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Direct-mail marketing—unlike space or broadcast advertisements—allows you to design the piece to contain the sales message after the message has been developed. This offers both flexibility and opportunity for a great deal of creativity. However, before you design your materials, you need to understand direct mail from its proper marketing prospective. Here are some guidelines to consider:
- The quality of the mailing list you use to reach prospective buyers can make a 1,000-percent difference in the response your appeal achieves.
- The quality of the offer made in a direct-mail piece can make a 300-percent difference in the response.
- The format or package in which the offer is presented can affect the response up to 150 percent.
- The details of the copy which describe the offer can account for a 50-percent difference in response.
Direct-mail pieces can consist of anything from a simple postcard to an elaborate package of three-dimensional premiums and free gift items. Whatever form it takes, the principles of the design of each are the same. There are three basic direct-mail formats:
- The classic format utilizes a separate outer (mailing) envelope that contains any number or combination of inserts—including a letter, reply card, brochure, promotional material, gift circulars, coupons, etc.
- The self-mailer format does not use a carrier envelope. Generally speaking, the self-mailer—which can be a simple or complex brochure, booklet, or flyer—comes off the press complete, ready to address, and mail. As such, it is usually cheaper than the "classic" mailing package.
- The catalog is the third standard direct-mail format. Catalogs vary in size and quality from a one-color newsprint insert to a slick, four-color, perfect bound book with hundreds of pages.
Selecting the appropriate format is a function of what you want to accomplish with your direct-mail promotion. To determine which format is right for you, ask yourself these questions: What is the purpose of the promotion and the mailing? What offer is being made? To whom is the offer being made? What is the proposed budget? What image—casual/friendly, formal, old-fashioned, sophisticated, etc.—do I hope to project?
With these considerations in mind, the design of the piece can be developed. Size and shape, color and materials, copy, and artwork are all elements that will determine the look-and-feel of the finished piece.
The amount of information you need to convey very often determines the size of the mailing piece. Your piece should be large enough to accommodate your message in a clear, readable manner. The most popular sizes in the United States for self-mail formats are 8.5x11" and 8.5x14", which are folded down to six- or eight-panel brochures.
Also consider the size availability of paper (or other substrate) before you commit to a given size or shape. Cost considerations and the image you want to project are the major determining forces when deciding on color and materials. Type should reflect the message or image you want to maintain. Clarity and point of view are major considerations in how to present your message. Copy should be written to explain the benefit the person receiving the message will get from responding.
The arrangement of the copy in your sales letter itself is part of the art of presenting the direct-mail package effectively. Use large type, bold headlines, and graphic devices such as bullets, asterisks, and underscores to alert and involve the reader. Photographs of your product tend to be more believable than illustrations.
An effective direct-mail package creates enough sales to more than pay for the cost of producing it. Remember one thing, nothing happens until somebody sells something.
George's company, ProTrain, is available for special assignments in sales training and marketing. He can be reached at georgemreinfeld@juno.com.
author: By George Reinfeld