Market Memo

The post will go crazy over the August bank holiday as marketing departments throughout the land make their big push after the summer slowdown and swamp prospects with heaps of direct mail timed to hit desks on Wednesday 1 September ("Let's not have it land on the first day back after the bank hols," say the planners, cheerily).

With all this competition, how are you going to save your mailshot from an instant trashing?

Firstly, it's not always a good idea to personalise the mailpiece. This might sound radical, but IT department personnel are a bit like a football team - if they're any good, they get lured away; if not, they move. Since 30 per cent of IT directors change jobs every year, it's risky to name names.

Try a 'title slug': strip out the names and just mail the job title.

You don't run the risk of upsetting people by naming their predecessors, and it's a great way of re-running an old address list and adding a new raft of targets.

Another thing to avoid is the tendency to over-design - most senior decision-makers actually respond better if the mailpiece is slightly under-designed.

With a fancy print job and heavy splashes of colour, the target thinks: "Look at this gimmicky mailing piece - they really must be doing heavy marketing." Nobody likes to be sold to! A neatly typed A4 letter is more subtle and often more effective.

Keep response choices open. Email now makes up over 15 per cent of registrations to many IT marketing events and faxback forms also work. But a significant proportion still comes via pre-paid envelopes. Chucking a form back in the post is actually less hassle than putting a fax through.

A classic mistake is printing on the envelope - don't. You reduce response rates by putting your company logo on. The surprise is killed and the mailpiece goes in the bin unopened. If you can afford it, pay the mailing house to hand-write all the envelopes.

Finally, next year, try going against the grain. Send your direct mail in August. A lot of people actually work in August. And because it's quieter, they might actually read their mail.

Top tips

- Don't over-design - a solus letter may be more effective

- Try 'title slugs' - if you name 'old' names, your mailpiece might be binned

- Don't print logos on the envelope - you'll just give the game away

- Keep response options open - let the target choose

Charles Hoult can be contacted on 0171 420 7700 or email: charlieh@wilsonharvey.co.uk

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