What Options Do I Have When Designing My Mailing?

One of the outstanding strengths and greatest benefits of direct mail advertising is the varied option available.

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Mailing Services

Why Would I Use Direct Mail?

No other form of communication offers such direct contact for such a small cost.

How Effective Is Direct Mail?

When used efficiently, and especially when integrated with other communication strategies, direct mail brings a very good return on your investment.

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Reasons to Use a Fulfillment House

You can tailor your mailing to exactly match your needs, whether you are looking for a very specific visual impact or trying to deliver a concise message within a specific budget. Some of these options include:

• Using black and white or four-color printing, or, if you are inserting multiple items into a single envelope, using a mix of color and black-and-white items;
• Enclosing a letter personalized with the recipient’s name and other variables from your contact database;
• Imaging a bar code on the envelope or self-mailer to allow for more efficient postal sorting and deeper discounts on postage rates;
• Using a postage meter or applying a stamp for a more personal look.

Whatever contents you decide to enclose, a mailing service will be able to help advise, assemble, and send your mailing to conform with the ever-changing postal regulations. From printing letters and envelopes to folding and inserting materials to applying postage, a mailing service can put your materials together in whatever way you choose.

Who Should Receive My Mailing?

To be as effective as possible, your mailing should be targeted to the people most likely to be looking for the information you are providing. The best list to start with is your own customer list. A mailing service can simply take your list and send your mailing to those individuals.

However, you may not have a list of everyone who might be interested in your information. In fact, the lack of a good list of contacts may be one of the things that has been preventing you from moving ahead with direct mailing. A full-line mailing service can help you there, too, as they can procure for you all type of business or consumer lists and tailor those lists to meet your needs. For consumer lists, they can select people in specific geographical areas, within a specific income age and gender ranges, including homeowners or renters with buying habits, putting your information where it can do the most good for your business.

What Kind of Businesses Can Benefit From Direct Mail?

Any business that needs to increase its sales and communicate with existing customers and new customers can find a use for direct mail. That covers just about every business there is! The list below shows some of the ways direct mail has been used and provides a sample of the many purposes for which this tool can be employed:

• Announcements of a performing arts group’s upcoming season for potential subscribers or for people planning to attend individual events;
• Announcements of sales;
• Offers of new products or services;
• Newsletters detailing a not-for-profit organization’s activities;
• Letters announcing a fund-raising campaign and seeking individual donations;
• Businesses-to-business communications, including invoices;
• Postcards directing contacts to a website or store location;
• Newsletters keeping customers informed of issues in a company’s particular area of work, such as health news from a doctor’s office.

This is just a small number of ideas, but it shows that just about any business can find a use for direct mail. If you want to give people—whether they’re business contacts, existing customers, or potential customers—tangible information, direct mail is a great way to put that information right in their hands.