A Note From 9×12 Zack

Why I Built the 9×12 Card for Small Businesses

Remember those mornings as a kid when you’d “call in sick” just to stay home?

The TV locked on reruns: I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, and then The Price is Right to close it out.

I’d sit on the couch, cereal bowl in hand, not absorbed by the magic or the games, but fascinated by Darren Stephens, the advertising executive on Bewitched. The client meetings, the big idea pitches, the way one killer campaign would save the day.

That’s when something clicked for me: Great advertising matters.

When Advertising Stopped Being Clever and Became Expensive

Fast-forward, and for most of the last few decades I’ve been right in the trenches as a small business owner in tech ventures, franchising and real estate. I’ve lived the grind firsthand dreaded reviewing advertising budgets and analyzing returns.

That’s when advertising stopped feeling clever and started feeling like a monthly gut-punch, I took it personally.

I watched good local businesses—including mine—burn cash on:

• Facebook ads that were hit or miss, despite the “targeting”
• SEO that felt like a pay-and-pray experiment
• Coupon books nobody flipped through
• Mailers buried in envelopes and junk piles

But one channel never quit and stayed reliable: direct mail.

Industry benchmarks consistently show that direct mail delivers a strong rate of response. It reaches real households, creates familiarity, and works especially well for local businesses.

The problem wasn’t effectiveness.

The problem was cost.

Direct mail is too expensive to run consistently, and consistency is what makes advertising work.

So I did what small business owners do best: I optimized it.

That frustration drove me to stop chasing the next shiny platform and focus on improving what already worked.

I fixed the problem by optimizing direct mail the same way you optimize a website:

• Cut the waste
• Removed friction
• Shared the cost
• Designed for visibility and response

The result is the 9×12 postcard.

One big, bold, glossy oversized card, like a billboard in the mail.

No envelopes.
No pages to flip.
No clutter.
And most importantly: only one business per category.

No competitors side-by-side. No diluted attention.

How the 9×12 Card Works

Each card features 16 local nocompeting businesses. Each exclusive in their category. The cost is shared, which brings high-quality direct mail down to pennies per door.

And here’s what keeps the community vibe strong: only 4 double-size spots per card. Never feels crowded.

Each advertiser owns a zone of about 5,000 local homes, neighbors who see the same business name over and over…in their home.

Your neighbors matter!

Neighbors tend to become repeat customers faster because trust builds through familiarity. Multiple studies show that existing and nearby customers often spend significantly more over time than first-time buyers.

Response, Return, and Real-World Math

The math is simple.

If your average ticket is $100 and only a small percentage of responders convert, the ad pays for itself and then continues working long after delivery.

This isn’t about renting attention for a few days. Although, how awesome is that?

It’s about owning a territory where your competitors aren’t invited.

That’s why visibility matters just as much as response.

What This Is Really About

That’s the real power in the 9×12 card is,

Community.
Shared costs.
Co-op marketing done right.

The 9×12 card was built to help strong local businesses in Lake Havasu City, Bullhead City, and Kingman get more from every advertising dollar.

Availability is limited by design.

Spots for 2026 cycles are filling fast.

One Last Thing

I’m 9×12 Zack.

I’ve loved advertising since I was a kid. I built this because small businesses deserve advertising that actually works and delivers real results.

Local heroes deserve better advertising.

And that’s exactly what I set out to build.

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