Direct Mail Offers: Keep Them Simple

by Brandon Cornett

In direct mail marketing, you have what I like to call the "golden moment" -- that time, however brief, when your prospect pulls your direct mail piece from the mailbox and actually gives it the time of day.

This is an advantage not enjoyed by other marketing media. You can ignore a radio commercial and a magazine ad. But you have to give each piece of mail a moment of your attention to decide whether or not it's a keeper.

So create your direct mail offer with this golden moment in mind:

• Make your offer immediately visible. If you're mailing postcards, repeat the offer on both sides. If you're sending letter, put some form of the offer on the envelope.


• Write your offer in clear, simple language. Show it to several people and ask them to interpret it for you. If your test subjects can restate the offer in their own words without hesitation, it's clear enough. If they struggle, it's not clear enough.


• Repeat your offer more than once, and in more than one place. You can shape your offer into headlines, bullet points, callout boxes or starbursts, and even within the body copy of your direct mail piece. Make it impossible to miss.

Good luck and good marketing!

-Brandon from PostcardSmart.com