Before sitting down to design your direct mail (or giving guidance to the person doing it), make sure to answer some preliminary questions. Who is your audience? What will your content include? Do you have an idea of the look you want? To design an effective direct mail piece, you need more than a few words thrown on colored paper one afternoon. If you've read my planning direct mail page you already know this, and you're ready to design your direct mail.

• As mentioned on the planning direct mail page, you'll find many online resources that offer direct mail templates. If you find a template you like, by all means use it to design your direct mail piece. There's no reason to start from scratch, if you find a template with the look you're striving for.
• If you'll send only a few mail pieces at a time, you can use the template and save your work to your computer. Buy paperstock at an office supply store and print on your own.
• More than likely, you'll be sending direct mail in larger quantities. If so, it makes more sense to use a commercial printer for printing. You can send the piece you created from a template to the printer. Or, have the printer design your direct mail piece for you.
• If you enlist the help of a commercial printer for designing, ask them for a quote including creative time. Typically, they'll charge by the hour. Ask for samples of previous work done by their designer, to ensure an acceptable skill level. If you have samples of direct mail pieces you like, provide those to the printer. If your other advertising has a consistent look, take samples so it can be continued when they design your direct mail piece. If you have a certain idea in mind, sketch it out. The more direction you give up front, the more likely your final product will turn out as you want, and the less you'll pay for design time.
• If you don't want to do-it-yourself or use a commercial printer, another option is to hire a freelancer to design your direct mail. Sometimes, you can contact local universities or high schools and ask about hiring one of their more advanced graphic design students.
• Take plenty of time to edit and proofread. Read out loud to make sure the copy flows. Let others read your piece to make sure your intended message is clear. If you hire someone to write or design your direct mail piece, don't be shy about revising. A good writer or designer will understand your desire to "perfect" a piece that will be a reflection on your company.




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• Carefully select your graphics and/or photos. They should be relevant to your message, clear and eye-catching. Some sites, such as Microsoft Office Online and HP Image Library offer free stock photos for you to use. You can also buy reasonably priced photos from Istockphoto. Istockphoto is one of my favorite resources. You can also use your digital camera or scan photos, but you have to be careful that the quality is good enough to reproduce well. (Of course, you can hire a photographer too.)
• When you design your direct mail, don't dismiss the importance of your headline. It should draw the recipient in and compel him or her to keep reading. A short, bold, attention-getting headline will bring 20 times the response of a mailing with a bad headline. If you're using a postcard, I like the approach of combining an image and teaser headline on one side, to guide the reader to your message on the other side. Your headline might ask a question, so the reader wants to find the answer. Your headline should hint at the benefit to the reader.
• Insert the text you created based on your content outline. It should be brief and too the point, but long enough to fully explain what the reader has to gain. Use bullets and white space to make it easy to read. Postcards in particular don't provide space to write a book. The answer isn't to go to really small text. The solution is to edit! You're better to go lighter on the words, include contact information, your web site and directions for finding out more, than to cram your piece full of text.
• Use a strong call to action. Coupons with redemption dates work well. A postcard can be the coupon a person brings in.
• If you really need to hold costs down, design your direct mail piece with black text and photos and one accent color. Do get quotes on full color though. Full color has a much greater impact. Often, the price difference is minimal and pays for itself with the improved response rate. If using full color, focus the color on photos and graphics and subtly highlighting a few key words. Don't make your text hard to read with too much color.

When you pull it all together, make sure your piece is simple, not cluttered. Be professional, but not boring! You only have a few seconds to grab the reader's attention and convince him to READ, not toss, your mailer.