AMiable Solution #40: Dressing Up Your Direct Mail with Polybags

Make your next campaign clear--literally--without requiring any action on your recipients' part. How? Polybagging.

 

Unlike envelope mailings, polybag mailings allow your recipients to see at least one component of your multi-component direct mail package without any effort. Packaging your catalog, brochure, magazine, etc., in clear polyethylene bags gives you the advantage of enticing your clients and prospects and engaging their interest without needing them to open a thing.

Because they're less expensive and lighter than envelopes, polybags can also save you money when it comes to printing and postage. Your cost savings increase further when you share your bag space and your expenses with a partner.

Whether you mail brochures, free samples, subscription offers, reply cards, or more with your primary marketing material, polybagging allows you to make the most of your postage and your exposure.

Do you have a better suggestion to offer or a challenge you'd like help with? Say it here. Your comments are always welcome

AMiable Solution #39: Dressing Up Your Direct Mail with Inserts

Want to add a little something extra to your next envelope mailing? Try incorporating an insert.


What's the benefit of an insert?

First, if you're using your insert as an "oh, by the way, we also offer..." in invoices, statements, renewal reminders, etc., than the inserts are nearly free. Since the product or service marketed on the insert is not the main purpose of the mailing, you essentially pay only for printing: postage, list rental, and mailhouse expenses are already covered.

Second, if you use them in single-product/service packages, inserts allow you highlight and draw out specific key information in your sales letter or brochure, including testimonials, special offers, deadlines, guarantees, etc.

In both cases, inserts also allow you to target your appeal to specific buyers and offer information, memberships, subscriptions, products, or services to clients and prospects based on previous inquiries or activity.

Your insert can be a simple, postcard-sized sheet or a larger, folded brochure, but the focus should be related to the main content of the envelope. It should have a clear, strong headline to identify its purpose, and like any other piece of marketing, it should include your company's name, contact information, and a call to action.

Do you have a better suggestion to offer or a challenge you'd like help with? Say it here. Your comments are always welcome.

AMiable Solution #38: Dressing Up Your Direct Mail with Color

In my opinion, nothing makes a child's room more uplifting and inspiring than bright colors: red, green, yellow, orange, and blue. They encourage creativity. They're cheerful. They catch your attention.

Which is why they work in direct mail, too. Although we generally think of "dressing" something "up" as making it more sophisticated--think black-and-white and drab all over--dressing up a mailpiece simply means giving it an element of excitement. Something a little unexpected. Something to make your intended audience take notice. Something that makes your prospect put everything else down and look at your mailpiece. Now.

Bright colors do that.

Think about the mailpieces that have caught your attention. Some of them did it with color. A bright yellow highlight through an important reply deadline. A fluorescent splash on the cover of a catalog. A red teaser on an envelope.

Although the brighter the color is the more you need to use it in moderation, eye-catching colors accomplish the first goal of your direct mail piece: to stand out and get noticed.

So go ahead. Skip the pale, washed out orange and go for the bright, no-doubt-this-is-orange Pantone Orange 021. Forget the mossy green 392 and go for the bright lime 389. Change your dirty-brick red to Christmas red. You could increase your open and response rate as easily as that. And that's not child's play.

Do you have a better suggestion to offer or a challenge you'd like help with? Say it here. Your comments are always welcome.

Solution #37: Dressing Up Your Direct Mail with Post Scripts

If you don't regularly include postscripts (P.S.) in your direct mail letters, you're missing a crucial opportunity to capture your audience's attention and pull readers into your copy.

According to Ray Jutkins, a direct mail copywriting specialist and frequent contributor to the National Mail Order Association, 79% of the people who open your direct mail package will read the P.S. first.  If written well, that P.S. will inspire them to read more.

The length of your postscript depends on the content and length of the letter it follows, but it can be as simple as a sentence or two or, in some cases, as long as a few paragraphs.  Here are a few things you can do with a P.S.:

·         reiterate the top benefits of your product or service

·         remind people how to respond

·         repeat your offer's deadline date

·         remind readers about a special gift they will get if they respond

·         emphasize the financial aspect of your offer: the potential money saved or earned

Jutkins also suggests summarizing your entire sales message in your P.S. in a single paragraph, but he cautions against ever introducing any new information in your P.S.  Including new information in the P.S. that readers can't find further elaboration on in your letter will confuse and frustrate them, and frustrated readers don't usually become eager buyers.

P.S. If you have multiple points you want to emphasize in your P.S., don't hesitate to break them up into two postscripts: a P.S. and a P.P.S.  Multiple postscripts allow you to emphasize multiple points and draw more attention to the P.S. area.

Do you have a better suggestion to offer or a challenge you'd like help with?  Say it here.  Your comments are always welcome.

AMiable Solution #36: Dressing Up Your Direct Mail with Photographs

For a direct mail piece to succeed--no matter what format: brochure, letter, postcard, catalog, etc.--it must include good, clear, convincing copy. Although effective mailers have been created without the use of graphics, you can enhance your marketing copy and add visual appeal to your promotion, in turn increasing ROI, with photographs.

But incorporating photos into your direct mail piece requires more than just buying an image and slapping it into your layout. To make the most of your pictorial additions, keep the following tips in mind:

• Use high-resolution photos. Otherwise, your image will look grainy and detract from the purpose and effectiveness of including the photo. If you're not sure if your photo is up to snuff, let your printer review it.

• Include people. Whether they're pictured using the product or enjoying the benefits of the product/service, happy people portray more meaning than products alone.

• Plan placement. Photographs and other graphics help pull your readers into and through the promotion. Place photographs throughout the layout to draw attention to the entire piece, or place them next to particularly important text.

• Think directionally. Remember the “direction” of the picture when placing it: a person looking to the right side of the photo will lead a reader's eyes to the right side of the page. Make sure to place such pictures on the left side of the page and include key copy to the right of the photo.

• It's not the end. Avoid putting photos at the bottom of a page, especially if it's a key visual or your only photo. Graphics are one of the first things readers look at, and putting a photo at the bottom of a spread invites readers to exit the page.

Whether you buy a stock photo, take your own, or hire someone to take the pictures for you, make sure the images you include in your marketing support your text and convey your message.

Do you have a better suggestion to offer or a challenge you'd like help with? Say it here. Your comments are always welcome.