Dan Reid

Industry professionals offer tips for creating successful direct mail campaigns. The whole idea behind direct mail is to deliver messages that command attention and inspire a response. Manufacturers and distributors experienced in direct mail sales know that specifically targeting likely prospects—rather than appealing to the masses—and speaking to recipients with highly personalized messages increases the chances of eliciting that response. There are also some basics with regard to project planning and design that industry professionals pay heed to. For starters, both Michael Weinzierl, president of Professional Graphic Communications, Sewickley, Pa., and Dan Reid, marketing manager for Thorn Hill Printing, Freedom, Pa., stressed the

Take small, manageable steps on the way to big direct mail profits. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. A step-by-step approach can turn seemingly impossible tasks into manageable projects. That's something forms distributors need to remember when considering the direct mail market, where high-volume, high-dollar projects can be a bit daunting. Dick Kuntz, president of GBF Graphics, Skokie, Ill., pointed out that forms sales are fairly straightforward and tend to repeat, while direct mail almost always in-volves new copy—not to mention a proofing process and press checks. "If a forms distributor gets a $10,000 or a $15,000 order,