7 Deadly Direct Mail Sins

Some fatal direct mail don’ts for the mail marketer.

When it comes to getting a response, direct mail remains one of the most effective channels of marketing communication. When done well, direct mail gets results.

Quite often though, direct mail isn’t done well and we frequently see the same mistakes happening time and time again.

Here are 7 common mistakes that we see direct mail marketers making quite regularly. (more…)

Rising Postage Rates

An Post has made changes to its postage rates. Here’s the low-down.

An Post recently increased some postage rates.

The price change sees marginal increases for all standard letters and postcards that fall into the 50g – 100g weight category.

On the face of it, these are minor increases but for direct mail marketers who deal in tens and hundreds of thousands of mail pieces, even the smallest increase can have a major impact on marketing (more…)

The Household Charge

With a few direct marketing basics could the Irish government have achieved a better response to their Household Charge campaign?

So, after much furore and a lot of hot air from both sides of the ‘pay/don’t pay’ divide, the dust has settled and it transpires that almost half of Irish householders have failed to pay the charge. The State has never seen this level of tax avoidance and such a widespread failure to comply.

After all of the recent austerity measures that have been heaped upon the populous, was this just (more…)

Win a direct mail appeal!

Win a direct mail campaign to 20,000 recipients worth €4,233 for your charity!

We love working with charities. They believe in what they do and they really get direct mail. They understand the importance of data and generally their direct mail appeals are among the most creative and interesting that we see passing through production.

We want to reward the non-profit sector’s commitment to direct mail as a fundraising channel. We are giving charities the opportunity to win all of the data, print and fulfilment aspects of a direct mail (more…)

Sensual Printing

Irish print firm McGowans are offering a really exciting new service.

‘Sensual Printing’ is a print enhancement service that allows you to add texture to printed pieces.

Basically, it’s a process that adds lamination at varying depths based on the colours within the piece. Imagine a leopard print with bumps and ridges that correspond to the pattern of the fur or a snakeskin postcard that lets you feel to scales.

The process relies on a new piece of kit that McGowans have recently acquired, the Scodix 1200. (more…)

Getting Personal

Big brands putting you in the picture with product personalisation.

More and more big brands are offering their customers and fans the opportunity to put a personal spin on their favourite products. It’s an ancient concept and the idea of having names and personal messages applied to jewellery, cufflinks, clothing, handkerchiefs and other traditional gifts is familiar to us.

So, it wasn’t a major surprise when Apple began offering an engraving service that allowed customers to personalise their iPods and iPads. Recently (more…)

Good Publicity

New postage rates take effect.

An Post released a new ‘Guide to Postal Rates’ last week. The new rates are effective from 3rd January 2012. You’ll be pleased to hear that it’s largely ‘as you were’. Very few rates have changed and all of the bulk discounts for Direct Mail campaigns have remained untouched.

The only service that has seen increases is the ‘courier’ service that An Post offer and even here, the additional costs are minimal. On average, it’s only about a 1% – 2% increase across all of the various (more…)

31 Direct Marketing Ploys

I read an interesting e-book this morning from Drayton Bird.

For those of you unfamiliar with Drayton, he is a bit of a direct marketing legend. In fact, legendary ad man, David Ogilvy said; “Drayton knows more about direct marketing than anybody else in the world.”

It says so on the cover of Drayton’s book.

It’s a great read for any marketer.

The tips, tricks, and tactics that Drayton calls ploys are all very basic. Obvious. Simple. There is (more…)

Addressing the Issue

When it comes to putting addresses on your direct mail campaigns, you’ve got a few options.

It’s ironic but often the single most important design element of any direct mail piece is given the least consideration. The address information determines whether or not your audience will receive your message.

Obviously, sound data management is crucial in ensuring that the information is accurate but you’ve also got to consider how (more…)

Benefits of a Mail House

The advantages of using a professional direct mail partner

When it comes to executing direct mail campaigns, you’ve got two options; do it all yourself or get some help.

Doing it all yourself is great if you’re a massive organisation, with a state-of-the-art mail room, high-tech printers and packing machines, in-house data personnel to manage your mailing files and the ability to (more…)