What makes for great direct mail? It’s content, but it’s also timing and frequency. The ideal number of mailings is often said to be eight to ten per year. However, while repetition is essential, you don’t want to annoy people either. To be effective, you need to strike a balance.
One of the ways you can do this by changing up the way you present the message.
Here are some ideas:
Tie the message to special events.
Can your product or service help to celebrate a national holiday or special event? We see this approach around the Super Bowl. People eat snacks and chips at all times of the year, but marketers use the Super Bowl to showcase how their brands make the party perfect.
Announce something new or respond to a move by the competition.
Upgrades to your products and cross-sells and upsells, provide the perfect excuse to touch base with your customers. “Hey, we’ve got something new!” Likewise, you can piggyback off promotions made by your competitors. “You may have heard that Brand X is the longest-lasting widget on the market. But you may not know that our product…” Use competitive moves to your advantage.
Drip your content.
Another way to continually put yourself in front of the customer is to use drip marketing. Here you present different elements of your message over time.
- In the first touch, you might present your product in a problem-solution format.
- In the second touch, you might talk about how the product fits into changing market conditions.
- In the third touch, you might talk about how the product is positioned against competitive products.
- In the fourth touch, you might follow up with customer testimonials.
Although you are continually engaging your customer, you are presenting fresh information each time.

Change up your formats.
Mix in different mailing formats, too. Try postcards, tri-folds, and envelopes with letters. Maybe use a mail kit or a dimensional mailer to grab attention.
