Direct Mail Mistakes to Avoid
Deliver Magazine recently interviewed Peter Glynn from LostPetCards.com about some of the tips he has for others who use direct mail. While this advice might not sound revolutionary to many of our customers it’s always good to not overlook the basics.
Update your addresses: Many small businesses and nonprofits haven’t cleaned up their mailing lists in years, which is a huge problem because it leads to waste and means they may not be reaching all of their desired targets. “Your gold mine is your mailing list, and if you’re not taking care of it, then you’re losing a heck of a lot of potential,” Glynn says.
Use a print shop that understands mail piece design: Forgetting to print a mailing permit or putting features in the wrong spots can prove annoying and costly, so it’s important to go to a print shop in the know. “[Organizations] get the thing printed and then realize the design shortcomings and they have to make a fix — like to put a sticker over this to correct that,” Glynn says, adding that some errors could mean mail will require higher, non-machinable rates.
Learn more about eco-friendly materials: “If [we] go to somebody and say we’re green, they imagine derelict cardboard that won’t go through a printer and they think they’re going to be paying more for it,” Glynn says. But Glynn always slips a note into an order saying it was printed using 100-percent post-consumer waste recycled paper that was created in a plant that uses wind power and was printed with 100-percent solar power (there are solar panels on his home). Afterward, people thank him. “People say, ‘That’s so cool, can you put that on the next printing?’
(via Deliver)