Extending mailer mileage.

• Author: Turner, Jim
• Position: Direct Mail Essentials

In a recent column we outlined the role preprinted newspaper inserts can play as an extension of your direct mail campaign. From a media perspective, inserts play a role somewhere between an inexpensive newspaper ad and a relatively expensive direct mailer.

Preprinted inserts have most of graphic qualities of direct mail but the limited targeting capabilities of newspapers and magazines. When you are preparing your direct mail campaign, it's easy and inexpensive to extend your reach into the marketplace by printing additional mailers to be used as newspaper inserts. Here are some suggestions for putting your insert together.

Target Your Message. First, consider whether your product and message are appropriate for the mass distribution of a newspaper insert. For example, a promotion for money market accounts or rice checking should work well. However, a campaign targeting high net--worth readers tier trust services is probably too narrowly focused for most newspapers, with the exception perhaps of investment-related papers or some magazines.

Select Your Format. If you am adapting a mailing campaign to serve as in insert, your format may be the same as the mailer format, perhaps a size that fits either a business envelope (#10) or 9- by 12-inch envelope. The advantage in doing so is that you can simply extend your press run to produce them, lowering your costs significantly.

If your mailing brochure or flier is 8.5- by 11- inches and designed to fold for a #10 envelope, then design it with a vertical layout to fit as an insert. Doing so allows you to leave it unfolded, with no changes, for newspaper distribution.

If you are not sending a mailer and simply have decided to test the effectiveness of a newspaper insert, then you can select from a variety of formats. The most common are usually between 8.5- by 10.5-inches up to 10- by 12-inches, but they can vary with the site of the publication.

One of the...