Masonry Magazine September 2001 Page. 32
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IT'S WHAT'S INSIDE THAT COUNTS
But of course, there's more to a brochure than making it pretty and colorful; you also have to have something to put in it! If your content isn't efficient and effective, your time will likely be wasted. So, here are a few tips for creating your own direct mail program. First, we'll discuss some general rules and then move on to the mailer (in the form of a brochure) itself.
GENERAL RULES
Always personalize your mailings. No "occupant" or "current addressee" labels. They' just get tossed.
Don't fill your direct mail with a lot of unrelated, unrequested junk literature about products and fads. All this does is increase your postage and lessen the chance that it will be read. In general, the message should be short, simple, and focused (we'll talk more about this later).
Include (or make it a part of your mailing) pre-addressed reply cards with your mailings to increase your response rate.
Check out bulk mailing permits. These permits are often available for a yearly fee and will get you a reduced postage rate per mailed item. This will save you a bundle on postage costs if you do a lot of mailings. Now, there will be some restrictions, like minimum quantities, requirements that mailings have to be of the same size and shape, and more, but it can often be made to suit your program well.
There are also bar-coding and pre-sorting mailing options available. Software for bar-coding may already be loaded as part of your word-processing program (and you just don't know it.) If so, your WP program may also be able to sort and code your mailings. This will ease office strain and- since bar-coded mail is often even cheaper than regular bulk mail save you even more in postage costs.
If you decide not to go the bulk- mail route, be sure you choose an appropriate class of mail. First-class mail may cost you a bit more, but (besides making a nice impression on the client) mailings that can't be delivered by the postman will be returned to you, thus giving you the chance to update or correct your computer database ... and avoid wasting money in the future (and trust me, this happens a lot!) Along this same line, make it a habit to periodically purge your database for old or redundant customer names. If your database is quite large, you may even want to check out purging software to help you with your task.
CREATING YOUR BROCHURE
Of course, if you're going to go to all the effort of developing a direct mail program, you'll want the message you send to be effective. So, before you go throwing just anything together, there are a few things you may want to consider. Now, above, I used the word focus. The focus or objective of your brochure is an essential element in creating an effective mailer (or any type of communication for that matter). Focus simply means taking the time to ask yourself, "What are we trying to accomplish with this mailing?"
There's a reason for this exercise. You see, many brochures that I receive daily seem to have no discernable message or purpose. I'm sure you've seen them too: bundles of disoriented and disconnected shreds of information and promotional literature with no clearly stated, focused message to the customer about what your company can do for them. Now, I'm sure these fine firms aren't complete marketing misfits. These misguided attempts at promotion are more likely the result of harried company employees throwing together unrelated globs of propaganda in a well-meaning-but ill-conceived - attempt to get something into his prospective customer's hands by a certain deadline.
But this is no way to get your message out. So, to avoid having your direct mail program rendered ineffectual due to an disconnected, disoriented, and just plain dull mailings, let's examine some elements of effective brochures... and see if we can't put a little pizazz in your promotion:
Have an objective... and get to it
32 MASONRY SEPTEMBER, 2001