What Do Your Envelopes Say?
Perception is 100% of the game!

Get more ink, get more exposure for your company, products and services with Public Relations writing services by Finkelstein. Successful businesses vying for market share send consistent messages to their clients and prospects. The same should be true with your PR. Gain added credibility by being featured by your targeted media outlets. Supplement your advertising with PR that projects the same message, gets you quoted, and makes you an “expert” source for your field.

Finkelstein: When thinking ink, think Fink!
email: finkink@connext.net
phone: 410.715.0680
fax: 410.715.8955

What Do Your Envelopes Say?
Before you lick that envelop shut and send it on its way, have you done all you should to make the right impression with it?

First and foremost, before sending it, know your audience. I know, if you are a regular reader of the Marketing Partner, you’ve read this many times before. But we can’t stress it enough. The only curves you want to throw your audience are curves that will bring more business, not brush them away. So, know your audience.

For instance, if you provide a low cost service, you probably don’t want to send your prospects or clients information in too high a ticket envelope. It just won’t appear compatible with what you do for a living. Don’t shortchange or lowball the envelope, but don’t go overboard either.

Likewise, if your business is high in the prestige department, you want to present an image that reflects this. And that goes for the envelopes you send your audience. You don’t want to appear like you cut corners, because your audience might begin to think you do that with your products or services, too.

Addressing Your Envelope
Whether you provide lower cost services or prestige products, we always recommend against sending envelopes with address labels stuck to them. Don’t give us the argument that everybody does it. Address labels look processed. They tell everyone in your audience that they’re little more than a name on a list, nothing special.

Hand write your addresses instead, especially if you’re on the prestige side of the scale. Or have the addresses laser printed, or run through an inkjet printer. All are much more preferable and reflect a higher level of attention and appreciation than address labels do.

Don’t Forget To Put Your Return Address On It
Sure, not including a return address adds a little mystery and suspense to your information. But if you have a wrong address, the Post Office has no way of sending it back to you. And you, in turn, have no way of knowing your information never got to its destination. That’s a mystery you could do without because it could mean the loss of potential clients. Save the suspense. Use return addresses.

If You Are Going First Class, Use A Stamp, Not A Postage Meter
Again, we’re talking about perceptions, but a first class stamp says First Class, while first class postage run through a postage meter hardly gets noticed beyond the Postal Service. If you’re waffling on this one, let me put in an additional appeal. The common availability of self adhesive stamps makes it much easier and less time consuming than you think, even for larger mailings.

If You Are Going Bulk Rate, Consider Using First Class For A Test Mailing With bulk rate, the Post Office does not return wrong addresses. You’ll get those returns (assuming you put a return address on the envelopes) if you go to the expense of first class postage. That way, you can update your database, enjoy some long-term cost savings, and see how accurate the marketing list you purchased is. It’s also not too expensive a curveball to throw at your audience to begin a new marketing campaign.