Last Updated on November 28, 2023 by Launchmark Insights

When you are investing in printing direct mail marketing materials such as post cards, brochures, flyers, as well as company branded letterhead and envelopes, your direct mail only has a few seconds to either get read or thrown in the garbage. Direct mail design is the equalizer, the final frontier for printed promotional items to sink or swim. But by applying a few tried and true techniques; direct mail can lead to direct results.

The Keys to Direct Mail
Direct mail requires eye-grabbing four-color or full color photographs and imagery that will interrupt a complete stranger’s train of thought and cause them to become immediately curious about the products and services that you are offering. Direct mail text needs to repeat the key benefits of the items you are offering, over and over, in different unique ways, on each page. Use color, font shapes, and font sizes to attract and lead the eye to the information that is most vital – prices, products and their values. Think of your direct mail piece as a mix between a gorgeous vacation post card and an informative brochure.

Brand Design That Shines
Direct mail needs to yank people’s attention with a hot headline and a picture. Don’t waste space with filler and fluff. Immediately offer your key benefit, followed by the secondary benefits and proof of these benefits. After that, include testimonials, independent reports, guarantees to ease customer concerns and end your direct mail marketing piece with how easy it is to place orders.

Printing with exciting action packed colors are crucial direct mail design elements. Gold, brown, navy blue, gray, silver, black and beige may express stability and maturity, but they are unlikely to make a printed direct mail piece stand out from the incoming mail heap. The brighter shades of the color spectrum, such as red, blue, green, purple, orange and yellow add some marketing sizzle, precisely because companies are often afraid of printing with pastel or vibrant color palettes.