Inside Freelance Design

Issue #69
January 31, 2008

Welcome to Inside Freelance Design (IFD), your free, bi-weekly e-letter from American Writers & Artists Inc. Every other week, you can receive this special alert with secrets, tips, and insights from AWAI's graphic design pros to help you improve your skills and reach your goal of becoming a professional graphic designer in the fastest time possible.

IN THIS ISSUE:

• How to Rejuvenate the Most Common DM Format
• Quick Tip: Making Bullets in QuarkXPress a Snap
• EXTRA! EXTRA! News and Job Opportunities

Rejuvenating the “Old Reliable” of Direct Mail
By Kammy Thurman

As often as we see magalogs, postcards, fliers, and various other formats in our mail boxes, the #10 package continues to be the most used medium for direct mail. Because it’s so flexible, it allows a number of different components to help make the sale, while keeping printing and mailing costs down.

Today we’ll discuss the different components of the #10 package and how to keep Old Reliable fresh so it captures interest, pulls readers into the message, and moves them toward the sale.

The outer envelope – This is the carrier for the other pieces. And it’s first thing a prospect will see. So the envelope has a big responsibility. It has to lure the reader inside to the sales message.

Ways to rejuvenate the envelope: use a teaser, enticing graphics, colored envelopes, or even a blank envelope with only the recipient’s name/address, so curiosity gets the envelope opened.

The letter – This is the backbone of the #10 package, where the sale will be made. It may be one page long or 20 pages long. A typical lead generation letter usually runs one to four pages, while an order-generation letter often runs much longer. Generally speaking, letter length is tied to the price of the product.

Ways to rejuvenate the letter: change colors on headline and subheads, add sidebars, pull-quotes, and callout boxes that pull attention to important information. Print on a light gray, ivory, or cream paper instead of plain white.

The brochure – “The letter sells, the brochure tells” is an adage in direct mail. Rather than being a sales piece with an offer, the brochure takes a supporting role, providing deeper information and more benefits than can be handled in the sales letter.

Ways to rejuvenate the brochure: If the client’s been using one or two colors, try four-color if the price isn’t prohibitive. Add new graphics. Use a background color, or colored paper if the original is on white paper. Change from a slick-looking gloss to textured paper for a new look and feel.

The lift note – This is a wonderful tool for increasing credibility because it’s essentially a short letter (one page) from someone other than the letter writer talking about the product/service from a different perspective. In subscription packages the lift note usually comes from the publisher. For other types of products it may be a testimonial from an enthusiastic customer, or an endorsement from an impartial authority. They are called lift notes because tests have shown that including one in your packages can lift response by as much as 200%.

Ways to rejuvenate the lift note: Print on cream or light blue paper to stand out from the main sales letter. Don’t use dark paper as it will make it hard to read the text. Try a hand-written-style font to make it look very personal.

The buck slip – You can include one or more of these little gems in your package to help propel the reader to the sale. This is a small insert, generally the same size and shape as a dollar bill, that helps sell a premium (a free gift the reader gets for ordering). I have also seen buck slips used to do additional touting of specific benefits of the product/service, and for testimonials.

Ways to rejuvenate the buck slip: Use brightly colored paper to draw attention. Change ink colors or graphics. Design it vertically instead of horizontally. Change width and length of the piece. A long as it fits in the envelope, you’re not restricted to only the size and shape of a dollar bill.

The order form – This is one of the most important pieces in a direct mail package, and deserves careful attention to the copy and the design. The order form has a tough job because it has to boil down the main sales message into a few concise sentences and deliver it with energy and enthusiasm to convince the reader to “sign on the dotted line.”

Ways to rejuvenate the order form: Use a burst to spotlight important info like a price discount, an offer deadline etc. Set the guarantee in a certificate box to separate it from the rest of the offer. Make it clean and easy to read and provide enough space for people to fill it out. Order forms are notorious for looking like a crowded mish-mash.

The BRE – The Business Reply Envelope is the carrier that will house the reader’s order. These are usually set up as business mail and must meet specific postal regulations, so be sure to follow postal design rules for them. They’re very specific about where addresses and postage info, as well as any additional text, must be placed.

Ways to rejuvenate the order form: These are usually pretty plane-Jane, but why not add a message on the back thanking the buyer for their business, or some other note of appreciation?

[Ed. Note: Putting all of these components together can seem like a daunting task. But AWAI has made things extremely easy for copywriters and designers with their new Copywriter’s Design Library. This library includes templates for 10 of the most common direct mail formats, along with simple instructions on how to make the most of the templates for any DM project. Check them out at http://www.thedesignerslife.com/library/

And remember, if you're a Circle of Success member, simply call Tammy at 866-879-2924, or go online to your special COS website, to request access to your complimentary Design Library.]

* * * * * * * * Advertisement * * * * * * * *

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EXCLUSIVELY FOR AWAI WRITERS AND GRAPHIC DESIGNERS:

Please read the following note from my good friend Joe Seta. Joe is the founder and creative powerhouse behind Seta Corp … one of the largest catalog companies in the world with over 7,500 items in their diverse product line.

Katie,

I have a great opportunity for your writers and artists … can you help me get the word out to them?

It's a spec challenge like no other. They don't have to "reinvent the wheel" … just take what's been working for us and "tweak" it so it's fresh and exciting.

Maybe it's a new headline … or a new look. The important thing for them to keep in mind is that the overall effect has to be POWERFUL and it has to GET ATTENTION.

I'm looking for at least 5 winners for my upcoming tests … but will take more. I'll gladly pay $250 for each cover test … and have plenty more work in the pipeline for anyone who gets the job done.

Below are the details.

All the best,

Joe

Palm Beach Jewelry Catalog Cover Spec Challenge

What gets your attention, good information or powerful sensationalism? I'm not asking what you prefer … but what gets your attention? If you believe powerful sensationalism is the attention getter, this challenge is for you.

• The challenge will run until March 1, 2008.
• A minimum of 5 covers will be selected for future promotions.
• Palm Beach Jewelry will pay the writer of each of those selected covers $250.
• The winning writers can use the Palm Beach Jewelry name and promote the fact that they won a competition against thousands of other writers.

Goal: To get a customer to open the Palm Beach Jewelry Catalog. Keyword "OPEN."

To get her to walk into my "store," which, in this case, is my catalog. If you don't get her to take the initial step of opening the catalog, it is 100% certain that she will not buy.

Customer Profile:

1. 100% jewelry buyer

2. Credit-challenged

– She has several non-bank credit cards to purchase the company's jewelry with. "Non-bank" is credit cards besides Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. Cards like Metrostyle, Newport News, Spiegel, Roaman's, and Woman Within.

– She likes the fact that Palm Beach Jewelry bills over time (4 payments with 0% interest).

– She likes our great deals, along with our split billing plan.

– She continually comments that Palm Beach Jewelry's prices are very, very competitive, actually going out of her way to make these comments. The company's products are hard to price-compare (many styles are exclusives) and even we don't know if our prices are competitive. Could our "Buy Now" ("compare at") prices be giving the perception that we have great pricing?

Important cover guidelines to follow:

1. The cover must be exciting, like the front page of the National Enquirer or the front page headlines that you see at the checkout counter of the grocery store. It must grab the customer and get her to stop and look at the catalog in less than 2 seconds.

2. See below for several covers that meet these criteria. Remember: You don't have to reinvent the wheel. These covers have worked … but are getting tired. Take them and "refresh" them … that's all you need to do.

3. Also see below for several of the current working headlines for our covers.

4. We have nothing that proves an item shot on the cover is as important as saying something that will resonate strongly with the consumer, something she wants to hear, again with the goal in mind of getting her to open the catalog.

Samples of winning covers and headline submissions:

Send your entry to me – as an e-mail attachment – by the March 1 deadline to: Palmbeachcovers@setacorporation.com

Good luck!

Joe Seta
President, Seta Corporation

Quick Tip: Easy Bullets in QuarkXPress
By Kammy Thurman

Making bullets and numbered lists isn’t as straightforward as it could be in QuarkXPress. But the company PowerXChange makes an add on to Quark that makes creating bullets and numbered lists a snap. It’s called ProBullets, and you can learn more about it at the PowerXChange website: www.thepowerxchange.com.

If you’ll be using lots of bullets in your designs, it’s well worth looking into.

* * * * * * * * Advertisement * * * * * * * *

ATTENTION GRAPHIC DESIGNERS!

Monthly Copywriting Genius includes graphic design critiques of the winning control each month. Editor-in-Chief Sandy Franks and her grade ‘A' team breakdown each mail piece to show you what designs are working in the marketplace … and most importantly WHY! Discover the secrets behind the strongest direct-response promotions in the mail, in space advertising, and on the internet today, from the best copywriters and designers in the business. Sign up today so you don't miss a single issue! http://www.monthlycopywritinggenius.com/ifd/

EXTRA! EXTRA! News and Job Opportunities

• The Creative Group is looking to place a junior level graphic designer with a firm in Raleigh, North Carolina. You'll work with a design team to develop concepts and designs for direct mail, banner ads, collateral materials and more. Knowledge of the Adobe Creative Suite and Macromedia is a must. Local candidates are preferred. Send your information to Raleigh@creativegroup.com
• Brainswitch Advertising is looking for a freelance graphic designer with outstanding skills. You'll work on a variety of projects for a variety of clients. You must be energetic and able to work as a part of a team. They prefer someone who can be onsite during normal business hours at least some of the time—the position is in Miami. Send your resume and three work samples to veronica@brainswitchad.com
• Thomasville Furniture is looking for a graphic designer to join their marketing team in Thomasville, North Carolina. You'll develop designs for direct mail and point of sale efforts and more. Degreed candidates or candidates with equivalent experience are preferred. You must know Quark, InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, and PowerPoint. Send your resume to careers@thomasville.com

COMING NEXT ISSUE:

• Easy Design Strategies that Lead Your Reader to the Sale
• Quick Tip From the Design-Library: Where to Find Just the Right Font for Your Project

* ABOUT INSIDE FREELANCE DESIGN *

Inside Freelance Design is a FREE bi-weekly newsletter from American Writers & Artists Inc., available to AWAI members and friends.

© 2008 American Writers & Artists Inc.

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