Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Urgent! E-mailer And Direct Mail Question

Posted by panchal.priti on 2/26/2013 at 3:11 AM ET 500 Points
Hello,

Need help to figure out how best to do a direct mail letter piece.
I have recently been tasked to do a direct mailer within the week, I have the e-mailer content piece ready to go out tomorrow afternoon, but now just working on the landing page and the direct mail piece (hoping to send out in the mail Thursday morning).
I have never done a direct mail piece so I need some help.
The audience is only 17-20 people, and because of budget and time constraints I'm planning on doing a promo letter type aspect and printing a question on the envelope, in hopes that it gets opened.

Should I take the e-mailer and basically have the promo letter look the same with a few minor tweaks?


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  • Posted by Moriarty on 2/26/2013 at 4:26 AM Accepted
    The text and content are way more important than the graphics. Blending the two will help a little, getting the audience interested is way more powerful. That is to say, engage them.

    So tell them stuff in the manner of stories. Whatever you need to tackle, say it by way of a demonstration in the real world with real people. If you don't know a story, ask someone in your company (or their company) for an example. They should have a few.

    Then as the story warms up, close the email with the "Read More" and most of them will click through. Even if they don't read your advertising blurb, they will have seen the images, have your website on their browser. They'll come back.

    The point of email is that it is easy to get wrong. What I mean is that it is also easy to put right! Direct mail is way slower, way more expensive - and that means not so easy to put right. So fine tune via email, get it right and see what works and doesn't. Test your "opener" on your email targets first, and see which headline gets opened the most. Put that on your envelopes with a stamp for the best results - thus maximizing the effect of your direct mailings without the downside of having to spend loads of money on it. Because direct mailings are still one of the best methods of communication to this day.

    Go for it!
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 2/26/2013 at 8:28 AM Accepted
    If it's a small audience, definitely hand address the letters. That'll much more likely result in an open.

    Also, I'd consider a personal phone call to each person - not simply to sell, but to ask & listen first. Learn what their needs are, and only then suggest. If there's a "fit", then follow up with the email - that's personalized to their needs.
  • Posted on 2/26/2013 at 9:39 AM Accepted
    Jay is right. With just 17-20 individuals in your target audience, it should be relatively easy to personalize and customize each message -- even to contact the target audience one-to-one. If you take the time, and make the effort, to learn what's on each person's mind, you can craft the best headlines and messages imaginable.

    This is not a situation where one-size-fits-all is the best solution.
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