Articles by Mike Dietz
Blog Archive
3 Questions to Ask When Designing for Digital Printing
We talk a lot about the benefits of digital printing and how you can maximize your creative direct mail design through its benefits. What we haven’t touched on is a specific concern when designing for digital printing: how to stop yourself from overusing or maxing out on the features that make digital printing great.
How to Use Color in Direct Mail to Drive Results
You might have heard through the grapevine that Pantone’s 2020 color of the year is Classic Blue. I see a lot of blue in my job; there are several studies showing blue is America’s favorite color, and approximately one-third of brands use blue in their logos.
When it Comes to Response, Cookie-Cutter Direct Mail Templates Don’t Cut It
Not too long ago, a new client asked us suggestions to make their programs stronger. They scanned a bunch of mail samples we had on the table and leaned back in their chair, asking, “So, what templates do you suggest?” Our answer? “None.”
There’s Nothing Like a Good, Old-Fashioned Whiteboard for Coming Up with Creative Marketing Ideas
Hands down, one of the coolest features in IWCO Direct’s Creative Services offices are our whiteboard walls. When we were redesigning some of our office space a few years ago, the Creative Services team got the opportunity to provide input into what we wanted and what would make the workspace more efficient [...]
What Shopping for a Wedding Dress and Choosing Direct Mail Formats Have in Common
We’ve talked a lot in the past about finding the right tone and format for your direct marketing message—for instance, keeping financial offers in official formats like a #10 envelope, and entertainment offers in promotional layouts with brighter colors and graphics. What we don’t often talk about is the fact that we often present a […]
How to Avoid Four Common Direct Mail Design Mistakes
You know when you’re riffling through your mail and you find a direct mail piece that is down-right painful? Where you see it and think to yourself, “Who on Earth thought this was a good idea?” and then toss it into a pile, never to be seen again? I come across a lot of direct mail design mistakes [...]
5 Questions a Designer Asks About Direct Mail Formats
Those who have ever designed direct mail before—or even those who pay attention to what’s in their mailbox—know there are plenty of direct mail format options out there. Self-mailers, #10 envelopes, snap-packs, monarch-sized pieces… the list goes on and on. Likewise, there are a lot of factors in choosing a direct mail format for your […]
Three More Tips to Make Your Mailpiece Design More Engaging
A few days ago, my colleague Marcus Johnson provided seven tips to make direct mail marketing copy more engaging. I think you’ll find that many of those tips cross over from copy into design, and that’s for a good reason: The effectiveness of direct mail relies heavily on how well the marketing copy and mailpiece design work together to engage the audience and prompt them to take action [...]
Five Creative Tips for Folded Self-Mailers
We often talk about the importance of envelopes and how they are the first hurdle to getting a prospect or customer to read your direct mail—but what if you forgo the envelope altogether? Folded self-mailers are a great way of communicating with your audience quickly and concisely in a cost-efficient manner without the fuss of […]
Direct Mail Best Practices: An Update for 2018
While direct mail best practices tend to stand the test of time, they aren’t carved in stone. Today, I’d like to take some time to revisit one of my more popular blogs from a few years back, titled “Maximize Value with These Effective Direct Mail Techniques,” and see what has changed, what hasn’t, […]
