Whenever sales slacken and profits head south, most companies start to beat the bushes in search of new customers.

Nationally respected marketing consultant Robert W. Bly offers pointers on creating high response envelopes:

Changing your outer envelope, without touching any other part of your mailing, can punch up response by 100% or more

he late, great Bill Jayme defined the direct-mail envelope as “your headline.” Other mailing practitioners shy away from such candor

There are two basic envelope styles, writes Ernest W. Nicastro of the Positive Response company, that aim to impel a mail recipient to open

High Readership Almost everyone reads postcards. Your customers take in your message as soon as your card reaches their hands....

Why are postcards a good marketing choice? Your customer, prospects and suspects like to receive information from you. 98 percent of...

With money tight these days, many direct-mail advertisers are turning to inexpensive media like postcards – especially for new business...

Involve your reader Gain your recipient’s attention by making him or her a participant in your mail advertising—not just a passive set of...

Marketing consultant Kevin Nunley writes that long letters of up to 12 pages are increasingly popular with advertisers who want to make...

Sell benefits, not features Your reader doesn't care how many teeth are on your machine's gears. He only cares that your machine will...

Structure your copy Bob Stone, who wrote the classic book, “Successful Direct Marketing Methods,” says that this architecture makes for...

Individual Americans now give more than $100 billion a year to nonprofit organizations. Most of their donations come from letters they...

One direct-marketing “expert,” unnamed here in order to protect the guilty, recently advised mail advertisers that letters and reply...

Consultant Deborah S. Ramstorf asks 9 questions that she says show how well you know direct-mail advertising copy. What percentage of...

Choose laser-compatible paper stocks Uncoated offset stocks from 50 pound to 9 point usually work well. — If using a coated stock, use a...

UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering case study Client Information UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science is a...

Forty percent of the success of any direct mail package is dependent upon the quality of the mailing list. The post office delivers an average of 6.7 pieces of mail to your household every day. Which ones go into the trash and which are set aside for possible opening at a later date? The mail pieces you set aside share several characteristics: They are from companies or organizations with which you have had a previous relationship. The information on the envelope hints at a p

Choose a good list Your mailing list can generate more than 40% of your total responses to a mailing, according to the Direct Marketing Association. The best offer in the world—if not aimed at the right people—will fail. To find the best type of list to rent, look at the characteristics of the customers who make up your own in-house mailing file— and build outside lists accordingly. Test various offers The second most influential factor in determining your success in direct m

Marketing consultant Robert Bly estimates that your house file—customer names and addresses—will pull double the response of any external list. Yet many direct mailers penalize themselves by not assembling such a customer list. And some shoot themselves in the foot by failing to keep their house files up to date. Recessionary times, when your phone may not be ringing off the hook with orders, is a great time to put your house file in order. Start by taking the job away from c