Information about general mailing practices
Although postcards are one of today’s beloved print pieces, they had a humble beginning. Direct Mail Postcards followed a little later.
The earliest postcard dates back to 1840 when an English man named Theodore Hook sent one to himself. By 1861, the US Congress allowed privately printed cards, weighing one ounce or under, to be sent through the mail. That year, John P. Charlton copyrighted the first postcard, and by 1901 postcards were a regular part of mailed communication.
When email marketing began around 1978, its low cost, speedy delivery, and great response rates made marketers wonder if direct mail would disappear forever.
Today, that couldn’t be further from the truth. An overload of digital messages has caused open and click-through rates to decline substantially. Many spam filters and firewalls block emails altogether.
Want to grab attention for your event, promotion, or group?
Flyers are a low-cost form of mass communication that can be personally delivered, distributed through mail, posted in public places, or sent via e-mail. Flyers are fun to create and provide a great place to experiment with unusual images or layouts. As you explore the possibilities, here are five areas to sharpen your design:
Are you capitalizing on those opportunities, too?
David Ogilvy, a legendary designer and author, says that is the very first rule for designing direct mail.
But how do you know what sells?
Here are 5 tips to keep in mind when you design your next direct mail marketing piece to improve it’s chances of success.
Don’t forget that you own a mailbox too!
Just check out what is being mailed to you and see if any catch your eye.
If you’re like everyone else on the planet, you most likely receive a lot of direct mail on a weekly basis.
Set aside the ones that make an impression on you, whether because of the wording, images, call-to-action, or format.
Odds are, the company that sent you those mailers spent a good amount of money on researching the best methods.
So why not learn from their research for free?
Just as athletes strive not only to win but also to beat their own personal records, so should you!
Try optimizing an older piece of mail and play around with the images and wording to see if you can improve it.
Sometimes even minor changes can make a significant difference in the response rate.
If you see a change, continue to send out different versions of that design to similar groups in your database, and take note to which one receives the most responses.
Then test it, and test it again!
A single mailing is considered a test.
On average it will take 7-9 mailers to get a prospect’s attention.
Don’t give up if you don’t get a response on the first mailer.
With each additional direct mail piece you send, you should see an increase in responses.
Remember to personalize.
If your organization is looking for unique ways to attract prospects and increase sales, here are a few creative discount and coupon ideas to consider:
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