Marketing With Ink And Paper

Since you are paying for it, when you send out a post card you want to maximize the amount of text on the piece to make it worth your while right?

WRONG!

I have seen this mistake made over and over. Inexperienced marketers commonly make the fatal mistake of cramming tons of text into a tiny post card, hoping to convey as much information as an 11 x 17 brochure. In fact, I have kept several examples of post cards as example of what NOT to do (similar to my business card collection) when you are contemplating a direct mail campaign. I am opting out of showing them because they may get recognized but trust me, they are terrible.

It's real easy - when you decide to throw your hat into the direct mail ring, just remember, less is more. If you flood the entire front and back of a postcard in the hopes of getting your complete message across, your wordy piece piece of post office love is going to find it's way into the round file. When this happens, the only one that benefited from your endeavor was the post office.

So what's a person to do when you want to get the most out of your direct mail program.

1. If you are promoting a "sale" focus on the time sensitive information and the action items associated with the event.
   
2. Focus on a "pain" and elude to a solution. This will elicit a contact.
3. Keep your message as short as possible and still be able to convey the "need-to-know" information.
   
4. Design an interesting "front" that will make people want to turn it over and find out more.
5. If you are engaging in a multi-month direct mail campaign, make sure all of your pieces have continuity with each other inside the confines of the campaign.

Before you begin, sit down and work out a plan for your campaign. Address who you want to target, what you want to target them with, how many times you want to "touch" them during the campaign and what is your follow up plan. If you know what you want before you approach your designer or ad exec, you will be much further ahead.

Some of our most successful direct mail campaigns have included nothing more than the company's website or one word on the front. However, the highest rate of return I have experienced, has been with dimensional mail. This type of mailing has a higher cost per piece and typically a lower volume but we have seen returns as high as 27%.

Bottom Line? Clean, simple text and design = better results

Have questions about marketing? Let me know what's on your mind. C'mon, talk to BigPappa!

 

Old School Wins The Mail Battle...For Now

For all of you still wondering if snail mail or e-mail is more effective, there is a new study published by ICR.

Granted, it was conducted by the red inkers at Pitney Bowes and I am assuming that there may be a little bit of a skew in the numbers, but the numbers clearly indicate that consumers prefer TRADITIONAL direct mail over direct email.

The study found that an overwhelming 73% still preferred receiving unsolicited information about products and company services in "snail-mail" format. The number jumps to 86% when asked if about confidential information like banking statements and financial reports.

Here is one statistic reported that makes me think that the numbers are a bit skewed. When asked about disposal of unsolicited mail, 31% of the respondants said that they were less likely to dispose of normal mail. This sort of forces me assume that over 60% (a number conveniently left out) are likely to dispose of the hard mail. However 53% said they were likely to delete an unopened email.

In the end, it appears that U.S. consumers still prefer the "tried and true" traditional mail format. I am sure this may change in the future but when you are contemplating your next mail campaign you might want to stick with what people prefer.

Need help on your next direct mail campaign? Give IMT a call at 319-232-4332