"Bowling or Senior Asset Protection...hmmm, which should I do first?"
Which of these two mailing pieces stands out for you?
I had started to use the one at the top for scratch paper when I noticed the other one in my in box. Out of curiosity I pulled it out and laid them side by side.
The one on top offers Senior Asset Protection Services. The other touts “Bowling, Food, & Fun.”
Now, I can probably guess what they were thinking. Someone told them to use a brightly colored paper in a simple bifold to make it easy and inexpensive to mail.
But with just a little imagination each of these could have done something to make them distinctive. Maybe some graphics, line drawings, photos.
What do you think? Was this a waste of money or just a little bad timing?
Dale Berkebile
5 months ago
Michael,
From a branding standpoint this is a perfect example of why not to take on marketing for your company if you have not been trained in marketing. There is nothing wrong with looking for inexpensive ways to promote your company, but as this example points out- unless you stand out (brand awareness) in the marketplace and build trust/credibility (brand value) then there is a good chance your marketing will become either a note pad or trash or worse yet a blog article on what not to do, ha!
There are a few things I see that are beyond marketing / branding errors. The first is the top mailer used 2 mailing tabs. If you are looking for ways to cut costs and the fold is on the bottom, 1 closure tab would have been enough and would have saved more money on the full mailing. It does look as though they may have sent this to a mail house to be inkjet addressed and bulkmailed so there is a good chance they got a break on postage by having things sorted. However, I wonder if this was sent bulkmail or first class. I recommend that in order to keep your list clean and up-to-date you send first class. This will send you all the undeliverable mailers so you can update address of people that have moved, etc., or just remove the contact as not to waste the postage on the next mailing.
On mailing 2 (bottom) I see they went with a stamp so they did first class, so good for them. The downside though is they stamped these at their office and put a mailing label on theirselves. This can be costly since labels cost money and postage that is mailed, but unsorted can cost more than sending this to a mailhouse and having them sort the mail and get you discounted rates on postage. The other thing is the time investment to sit there and print labels and stick stamps on each and every mailer. This takes a ton of time (trust me, I have made this same mistake). Depending on your billable rate this may be extremely expensive, it surely was for me. Using labels also looks a little less professional and hand done. There is a time and place for hand done, but this mailer was not the place.
The point to this long rant is although many companies think hiring a professional to help them with their marketing is going to be expensive (which it may), it certainly will have better results and help cut costs on the mistakes these companies are already making. Why not apply this money to building a successful mailer and stronger brand instead of lining the trash can with your company’s money?
I hope this is helpful information to all small businesses that are trying to do direct mail campaigns.
Best of luck!
Michael
5 months ago
Excellent points, Dale. There is an ever present temptation of take the DIY approach to marketing and make costly mistakes. And the upshot often is disappointment, frustration, and failure. Our mutual friend Laura Hunt has been heard to day “Don’t play in traffic, don’t run with scissors, and don’t do your own marketing – you’re likely to get hurt!”