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Pack Extra Meaning into Your Message with Strategic Color Combinations

Of all the elements of design, color is probably the most challenging to understand.  Color originates from a light source that is viewed directly or seen as reflected light. While colors can be displayed in spectrums, prisms, or contrasts, the power of colors is not only in their arrangement, but in the way we perceive them. Want to add depth to your message? The colors you choose can add an extra layer of meaning. Colors Prompt a Specific Response According to Sally Augustin from Psychology Today, research shows that particular colors can prompt measurable responses . Here are the impacts of five particular colors, and how you can use them to your advantage: Green Seeing the color green has been linked to more creative thinking—so greens are good options for pieces featuring innovation, creativity, artistic specialties, or proactive growth. Red People featured in front of red backgrounds are generally seen as more attractive when silhouetted against other colors, so reds are great fo
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Direct Mail Postcards: A Proven Winner

Results. Whether it’s weight loss, test scores, or finances, tangible success is the payoff everyone wants. With a limited marketing budget, it’s important for your business to make every penny count. And, according to a 2018 DMA Response Rate Report, direct mail consistently outperforms all digital marketing channels.  Direct mail allows readers to comprehend, process, and remember the material more quickly and easily, with postcards and large envelopes eliciting the best overall response. Think about how quickly you process your own mail – ‘bill, letter, junk, ad . . .’ It takes a split second to accept or discard each piece. Postcards put the message front and center as soon as the printed piece hits their hand. When it comes to results, 52.5 percent of potential recipients claim they will read a postcard, whereas a letter-sized envelope will be opened only a third of the time. Postcards get a fairly high response rate – 4.25% – followed by dimensional mailers with 4% and letter-siz
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Why Direct Mail Marketing is a Brilliant Investment

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, and many spam filters and firewalls block emails altogether. At the same time, a volume decrease in traditional mail has allowed direct mail marketing to rise to the top of the mailbox, being noticed, read, and responded to more frequently. Need proof? Here are some stats to consider: According to the Direct Marketing Association’s 2017 Response Rate Report, direct mail offered a 5.1 percent response to house lists and a 2.9 percent response to rented lists across all direct mail formats.  (In comparison, the 2017 response rate for all digital channels  combined  was 2 percent.) Eighty-five percent of consumers will open a piece of mail that catches their attention, and more than 40 per
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Not All Mailing Lists Are Created Equal - Maximizing Your Return With Mailing List Savvy

It's ironic, really. The lists that we struggle to be removed from are also the same lists our companies strive to obtain. The truth is, for many businesses, targeted mailing lists are the bread and butter of their marketing efforts. Being able to create niche-marketing materials and then putting those materials into the right hands is essential to a company's survival. Not all mailing lists are created equal, though. Understanding the different types of mailing lists is critical in maximizing the return on your investment of content and quality marketing materials. Consumer Mailing List Consumer mailing lists are comprehensive lists of people associated with their demographic, economic, and psychographic information. The consumer mailing list helps your business target individuals with very specific profiles for maximum return on investment. Typically, you can choose to filter these types of lists by the following data: - Gender - Age - Ethnicity - Marital Sta
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Print Marketing - What Was Once Old is Now New Again

Recently, a prospective client said they wanted to get customers' attention through non-traditional marketing using printed products. Who knew that in 2016, the printed word would be considered "non-traditional?" Non-traditional? We're saying this about a medium that was developed back in the 1400's by Johannes Gutenberg! While Webster's (of dictionary fame) mind might be little blown by this reference, when you think about it, it actually makes a lot of sense. For the past two decades, digital media has been rapidly replacing many of our formerly traditional ways of doing things, from watching television, reading the newspaper, to yes...print marketing. With the democratization of information that the internet has brought, more and more people are consuming this information digitally. Social media and search engine algorithms target our interests and bombard us with advertisements directed at those interests, to the point that we've become immune to t
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Designing Direct Mail That Sells

  If it sells, it is creative. This, in essence, is the first rule of direct mail design, according to legendary designer and author, David Ogilvy. But what sells? Here are a few tips to keep in mind when designing your next direct mail marketing piece: The basics are in your mailbox. When you need inspiration, just go to your own personal direct mail idea vault... your mailbox! You probably receive tons of good direct mail each year. Set aside packages that catch your eye. The companies mailing these have spent thousands of dollars researching the best methods. Why not learn from their research? Always try to beat your previous response rate. Play around with the design before sending the mailing out again. See if minor changes make a significant difference in the response rate. Send out different versions of your design to similar groups in your database, and test to see which one results in the most responses. Whatever you do, test it, and then test it again! Use words that gra
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Creating a Powerful Direct Mail Offer

  In order to maximize the potential of your next direct mail campaign, it's important to focus on one key aspect: your offer. Here are a few tips for creating a powerful direct mail offer that your audience will notice and respond to: Create a unique promo, such as free bonus items or group packaged discounts. Define response methods, such as "Order now at www…," "Call us today at 800…", etc. Think like a customer and choose the best perceived value. For example, consider this same offer presented three different ways: - 50% off! - Half price! - Buy one – get one free! (note: this is perceived as the most attractive offer) Create an intriguing, time-sensitive offer as a great way to light the fire necessary to generate interest. Personalize your message whenever possible. Make sure your offer is clear and concise, and spell out all necessary details. Highlight ways that your product (and offer) is a greater value than your competition. Beware of creating an
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