If you truly want to create a successful direct mail campaign, you can’t just get someone’s attention. You need to command it – grabbing your reader immediately in a way that they won’t soon be able to look away from. The principles of graphic design will be your most powerful weapons to that end and if you truly want to create the best collateral possible, there are a few key things you’ll want to keep in mind.
The Art of Graphic Design
The next time you sit down to create plastic postcards or some other type of direct mail collateral, there are five key factors you need to consider.
The first are your images. People will notice them right away so for the best results, use this as an opportunity to inject as much emotion as possible into your mailer in a way that draws people in.
Next, you need to think about your fonts. Don’t rely on the same two or three fonts time and again. Choose something unique that nobody else is using, but don’t use too many fonts on the same piece of collateral or you run the risk of things becoming cluttered.
Along the same lines, pay close attention to your layout. White space is one of the best friends you have and for the best results, make sure that everything is as concise as possible and that any directions are very, very easy to follow.
In terms of your actual copy, people usually find things easier to read if the words start on the outer left edge of the page. If your copy starts in the center and carries on to the right edge, people are naturally going to start to check out. Practice these types of copy best practices and whatever you do, make sure that everything is easy to understand.
Color is another important factor that will help bring all of this together, as it too helps to create an emotional response. Red helps create a sense of urgency, for example, while green can invoke feelings of calm. Pick colors that match up with the specific message you’re trying to convey.
Finally, you’ll also want to make sure that you’re meeting any and all postal requirements that apply. If you don’t, you might end up having to pay for extra postage because you ignored some rules that turned out to be important. This is another one of the benefits of working with a direct mail marketing partner like DynamiCard – we make sure that all of our templates meet USPS postal requirements automatically, making this one less thing you have to worry about.
If you have any additional questions about opportunities you should be exploring in terms of attention-grabbing graphic design for direct mail, or if you have any additional questions that you’d like to see answered in a little more detail, please don’t hesitate to contact us today.
