Design, Mailing, Printing

Unlock Your Database’s Potential With Business Christmas Cards

Posted on by allisterfreeman@gmail.com
opening Christmas card
21
Nov

As the holiday season approaches, it’s the perfect time to make a lasting impression on your valued database. In the spirit of the festive season, we invite you to consider a unique and impactful way to connect with your clients, past and present.

A Goldmine in Your Database

Your database of past buyers is indeed a valuable asset. And right now, it’s prime time to leverage it. Business Christmas cards offer an exceptional opportunity for your clients, both past and present, to open a beautifully branded card and discover what your business has in store, including special promotions.

Direct Mail Solutions – Your Holiday Partner

Speak to Direct Mail Solutions today to explore our wide range of Christmas card options. We can tailor them to your precise specifications, even including additional marketing materials inside personalised cards. Plus, we offer highly cost-effective distribution solutions.

Why Business Christmas Cards Matter

Sending out personalised Christmas cards isn’t just a thoughtful gesture; it’s a powerful marketing tool that can help your business shine.

Here’s why:

  1. Branding at its best: A Christmas card bearing your brand’s signature design is an excellent way to engage your audience. It’s an invitation to open and read a heartfelt message, making your brand memorable.

  2. Showcasing specials: Use this opportunity to highlight any seasonal specials or promotions your business has to offer. A well-placed call to action can lead to increased engagement and sales.

  3. Harness the power of your database: Your database of past buyers is a treasure trove of potential. This time of year is ideal for rekindling relationships and reminding them of the value your business provides.

Ready to make your mark this holiday season? Contact us now and unlock the potential of a great business Christmas card for your marketing strategy.

Make this holiday season memorable for your clients and your business. Reach out to us today, and let’s discuss how we can help you make the most of this festive opportunity.

Warm regards,

Paul D’Arcy
CEO & Direct Mail Specialist

Take your direct mail, marketing and printing to new heights with our end-to-end services

1800 70 6245

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Design

Using Visual Data In Direct Mail Campaigns

Posted on by allisterfreeman@gmail.com
Using Visual Data In Direct Mail Campaigns
21
Oct

If you’re not already using visual data in direct mail campaigns, you should be. It’s an easy way to increase customer understanding, add character, and improve engagement! 

There’s more to great mail than just text. Don’t get me wrong—your message and how you say it is vital to your success. But visual data is an often-overlooked part of a direct mail campaign, and it could be the one thing you really need to make an impact. 

Here are some reasons you should be using visual data in direct mail campaigns. The good news is that if you aren’t already, it’s super easy to start doing! 

The Brain on Visual Data 

Did you know that the brain processes visual data roughly 60,000 times faster than other info? Or that it takes just 13 milliseconds of seeing an image before we can identify what it is? 

The brain is visual! Even if you don’t consider yourself to be a “visual learner”, the truth is, visuals are always easier for the brain to process. 

Using Visual Data In Direct Mail 

Of course, text is necessary. You need to inform the reader about what your piece of mail is offering. But you can’t expect them to wade through giant walls of text to find that out. 

Why Use Visual Data? 

You need to catch your reader’s attention. Remember that statistic above? 13 milliseconds. If you’ve got something visual on your flyer, your reader can glance at it, process it, and make the choice to keep reading. 

If there’s simply text on your mail, all one glance is going to do is make your reader want to put it down without reading it!

Use visual data to catch their attention upfront. From there, you need to lead them down the road of finding out everything they need to know. 

How to Incorporate Visual Data 

Using visual data in direct mail campaigns doesn’t mean just sticking pictures into your mail. You need to be smart about it and use value-packed graphics that offer important information about your product or service. 

Graphs 

Graphs are amazing bits of visual information. They take complicated concepts and make them easy to understand by putting them in a visual format. 

If you have graphs or pie charts (or can make some) relating to your product or service, pop one or two in there. Just make sure that they’re fun and easy on the eye… Not overly complicated or too professional-looking. 

Infographics 

As their name suggests, these are graphics full of info. You’ve no doubt seen them floating around… Well, everywhere, really. They’re a great way to share steps, benefits, or anything else about your product. 

Photos 

People like seeing how things work. Don’t just stick pictures of happy, grinning people in there. Rather, take the chance to showcase your product or an element of your service. Or even put a headshot in there if one particular person is important. 

Just make sure your pics are professional and look great. No hasty photos snapped on a smartphone at the last minute!

Take your direct mail, marketing and printing to new heights with our end-to-end services

1800 70 6245

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Mailing

How to A/B Test Your Direct Mail Campaigns

Posted on by allisterfreeman@gmail.com
how to A/B test your direct mail
02
Aug

Yes, A/B testing is just as important in direct mail as it is online! Here’s how to A/B test your direct mail campaigns to make sure you know what works and what doesn’t. 

Testing is critical. Whether you’re creating a new product or cooking a meal, you need to test it out to understand whether or not it’s working! 

If you aren’t testing, you may be missing out on valuable information that could supercharge your campaigns and bring in more business. 

An A/B test is a direct comparison between two things. In your case, two pieces of mail. Its purpose? To compare two designs, CTAs, tones of voice, etc. to find out which one gets a better response from your customers. 

Here’s how to A/B test your direct mail campaigns easily. 

How to A/B Test Your Direct Mail 

Planning your first A/B test? Take these steps to make it successful! 

Set A Measurable Goal 

What’s the point of your A/B test? What are you measuring? Knowing this is your first step to running a successful test! Maybe you want to measure: 

  • Number of sales 
  • Website visits 
  • Responses to a prompt 

Having a specific goal helps you to know what metrics to focus on when you’re analysing results later. Which leads to our next point… 

Test One Metric At a Time 

You can test all 3 of those metrics, but each one should have its own campaign. One A/B test, one variable. This will prevent confusion and help you to really nail down the specifics of what you’re testing for. 

Choose Your Batch Size 

You’ll get less information out of a test group of 1,000 than you will out of a group of 10,000. Of course, if you’re running your normal campaign and simply using it for testing purposes, you’re likely to just be sending out to the general area and not a smaller portion of the population. 

However, if you specifically want to (and have the capacity to) do a smaller campaign purely for testing purposes, it may be worthwhile to go for a slightly larger testing group. 

Track Your Results 

Consider how you’re going to track your desired results. If you’re tracking clicks or sales, all of that information is likely to be found on your analytics software. Make sure you’re tracking the right thing as per your goal – if you’re aiming to track conversion rate, for example, don’t waste time staring at your website visits. 

Direct Mail Testing Ideas 

Of course, the idea is to compare two sets of results, so a full A/B test contains two campaigns. There are two easy ways to do this: 

Single Variable Split-Test 

Let’s say you’re sending your campaign to 10,000 people. Create 5,000 pieces of mail with one element—eg. “Buy Now” CTA—and 5,000 with another—eg. “Give Me The Good Stuff”. Only change one small thing, not the entire leaflet! 

Send the first 5k to one split of your group and the second 5k to the second split. From there, keep an eye on your results to see which one is the favourite. 

This is a full A/B test within a single direct mailing campaign. The next type uses 2 separate mailing campaigns to test. 

Old/New Campaign A/B Test 

In this test, you don’t need to send out two lots of mail with a small change. You just need to grab the data from an old campaign and create a new campaign to challenge it. 

Change one small item from the original campaign and send it out to your full audience. Compare the results to those from the original. Easy peasy!

 

Mailing

How to make your mail environmentally friendly

Posted on by allisterfreeman@gmail.com
Environmentally friendly direct mail marketing
13
Jun

When it comes to saving the planet, small changes can make a big impact. And, in both our personal and working lives, it’s important that we all play a conscious role in making environmentally friendly decisions that will ultimately help to save our planet.

After all, there is an increasing amount of evidence that has proven that neglecting our planet is having a catastrophic impact on civilisation, air, water, animal habitats, and our food chain.

One of the best ways to combat these issues is to recognize the many benefits that come hand in hand with recycling, especially in the workplace. This is because all businesses should actively monitor their environmental performance by assessing and controlling their recycling processes and waste reduction procedures.

We’ve taken a look at how to make your mail environmentally friendly!

First and foremost, there’s a common misconception that direct mail campaigns are not environmentally friendly however, this is not true!

Why? Paper is one of the most recycled products in the world, meaning it can be reused for other purposes once it has done its job!

However, there are lots of ways that you can make your mailing campaign more environmentally friendly including:

Only Work with sustainable paper sources

When implementing any direct or bulk mail campaign, you should only ever work with sustainable paper sources!

When looking for sources you should consider whether the paper has been sustainably stocked and you will know this by asking your supplier if their stock has been planted and harvested for paper.

Clear calls to action

All sales copy should always incorporate a clear call to action! For example, within your copy you should aim to tell them exactly what you want them to do – whether that’s visit your website, give you a call, pop into your store, take advantage of an offer or incentive or even enter a competition you are running!

Avoid plastic envelopes

Any form of plastic should be avoided at all costs when it comes to saving our environment. This is because plastic has become one of the most common forms of marine debris, causing devastation to our planet’s oceans.

With this in mind, when it comes to initiating your direct mail campaign, you should consider not using any plastic packaging in order to minimise the risks to our environment.

And there are lots of alternatives you can use to plastic if packaging in a necessity including compostable and biodegradable polywrap! This can be disposed of by putting it into a green bin or compost bin at the end of its life.

Know your target market

Segmenting your audience by reaching out to only your target market can not only allow you to optimise the success of your mail campaign but can also help to keep numbers down when it comes to the number of direct mail pieces you are sending out!

After all, waste can have a huge impact on our environment, especially if you are reaching out to a demographic that you know already has no interest in your product or service.

With this in mind, it certainly pays to clean out your data when creating data mailing lists that are a strong match for new potential customers.

And remember, you should always personalise your direct mail pieces for maximum impact.

It’s the small changes that add up to big differences in our environment. Play your part today!

Mailing

Stages of an End-to-End Direct Mail Campaign

Posted on by allisterfreeman@gmail.com
end-to-end direct mail campaign
15
Mar

What are the stages of a complete end-to-end direct mail campaign? Understanding the anatomy of a campaign beforehand can help you optimise the effectiveness of yours. 

Have you ever wondered exactly what goes into running a direct mail campaign? It’s fairly straightforward, but there’s a definite process that takes place in order to ensure that your campaign is successful. 

Here are the steps that we take when you decide you want to run a direct mail campaign. If you work with us, this is what you can expect! 

Stages of An End-to-End Direct Mail Campaign

Planning and Preparation 

To make sure your campaign is successful, you’ll need to do some research and planning. The first step is to identify your target audience, and then put your target distribution list together. 

Next, decide what your goal is. This will influence your campaign greatly! Do you want to make sales or lead your customers to take a particular action? 

It’s important to decide on what your call to action is. This will provide your audience with a way forward and needs to work hand-in-hand with your goal. 

You can go with a soft CTA, such as: 

  • Try Us Out! 
  • Get Started
  • Learn More
  • Try For Free
  • Sign Up 

Or something much more direct, like: 

  • Visit Our Website 
  • Book an Appointment 
  • But Yours Now 

Make sure the information that you provide for your end-to-end direct mail campaign includes: 

  • Who you are & what you do 
  • What you’re offering 
  • Why should they choose you? 

In this stage, you’ll also need to decide if you want to personalise the campaign or include free samples in your mail! 

Design Work 

Make sure that the design and format of your mail makes your information appealing, easy to read, and highlights your goal and your CTA. 

You can choose from a number of formats, such as brochures, flyers, oversized postcards, booklets, letters, or regular-sized postcards. 

There are two ways to can go about the design work: 

  • Using a direct mail template and do your own design 
  • Make use of Direct Mail Solutions’ super designers! 

We can take care of all the niggly design work, and make sure that: 

  • The campaign is customised to your goals, including branding & colours 
  • Your focus points aren’t lost in text or graphs 
  • The format keeps your goal & CTA at the forefront 

Printing, Folding, & Collating 

Once the format and design work are completed, your direct mail campaign will go to print. Depending on your needs, this could be either litho or digital printing. 

Digital printing is a good choice when you need faster delivery, have smaller print runs, or need to print personalised mail. It can also be more affordable. 

Litho printing is usually used on longer or larger print runs, or where the design is being printed on cardboard or similar media. 

You can choose the quantity to be printed, but in most cases it will be based off of your targeted distribution list. 

It can be time-consuming and complicated to print, fold, collate, & send large volumes of mail to hundreds (or thousands) of different recipients! 

Which is where we come in. Let Direct Mail Solutions handle your complete end-to-end direct mail campaign, from design work to distribution and everything in between!

Mailing

Improve Conversion Rate: 5 Reasons Your Leaflet Lands In the Bin

Posted on by allisterfreeman@gmail.com
improve conversion rate of your direct mail
24
Feb

Wondering why your leaflet lands in the bin instead of bringing in new sales? Here’s what you may be doing wrong and how to improve conversion rate to actually make more sales. 

It’s frustrating to design a leaflet, get it printed, send it out, and… Crickets. Although direct mail marketing is one of the most cost-effective forms of advertising, it doesn’t really help if you’re getting nothing out of it. 

The good news is that the problem is likely to be one of a short list of things. Fix these in your leaflet, and the chance of driving action will be much higher! 

Fix These Issues to Improve Conversion Rate

1. Poor Visual Design 

Your leaflet has to look good. It doesn’t matter how great your product or service is, if it’s presented in an unappealing way, nobody’s going to take the time to look past the poor design. 

  • Stick to two or three colours maximum for text 
  • Choose high-quality pictures that are relevant 
  • Space your elements nicely 
  • Don’t try to fit too much on one page 

2. Not Showing the Benefits 

The fact is, customers want to know what’s in it for them. If you aren’t telling them the benefits they’ll get, you’re on the wrong track. Don’t just list features! Explain why the features will benefit the reader. 

  • Instead of “Fast delivery”, say – Our speedy delivery will save you days of waiting! 
  • Instead of “Simple process”, say – Our process will cut your work time in half. 

Explain HOW your features will help the reader so they can imagine how their life is going to improve when they buy your product/service. 

3. Sending To the Wrong Audience 

No matter how hard you try, you aren’t going to sell gaming laptops to 80-year-olds. Or shoe horns to teenagers. If your leaflets are landing in the bin, it could be because your offer isn’t relevant to the reader. 

Segment your audience more carefully to improve conversion rate. You can segment by: 

  • Demographic 
  • Age 
  • Gender 
  • Location 
  • Marital status 
  • Occupation 
  • Income 
  • Parenthood 
  • Homeownership 

4. Small or Unexciting CTA 

You HAVE to tell your customer what to do. Your CTA is where you do that. You’ve seen them: 

  • Buy now! 
  • Get yours! 
  • Don’t wait! 

There’s one key difference between digital and direct mail, though. While online you simply click on a button, your print CTA needs to tell them exactly what to do next. IT should also have some sort of incentive. 

  • Call us now – limited products available! 
  • Shoot us an email to get your 15% discount! 

5. Working With the Wrong Distributor 

Some distribution companies aren’t super helpful. They offer no assistance with design, don’t help you segment your audience, and basically let you do all the hard work. They’re a glorified post office! 

Find a company that will help you from start to finish. Like us! From design to distribution, DMS is here to help. 

Bonus Reason: Typos! 

Nothing ruins a leaflet like incorrect spelling! Get someone to proofread your copy before printing a large quantity. Your distribution company should help there too, but get ahead of it before going to print!

Mailing, Printing

Types of Marketing Material: Which One Should You Choose for Direct Mail?

Posted on by allisterfreeman@gmail.com
types of marketing material
01
Jan

There are many types of marketing material out there, which can be confusing if you’re trying to decide which one to use! Choosing the wrong format can result in your message being lost. Here’s a quick guide to choosing the right one! 

Struggling to decide between a flyer and a leaflet? A poster and a postcard? Wondering if business cards are even important anymore? Here’s our guide to what type of marketing material is best for which situation. 

Types of Marketing Materials 

Business Cards 

Business cards may seem old-fashioned, but they can still come in handy. Whether you’re at a networking event or chatting to someone in the queue at the shop, meeting potential business partners, clients, or customers is always a possibility. Having a business card on hand is an easy way to share your relevant details. 

Great for: Sharing contact details 

Brochures 

Brochures—also known as pamphlets—are information-heavy, folded pieces of mail. You can usually choose how many folds you want, but 2, 3, and 4 are the most common. They’re great for mixing info with pictures, and leading your reader along an information path to a strong CTA. 

Great for: Sharing a lot of information in an easy-to-read way, info that needs to be presented in 4, 6, or 8 sections (one per panel) 

Calendars 

Calendar marketing can be a handy way of promoting your brand. Everyone uses calendars, and you know they’ll have your contact details in front of them for at least the next year! Don’t overdo it on the promoting, though—stick to a logo and contact details on every page, with a tagline about what you do. 

Great for: Promotional material (send to clients as a “thank you” or to your target audience) 

Catalogues 

Catalogues are very specific types of marketing material that not everyone will use. If you have a collection of products or a wide range of services, a catalogue is the perfect way to do it. It’s laid out so the reader can easily find the info on each one and compare to others. 

Great for: Showcasing your array of products or services 

Flyers 

Flyers are the most common and often the cheapest form of direct mail. They’re a single sheet of paper, sometimes double-sided but sometimes printed on just one side. 

Great for: Advertising events, specials, price cuts, anything that doesn’t require too much information or pictures. 

Leaflets 

Leaflets are similar to flyers, but catered to a bit of a higher-class audience. Although they have the same kind of design as flyers—single or double-sided—they’re often printed on better paper and designed to be kept for longer. 

Great for: Advertising events, tailored offers, price cuts, basically the same as flyers just to a more upmarket audience. 

Postcards 

Postcards are not as common as other forms of direct mail marketing. They’re fun and garner interest. Keep in mind that you’re quite limited with space on a postcard, though. 

Great for: Marketing your offer in a way that has a chilled vibe to it, being unique, short, sweet messages, excellent for travel- and vacation-related companies. 

Posters 

Posters are more visual types of marketing material than text-based. Although they do contain some text information, it needs to be short and big enough to be seen as one is walking/driving past. They can range from A4 to A0 in size! 
Great for: Advertising events like concerts, parties, etc, anything with strong visuals, ads that need minimal information. Not really suitable for direct mail!

Design, Printing

Calendar Marketing: Using A Calendar To Market Your Business

Posted on by allisterfreeman@gmail.com
calendar marketing
15
Dec

Ever thought about calendar marketing for your business? If you want eyes on your marketing material every time someone schedules an event, checks a birthday, or makes a note, it’s a great idea! 

If you’re looking for a way to market your business that’s more eye-catching than a flyer, longer-lasting than a business card, and more practical than most other forms of advertising… A calendar could be the best choice! 

Here’s why and how to do it. 

Why Calendar Marketing? 

We all have calendars on our phones. So why would anyone need an actual paper calendar anymore? You’d be surprised, but old-school calendars are popular both in homes and businesses. 

One, they take your nose out of the phone! And two, they’re easier to quickly search through to find a particular date, or scribble a note down on. Desk pad calendars, in particular, are common on the desks of business people for quick note-taking. In the home and on office walls, calendars with beautiful pictures add to the ambience. 

Which means that if your advertising is on that calendar, every time they scribble or marvel at the picture, they’re subconsciously taking note of your business. Put your contact details on it, and when they need your services, you’ll be top of mind. 

How to Do It 

Calendar marketing is great for B2B businesses. Sending out a stack of desk pad calendars to local businesses means they’ll have your marketing in their offices for the next year. Chances are they won’t pass up free calendars, because everyone needs one! 

If you’re a B2C business, it may be more manageable to send something smaller through the mail. A4 desk pads, A5 tent calendars, or small wall calendars are always used. 

How to Create an Attractive Calendar 

It’s more than just grabbing a template and sticking in some generic free images. Here’s what we suggest to create an attractive marketing calendar. 

Choose Your Format 

Keep the receiver in mind here. What would suit them? A large desk pad? A wall poster? Maybe something smaller, like a desktop tent calendar or a purse calendar. Think about how and when they’re likely to use it. 

A B2B client would probably get the best use of a desk pad or a desktop calendar. On the other hand, if you’re sending calendars out to the public, a wall calendar complete with stunning images or a handbag calendar may be more practical. 

Choose A Theme 

Themes are fun and help you to design the calendar more easily. Desk pads and those sorts of calendars don’t really need one, but any calendar with pictures should stick to a theme. If you can, make it something related to your business, but something you can still find eye-catching pictures of! 

Chill On the Branding 

Don’t overdo it on the branding. Your logo and company name should be on every page, but don’t try too hard to sell yourself on this marketing material. Make sure it looks sleek, stylish, and good-looking—not gaudy or cluttered. 

Print It In Advance 

Make sure you print your calendars well before the end of the year so your clients have them in-hand at the start of the new year. Printing in advance is a critical part of calendar marketing!

Targeting

How to Segment Your Direct Mail Lists for the Best Results

Posted on by allisterfreeman@gmail.com
How to Segment Your Direct Mail Lists
21
Nov

Wondering how you can get more engagement, better responses, and ultimately more sales out of your direct mail campaigns? Learn how to segment your direct mail lists for the best results. 

People are all different. There’s a whole lot that goes into making them unique, too—upbringing, location, career, hobbies, beliefs… The list is almost endless! 

Based on this fact, it makes perfect sense that you can send out the same piece of mail to 100 people, for example, and you might only get 3 or 4 that are actually interested in what you offer. 

So how do you ensure that you’re actually reaching the people who have an interest in your offer? Audience segmentation. Here’s how it works and how to segment your direct mail lists to really target the right people! 

What Is Segmenting Your Lists? 

Marketers—direct mail and email—have a list of prospects or subscribers that they send mail out to. Segmenting your list means creating categories under which to place the people within that list. 

For example, if you put 100 people in a room, your list could be called: People In The Room. But as mentioned above, that’s going to be a whole lot of different people. How do we narrow it down further?

Try splitting it into “Men in the Room” and “Women in the Room”. That’s two segments already! Men and women may view your offering differently, so separating them into segments is a good idea. 

Now let’s try “Over 30s in the Room” and “Under 30s in the Room”. Or “Brunettes in the Room”, “Blondes in the Room”, “Redheads in the Room”, and “No Hair in the Room”. 

Maybe “People in the Room Who Like Sports”, “People in the Room Who Like Music”, “Vegans in the Room”, or “Animal Lovers in the Room”. 

Why Is Segmentation Important? 

If you sell sports supplements, which of the above segments is more likely to be a great target audience for your direct mail campaign? 

You’ll obviously want to aim for people who enjoy sports and play often. Perhaps your supplements are best for the gym, or best for runners. In that case, “People Who Love Sports” won’t be enough. For every runner/gym buff you get, you’ll be getting 10 people who aren’t actually interested or suitable for your product. 

Segmentation helps you to nail down your ideal buyer and send your mail just to them. No wasted paper, no wasted money, and no hope that will never turn into sales! 

How to Segment Your Direct Mail Lists 

Obviously, not all of those groups of people are going to be relevant for what you’re offering. You need to tailor your offer to a particular group of people if you want the highest chance of making sales. 

Here are some tried-and-true segments that marketers often use to target certain groups more specifically. These are good ones to start with, but make sure they serve their purpose for your product, service, or business! 

By Demographic 

Segmenting your list by demographic helps you to nail down the specific needs of certain people and highlight those in your mail. 

In this category, you can split people by: 

  • Age 
  • Gender 
  • Marital status 
  • Occupation 
  • Income 
  • Parenthood 
  • Homeownership 
  • Etc 

Trying to sell children’s toys to a 20-something, single, unemployed person isn’t going to end well for you. But target parents with a good income and you’re far more likely to see success. 

By Location 

Learning how to segment your direst mail lists by location is great for local businesses, brick-and-mortar stores, and so on. Location-based segments are the obvious choice for things like restaurants, beauty salons, and stores that have a physical location. 

But it can be used by others too, if you’re targeting people in a particular zip code, city, or state. Even if you’re blanket-targeting people across a country, you may want to personalise each campaign according to where they are. 

For example, if you’re offering air conditioner repair services, you might want to reference the warm weather in certain areas. But in areas that aren’t as summery at the time, talk about preparing for the upcoming warm weather instead. 

By Interests 

If you’re selling knitting patterns, chances are you don’t want to target teenage boys. In the same vein, if you’re selling video games, you won’t have much success sending mail to 70+ year-olds. 

Splitting your audience by interest is an excellent way of ensuring that they’re already likely to be interested in what you’re offering. 

By Occasion 

If you collect customer birthday info, nothing gives your company a boost by sending out a “Happy Birthday” piece of mail with a small gift! 

Holidays are also a great time to send out particular mail campaigns, but you’ll need to be a  bit thoughtful here. Wishing everyone a Happy Ramadan is great, but you’ll save yourself money if you segment your list further into religious beliefs. 

Quick tip: If you’re keeping track of purchases, send out a piece of mail on the first anniversary of a person’s first purchase from your brand. It’s unique, memorable, gets people talking (and sharing), and makes them feel special. 

By Buying Behaviour 

These segments may be a little more advanced, but they can work well. If someone acted on your CTA—for example, made a phone call—but never went further, you can create a segment specifically for those who “abandoned cart”. 

This can win back people who were interested but unsure of taking the next step. Knowing that they’re in this category also means you can tailor your new mail to address their potential concerns. 

By Purchase History 

Follow-up mails with ideas like “Based on your last purchase, we thought you might like X”, or “There’s a new version of X out and we wanted you to be the first to know.” 

Using their past buying experience to influence their current potential buys is an advanced way of segmenting your list, but can be highly effective! 

Conclusion 

Learning how to segment your direct mail lists isn’t just for convenience. Ultimately, it saves you from sending mail that will never be read by uninterested people and ensures that you’re only spending money on sending mail to people who already have a high likelihood of becoming a customer or client. 

Unsure of how to do it? Give us a call and ask!

Design

Effective Brochure Design: Here’s How to Catch Eyes

Posted on by allisterfreeman@gmail.com
brochure design
27
Oct

Heads up – your brochure design could be the most important part of getting people to actually read your mail. Not sure how to design an effective and eye-catching brochure? Here’s our advice. 

Brochure design can be intimidating! You know what you need to say, you know what logo needs to go on it. But getting from that to an attractive, finished artwork can be difficult and frustrating. 

Let’s dig into what a brochure is and what makes a good-looking one. 

What Exactly Is a Brochure? 

A brochure is an informative paper document that can be folded in various ways. That’s quite a generic description, but it describes it quite accurately! It’s a folded document on which you place your offer and business information, that you then send out to prospective clients. 

Doing Brochures Right 

The key to a great brochure is to find the perfect balance between the space on your page and the information you’re sharing. Too cluttered, and nobody will take the time to read it. Too sparse, and it will look like something’s missing. 

If you’ve never designed a brochure before, you might have no clue where to begin. Don’t worry! We’ll share some of our favourite brochure design tips below. 

Effective Brochure Design Tips 

There’s a lot of elements that go into a great brochure design. But if you follow these step by step, you’ll come out with an attractive, effective brochure that gets responses. 

Nail Down Your Offer 

This is the most important thing! You need to be able to state your offer clearly and succinctly, so the reader knows exactly what they’ll get when they take you up on it. Try to answer the questions: 

  • What? 
  • Why? 
  • How? 

What are you offering? Why do they need it? And how do they get it? 

These are the essentials you need to know about your own offer before you even start designing your brochure. This will help you when it comes to creating content down the line. 

Define Your Target Audience 

Make sure you know who you’re targeting with your brochure. If you’re just sending it out to everyone, it’s hard to tailor the content and design to suit the kind of person you’re trying to speak to. 

Be as specific as you can about this. For example: 

  • Moms-to-be looking for ways to keep their new baby as safe as possible 
  • Homeowners who need an affordable way to increase the value of their home 
  • Partiers who like to drink and want to try the latest, newest cocktails 
  • Adrenaline junkies who are always up for a new challenge 


Design For Your Client 

It’s easy to design something that you like and go ahead with it. But the key to really reaching people with your brochure design is to put yourself in their shoes. Who’s your target market and what do they like? 

For example, if your company targets moms-to-be, chances are they’re going to respond better to softer, pastel colours and pretty fonts. On the other hand, if you’re aiming for adrenaline junkies, bright, bold shades and chunky text would work better. 

If your target market is quite wide, then you may want to go with something a little more generic. Make sure it’s easy to read, all the info can be found without difficulty, and it looks sleek and professional. 

Create A Catchy Headline 

Your headline is possibly the most important part of your content! If it doesn’t catch attention, at least half of the people holding your brochure won’t bother to read further. But if it’s interesting… Then they’ll most likely want to know more, which is what you want. 

The key is to find the balance between keeping it short and sweet and creating curiosity. Try these ideas to help you craft amazing headlines: 

  • Ask an intriguing question: “Is your home poisoning you?” 
  • Create urgency: “Only 15 left in stock!” 
  • Play on their emotions: “Your baby could be in danger.” 

Each of these catches attention and encourages the reader to move further down the page. It’s also important to follow your headline up with something that relates it to your product. Don’t throw in a catchy clickbait headline that has nothing to do with your offer! 

Keep Your Content The the Point 

Don’t waffle. Nobody wants to read through a wall of text to get to the point! Tell them what they need to know, in an easy-to-follow way, without adding info that’s not relevant. 

This is where you present your offer, highlight the benefits they’ll get from it, add a few testimonials, and of course, your call to action. 

Add a Compelling Call To Action 

Your CTA can make or break your brochure. A weak CTA will cause you to lose those who are on the fence about taking action. But a strong call to action can be the thing that flips that switch and makes them say YES! 

Your CTA doesn’t need to be complicated or clever. But rather than saying “Call us now”, go for something more encouraging. It should link back to the tactic you used in your heading! 

  • “Get rid of dangerous toxins now!” 
  • “Don’t wait – make your home safer today.” 
  • “Protect your loved ones and let us help.” 
  • “Be the first to get it!” 
  • “Don’t miss your chance!” 
  • “Get one of the last 15!” 

Use Pictures Carefully 

If you’re using a picture as a full background, make sure the opacity is dropped so the text doesn’t get lost. Pictures that are scattered throughout the brochure should be relevant to the topic or offer. Don’t just stick in pics of smiley people! 

Print High-Quality 

Poor quality printing can ruin a fantastic brochure design. Make sure you get your brochures printed at top quality so every bit of text is clear ad attractive. 

Brochure Design Conclusion 

Eye-catching, action-driving brochure design isn’t hard if you know the points you need to hit. And if the actual design part is a little too tricky, you can find plenty of templates online to make your own. All you need to do is find a template that you feel your target market would like, and half the work is done for you! 

Whether you need help with design, content, or printing, we’ve got your back. Give us a call any time and we’ll help you create the brochure of your target audience’s dreams!