Key Takeaways:
- Always work with a clear goal in mind when creating EDDM materials to ensure your message gets across correctly and thoroughly
- Material, postcard size, and overall design choices have an impact on how effective and accessible your mailers are
- Working with printing professionals gets you the best quality and design guidance to create mailers that leave a lasting impression
In the current economy, it’s more important than ever before for small businesses to market their goods and services effectively to their target audiences if they want to succeed. Every Door Direct Mail service (EDDM) is an excellent way for a small business to reach out to all community members with less work on the part of the owner and staff. It has become quite a popular advertising method over the years because of its ability to save time and money. However, despite all the benefits of this type of advertising, not all EDDM campaigns are successful. While USPS handles the delivery with ease, it’s up to you to ensure your direct mail creates the impact you want it to and leaves a lasting impression on your target audience. Follow these tips to ensure you’re getting the most out of your advertising efforts.
Clarify Your Goal
Before you even begin to create a successful EDDM campaign, you need to have a clear and concise objective. Are you hoping to fill a restaurant for a grand opening? Looking to inform customers of an ongoing sale? Remind your customer base that you’re the number one provider for your good or service in the local area? You need to know what you’re hoping to accomplish so you can work from the ground up to create mailers that genuinely accomplish the task at hand. Delivering mailers with a clear and well-defined message ensures that you’re getting your point across to your customers and that you’re leaving the impression you want, whether it’s just for brand awareness within your community or a short-term sales boost.
Choose the Right Size and Material for Your EDDM
The USPS guidelines on EDDM postcards mandate that mailers measure at least 10.5 inches long or 6.125 inches high and that the shortest side cannot be smaller than 3.5 inches. Therefore, not just any postcard will do. Unless you want to have your advertisements turned away at the post office, it’s imperative that you pay close attention to the size and shape of your cards.
However, USPS guidelines aren’t the only reason you should pay attention to the dimensions of your mailers. The size and shape of your door direct mail EDDM pieces can be used to emphasize the message you’re trying to send to your existing or potential customers. For example, a small postcard is ideal for a retailer that’s only trying to highlight a single new service or product added to the store. Larger postcards and flyers are excellent for pieces that require more information, such as photos, coupons, a longer list of services, and contact information.
Sizing your mailer correctly for the amount of information you’re delivering is crucial because it directly impacts both how visually appealing and accessible your EDDM is. Having too much information on a small postcard makes things look crowded and unappealing and may necessitate a smaller font size, which may make it harder for some recipients of your mailer to read. Having too little information on a large flyer makes the information look sparse and less than ideal visually.
Finally, the type of paper you choose can impact the overall impact of your message. If, for example, your mailer is heavily reliant on images and photos, a gloss-coated cover stock is ideal for keeping colors vibrant and pictures crisp. If your business prides itself on being “green,” consider an eco-friendly recycled paper that reinforces your brand image and provides a lovely matte finish to your mailer. Rush Flyers makes an effort to provide eco-friendly printing services by using biodegradable and recyclable materials.
Keep Your Design Simple Yet Meaningful
After you’ve decided the material and size of the mailer you’ll be working with; it’s time to start designing the layout. While text, font, images, colors, and layouts will change depending on the goals of your EDDM campaign, there’s one guiding rule to keep in mind throughout the design process: keep it simple. You want your information to speak for itself, so don’t overcrowd the design with unnecessary images. Pleasing colors, borders, and bullet points are enough to provide an aesthetically pleasing experience in most cases. Along with relevant information, always be sure to include important contact info, such as your business address, email address, and phone number. Working with premade templates created by noted print media professionals can be a great way to make excellent EDDM pieces for beginners. Always include a call to action for guests to visit your store or website.
Dedicate part of your design to tracking how effective the mailer is. If your customers are receiving them and tossing them in the trash immediately, you’ll never know if your efforts leave an impact that makes the cost of EDDM worth it. In your design, incorporate a mail-only coupon that customers can bring in, or incorporate a custom URL or discount code that customers can use for a discount at your store. This allows you to mark how many customers view your mailer and how many are swayed by its message. This can be a small part of your design but is a crucial tool for marketing for small businesses.
Be Selective About Your Mailing Dates
Don’t just send your direct mail creations to the post office at any random time. To get the best response rate from your direct mail piece order, ensure you’re sending them out at the beginning of your busiest season. For example, if your work is in landscaping, consider adding nearby suburban homes to your mailing lists and send the EDDM at the end of winter or beginning of spring. If your business involves tutoring, send your mailers in August and September before school starts back in your local area. Following this practice ensures that your product or service is fresh in the minds of your customers when it’s most relevant, meaning you can expect more responsiveness from the mailing campaign overall.
Work With a High-Quality Printing Company
If you have a decent printer at your home or place of business, it’s tempting to do the printing yourself to save some money. However, it’s always in your best interest to work with a printing company to get your mail pieces because you simply won’t be able to achieve the same quality on your own. Printing companies that offer EDDM services can help you through the project from beginning to end, providing templates and design advice, access to materials you might have trouble finding on your own, and more. Furthermore, they can often handle the bundling and shipping process for you, gathering your prints together correctly once you’ve selected your mailing route and getting them into the hands of USPS quickly. As far as running marketing campaigns goes, working with the EDDM printers streamlines the project and makes it more efficient overall.
If you’re one of the thousands of businesses getting ready to start an EDDM campaign this year, skip the headache and get the job done the right way. Work with Rush Flyers to get the quality you want and need to make the best impression possible with your delivery service marketing, and enjoy a wide range of postcard sizes, design templates, and even a mapping tool to complete the job fast and easy.
Featured Image: ESB Professional/Shutterstock