct mail automation through an API, addressing the same mail-plus-data opportunity as Modern Postcard but with a developer-first, SaaS delivery model rather than a print shop.
• PebblePost: PebblePost offers programmatic direct mail retargeting using website visitor data — a near-direct overlap with Modern Postcard's Modern iO retargeting capability, targeting similar mid-market e-commerce and DTC customers.
• PrintRunner: PrintRunner is an online commercial printer offering postcards, booklets, and direct mail products with self-service ordering — a smaller, more transactional peer that competes on the same SMB printing and mailing catalog.

Broad incumbents

• Cimpress (Vistaprint): Cimpress, parent of Vistaprint, is a much larger mass-customization printing and marketing services platform. It competes with Modern Postcard in SMB printing, signage, and direct mail but at significantly greater scale and broader product breadth.
• Taylor Corporation: Taylor Corporation is one of the largest privately held commercial printing and marketing services conglomerates in the US, competing with Modern Postcard across direct mail, print, and integrated marketing services for enterprise clients.
• Donnelley Marketing Solutions (RRD): RRD's Donnelley Marketing Solutions division provides data-driven direct mail, printing, and marketing services to large enterprises — a broader incumbent serving overlapping Fortune 500 marketing budgets.
• Wpromote: Wpromote is a large full-service digital marketing agency that increasingly blends direct mail with digital — competing with Modern Postcard for integrated marketing budgets, though without Modern Postcard's owned print production capability.

Others

• Data.com (Salesforce) / Data Axle: Data Axle (formerly Data.com) provides business and consumer mailing lists and data append services that overlap with Modern Postcard's 60,000+ list offering, though primarily as a data supplier rather than a printer/mailer.
• USPS EDDM (Every Door Direct Mail): The USPS EDDM service is the underlying channel for neighborhood saturation mail that Modern Postcard resells as a service; it is an enabling infrastructure provider rather than a direct competitor but caps pricing power on that product.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/modernpostcard
• Facebookfacebook.com/modernpostcard
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/modern-postcard
• Instagraminstagram.com/modern_postcard

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Modern Postcard