By John Fenton on 12/24/2007 11:12 AM

Merry Christmas Everyone! 

Even busy marketing professionals need to take a break sometimes.  And sometimes walking away from it for a while can give you the brilliant new ideas you were hoping for. 

So go enjoy and have a great Christmas!

Wishing you the best this holiday season:

By John Fenton on 12/23/2007 11:12 AM

One way to increase response from a mailing is to mail to the same list more than once.  You can send the same piece multiple times or even better send different pieces.  A brochure followed up by a letter, followed up by a post card, or any similar sequence can do great.

The general rule of thumb is that you can mail to the same list of prospects up to 3 times and still get good response from it.  Repeat the message... they might set it aside the first time, then go for it on a repeat mailing.  So work your lists hard.  You'll be glad you did.

For the best in Direct Mail Tips, Tools and Services Visit

By John Fenton on 12/22/2007 11:12 AM

This is particularly important when you are first getting started or when you decide to significantly vary what you are doing.  Sometimes ideas that look great on paper and in planning can flop when you implement them.  Don't waste your money by starting a new campaign without at least doing one test run first. 

I like to mail 3,000 when I do a test.  It's enough to get a good feel for the response, yet not so much that it wastes a chunk of  your budget.  3,000 also works well with most minimum orders for list, printing and mailing so it's a good economical point to test at.

For the best in Direct Mail Tips, Tools and Services Visit

By John Fenton on 12/21/2007 11:12 AM

Never promote what you can't produce.  It takes enough work to get new customers, so don't waste it by leaving a sour taste in their mouths.  Once you have them, you want to keep them, and  you want them to tell their friends about your great product or your great service.

One of the best ways to build a strong and loyal customer base is to give them a bit more than they expected.  A little extra service, a small extra touch, anything you can do to exceed their expectations, can win you a loyal customer that will give you valuable referrals.

For the best in Direct Mail Tips, Tools and Services Visit

By John Fenton on 12/20/2007 11:12 AM

I have always encouraged my customers to shoot me a PDF prior to printing the mail piece, and if it's an unusual size or shape I recommend they send me the specs or a mock-up before starting the design.  Sometimes even a 1/8" difference in size can save a significant amount in postage or labor. 

It's so much nicer and less expensive to find out about the problems before the piece is printed, or before hours of design time have been wasted.  Does your mail house do this for you?  If not, maybe you should be using us!

For the best in Direct Mail Tips, Tools and Services Visit

By John Fenton on 12/19/2007 11:12 AM

It's what your public thinks.  You may think that a free hot dog with every inner tube you buy is the greatest idea since sliced bread, but if your public doesn't care for hot dogs it's not going to work.

You are not necessarily the same demographic as your buyers.  It's important to find out what they like, and what motivates them to buy your product or service.  Simple client surveys can give you a wealth of information about why your customers chose you.  Showing off your new promo piece to a few of your favorite customers prior to going to print can also give you some interesting feedback.

By John Fenton on 12/18/2007 11:12 AM

With national move rates running around 18% per year, you need to keep your list up to date.  It's not that hard to do, you can put "return service requested" or a similar endorsement on your mail piece and fix them as the returns come in.  Or you can send your list to us and we can have it updated electronically. 

 If you don't your list soon becomes trash, so it's well worth the effort.

By John Fenton on 12/17/2007 11:02 AM

Seems obvious, but I still see it a lot.  I get the mail piece, scratch my head and go where am I supposed to put the address?  The address block, indicia and return address all need to be considered in the design.

This is especially the case with postcards.  The customer decides to cut costs by using a small post card,   then adds enough copy to fill a 3 page brochure.  The result — they leave me with a 2 inch address area!  They then hand me a list with 80 character fields and want me to bar code it to save them money.

The bar coding just ain't gonna happen!  I need about 3" for the bar code, and it has to be 1/2" from the edge and I need a little slop to allow for the piece moving back and forth on the ink jet.   

At 10 characters per inch, an 80 column field would take up 8 inches, so even using a microscopic font it's going to take up over 5 inches!  It would have to be cleaned up and shortened in any case, but it's going to have to be butchered to get it into that small of a space.

By John Fenton on 12/16/2007 11:17 AM

What is the most targeted list you can get for your direct mail campaign?  It's your customers, they have already prequalified themselves as someone who is interested in your products or services.  And even if they aren't currently in need of your services they are your best source of referrals, so it's vital to stay in touch with them.

By John Fenton on 12/15/2007 11:26 AM

You work hard to create the perfect piece, you not only want it to look good, you want it to be effective.  Any typo on a  mail piece can be embarrassing, but there are a few errors that can take a great mail piece and turn it into a waste of perfectly good paper.  

These items need to be checked within an inch of there lives if they exist on your mail piece: 

• Phone Number
• Web Address
• Email Address
• Dates of your Event
• Prices/Interest Rates

Never send a mail piece to print without at least triple checking these items.  And it never hurts to call the phone number, visit the website, and send the email, just to be sure everything is working right.