3 Ways To Make Your Direct Mail Stand Out

The things that get your attention in daily life like unexpected sizes and shapes, pops of color and personalized touches also get the attention of people who receive your direct mail.

Here are some easy ways to make your direct mail piece grab eyes and attention.

1. Make your own font

This neat idea has many possibilities, and we’ve used it several times to great effect. You’ve all seen bad, canned-looking handwritten fonts. Well, these aren’t them! The fonts we use are based on a person’s actual handwriting. For example, our “Susan’s Font,” is based on the penmanship of one of our staff members. She simply wrote the alphabet in her own hand and we put her alphabet into a program that creates custom fonts. This program doesn’t simply duplicate her handwriting. It makes variations of each letter and those variations are used randomly, so the writing is as varied as real handwriting.
When a fundraising campaign for a children’s cause needed a handwritten font, we asked an eight-year-old to create an alphabet in crayon. That font was used to create personalized messages on mailing envelopes to recipients.

2. Use a different shape

Standard sizes are just that — standard and expected. Vary the size and shape of your postcards and your envelopes and they will stand out among the ubiquitous #10 business-size envelopes. We always like to weigh in on envelope sizes so we can help customers ensure that theirs won’t run into problems with the postal service or its machinery. We can also calculate how nonstandard-size mailing will affect postage charges.

3. Use a different color

White and ivory can be a bit blah. You can perk up the look of any direct mail campaign by using color. It especially makes sense to do so if you have invested in a look for your campaign that uses specific colors in its design. You can also enliven your envelopes with photography that fits your theme.