Direct Marketing Idea – Bespoke Promotional Pieces Demand Bespoke Mailing Packs.

In your efforts to make your next direct marketing piece into a product that cannot be ignored, then you need to consider the very first impression that it makes on your customer – and that starts with the envelope.

 Bills come in envelopes. Boring leaflets come in envelopes. If you are designing a bespoke, custom printed piece and you mail it in a standard sized white envelope then you are missing the first opportunity to score some points. Each day a big pile of white envelopes will arrive at your customer’s office which will no doubt be opened by someone in the office using a letter opener. That person will probably not be the person that you want to reach.

 However, if you are going to make a bespoke mailer such as a pop up card or an interactive piece then why not take the opportunity to make a mailing pack instead of an envelope. Receiving a pack fills you with anticipation. It feels sort of special – it’s like receiving something that you have been waiting for from a mail order company. “Oh great, here’s that book! Oh, good, the DVD has arrived. Terrific, the CD that I ordered for our Sam.”  

 Putting your promotional piece into a bespoke pack can really make that much difference to how it is perceived by your customer and a special pack is much less likely to be opened by the office junior. To increase the likelihood of the pack going straight to your target, print a note on your address label eg “To be opened by Jack Cunliffe only” rather than just putting Jack’s name at the top of the label.

 Let’s say that your bespoke promotional marketing piece is a pop up card, it is being printed on 350gsm board, it will be printed on both sides in 4 colour process and it will be die-cut. Plan the mailing pack on the same sheet layout so that you can use all of these plus points in creating the mailing pack. Use the die cutting facility to create fancy shapes, print the inside of the pack as well as the outside. Design the pack so that it feels good in your hand ie make it chunky.

 Direct mail text books will tell you that you usually have just 3 seconds to grab your customer’s attention with an actual mailing piece. Making the pack interesting will gain many more valuable seconds and will make a significant difference to the success of the campaign. We will be happy to help you with suggestions for pack styles and once you have given us the artwork you can leave the rest of the direct marketing campaign to us from print to production and final mailing.