For those of you who visit, I have mentioned my mother-in-law before. She is very much a typical Canadian donor – the target audience of almost every direct mail package produced. Every time she comes for a visit, she brings me her stack of mail which I eagerly tear through learning all sorts of things… Take a look at a week of mail…
This display is a bit different in that there are only a dozen white #10’s. Usually they are almost all white #10’s. I’ve also learned that Covenant House is on to something. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a white #10 package from them.
Steve Thomas always said you know something is working if you will see it again and again. So I would have to make an educated guess that Covenant House knows that if they produce anything EXCEPT for a white #10 envelope package, their results will be pretty good.
The other ‘learning’ here is really how much the mail all looks the same. Logo in left corner, address window, indicia, tagline…
A golden rule of marketing is in order to stand out from the competition, is to do the opposite of what they are. And in our market right now, it is safe to say the majority of charities are all mailing white #10’s all year long.
So here’s a free tip: Don’t!
John… this is a great post… I started to write a long, involved response… and started to rant… I’ve decided I’m going to have to create a whole new post to hold all my thoughts about this.
What a great collection you have. It’s nice that you have access to a direct mail collection service… it sounds like the fee for this service isn’t that expensive either!
I’ll be linking to your post in the next few days!
Paul
Thanks Paul – I am assuming you are using “direct mail collection service” in a humourous way – you are right – my mother in law (and friends) don’t charge me for collecting such a wide range of Canadian direct mail. Thank God!
[...] The Naked Idea blog posted a response to my comments on carriers, asking about envelope size. His own informal survey of fundraising mail demonstrated that #10s are no longer the norm and, in fact, a minority of the [...]