Direct Mail

How to Create New Direct Mail Ideas

New Direct Mail Ideas

How to Create New Direct Mail Ideas

If you are like many marketers, direct mail has been a part of your marketing strategy for a long time. This can lead to boring mail pieces with a declining response rate. So, how can you find new direct mail ideas to get your response rates back on track?

5 Steps to New Direct Mail Ideas:

  1. Doubt – You need to be able to start fresh. This means that everything you think you know about your mail pieces needs to go out the window. You need to be able to challenge every aspect of your mail pieces so that you and your team can build great new ideas from the ground up. This is where you need to be willing to take some risks and try out new ideas. This does not mean that while you are working on new ideas that you stop sending direct mail. You will continue to send what is working during this process.
  2. Possible – Here you should identify the changes you and your team believe will be the best possible choices to improve your direct mail pieces. You will create a list of goals and objectives for your mail campaign. How can your direct mail be changed to meet your needs? What areas could stand some real improvement? How will you better engage with your customers and prospects?
  3. Diverge – At this point you will want to explore a lot of different ideas with an open mind. The best way to have a good idea is to have as many to choose from as possible. Write down every idea, even if you think it is a bad one or will never work. At this step you want to create as many ideas as you can think of. During this creative step you and your team will have fun with wild ideas. The longer you do it the more creative your ideas will get. Be different!
  4. Converge – Now it is time to really look at each of the ideas you have with a more analytical approach. Which ones will have problems? Once you find them eliminate these ideas. Really question each one to find the best ideas to keep. You may end up with only one idea after this which you may be happy with. If not, go back to the diverge step and generate some more ideas. The best ideas take time.
  5. Reevaluate – This is the step once your mailing has been completed. So, you need to make sure that you set up ways to track your results before you mail. Did your new mail piece meet your goals and objectives? If not, you need to go back to one of the other steps to make more changes. You may need to restart at step one, or if you got better results but feel like they fell somewhat short perhaps starting at step 2 or 3 is a better choice. Keep in mind that if you got the best response rate ever with your new pieces it will not last forever. You need to be vigilant in reevaluating what you are doing consistently after each mailing.

This 5-step process can help you create great new direct mail ideas that translate into extremely effective campaigns. You always need to keep in mind postal regulations so that you do not have to pay extra postage for a mail piece that does not meet the standards. We can help you with the postal requirements before you get into trouble. This can be done during the converge step as you eliminate ideas that have problems, send us your ideas and we can spot any post regulation issues.

The best direct mail pieces are targeted to the right people with the right offer and grab attention. The way you go about getting attention has so many options. During step 3 let your creativity flow and see all the ideas you can create. Always remember to design and write with your customers and prospects in mind. Focusing on what they want will drive your response. Are you ready to get started? We can help, contact us today.