No one denies the power of direct mail. Certainly not Design One. Our newsletters and postcards have always been a major part of our business development. But we've learned from our experience that to realize the full potential of direct mail pieces, you might need to take a rather unorthodox approach to writing and designing them.

Contrary to popular superstition, a direct mail piece doesn't always have to justify its expensive existence by grabbing the reader's lapels for a hard sell. This hectoring may have worked in the distant past, but in the Internet Age customers are much more likely to respond to information rather than intimidation.

Letters, newsletters and postcards have to offer content that interests the reader, not just the marketing department that produces them. That means a “Special Offer” may not be enough. The reader may want to know something about the context of the offer. Or exactly how the offer will make a real difference in his or her life.

Just how the information is presented can make or break a piece. Good design can do much more than shriek for a reader's attention. It can clarify a message. It can inspire confidence. And it can build awareness and positive perceptions of your company, your products and services.

What makes for good design? We like to think our web site can provide a few pointers. For starters, we've only included information that we hope is truly useful to our readers. To draw attention to main stories, we use bold, bright graphics. Then we follow through by making each article particularly easy to read, through generous type sizes and line spacing. Finally, we invite the reader to contact us -- based on the merits of the piece alone, not as a result of pleading, preaching or promising something beyond the here-and-now.