You know something… I love-Love-LOVE getting direct mail. Sure, a lot of it is, ahum… ‘junk,’ but you can really learn a lot if you study it (you should see my swipe file… wowzers!).
Before I share this direct mail example from a nonprofit, start saving your mail and creating your own ‘swipe’ file and study them. Use the 7 Marketing Mistakes course I offer as a guide to see if the mail you get meets the criteria.
Onward.
The other day I got an interesting direct mail piece from the nonprofit Rescue Our Wetlands. I’ve never heard of them, nor knew they existed. But, they did one heck of a job marketing to me (another lesson here… How did they get my contact information? I donated to a different nonprofit in the same category and BAM! Started getting a bunch of nonprofits contacting me… Smart move).
They used a lot of personalization and getting me to feel like I have to donate.
Here’s a picture:
What is all this?
Whelp, first things first the envelope:
- Notice the personalization of my name above the jacket, “David Hunter, Your FREE Gifts Are Enclosed….” Free gifts?? I love free stuff!
- A picture of the free fleece jacket offer (and notice the coupon for the fleece jacket).
- A gold certificate that says, “See inside for your change to win a $200 DU Gift Pack!” What’s that?? I could win $200 worth of stuff?! Count me in!
- The upper right notice, “PHOTO ENCLOSED DO NOT BEND.” Better not bend this because there’s must be a photo in here.
They do a great job selling on the outside of the envelope to get me to the next step, opening the envelope to see what’s inside! Note: It was blanket whitespace on the back.
Already, now heading inside the envelope I pull out a bunch of stuff:
- I notice the photo they mentioned. Though, it wasn’t really a photo, it was a nice copy of a painting printed on cardstock. I could easily frame this and have a nice picture.
- The coupon for the fleece jacket. Notice the symbol in read. There’s a deadline! “…respond by January 20, 2016.”
- In the upper left of my picture are return address labels. I always love getting these because they’re useful. I’m sure you’ve received these before… Right? Am I right?
- And, the best of all (well, what I think is the best), is a Certificate of Appreciation! I’ve never donated to this charity and they’ve already sent me a Certificate of Appreciation for my support. Talk about making me feel guilty if I don’t donate!
Wow! What a great direct mail piece.
Got my attention, had an offer to get a fleece jacket (with deadline), and gave away three gifts instantly (picture, return address labels, and Certificate of Appreciation),
You may be wondering where’s the sales letter. Well, it’s there, but I really wanted to focus on everything this nonprofit is giving away to get you to donate to them.
You can learn a lot by studying the direct mail you get. The good and the bad. That’s why it’s important to have a swipe file. And, yes, this direct mail piece is going in it.
So, what do you think of this direct mail piece? Would you change anything? Add anything? Take anything out?
Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Now go take action!