Our last post was the official release of our new white paper, How to Choose the Right Vendor for Your Direct Mail Campaigns.

We’ve decided to break down the content of this white paper over 3 blog posts starting with this one.

Post 1: Hiring a full service advertising agency
Post 2: Hiring a direct mail production company
Post 3: Working directly with various printing plants

Let’s get started…

Choosing the right vendor to develop and/or deliver your direct mail can make or break a campaign, and there are pros and cons to each of the different vendor choices available.

First one up is: Hiring a full service advertising agency

The advantage to working with an advertising agency is the typical agency provides many services under one roof. A full service ad agency can take the entire process off your shoulders, guiding your direct mail campaign from conception through design and copywriting to the final product. They may also assist you by combining your direct mail needs with any other marketing needs like TV and radio advertising, making it a complete turnkey marketing operation.

An ideal candidate for working with an advertising agency is a large company that uses direct mail in addition to many other marketing mediums with a heavy focus on branding. This is also a good option for smaller businesses that are more concerned with specialized, lower volume campaigns targeted at a niche market.

BE CAREFUL: Ad agencies can be wonderful when it comes to creating high end, unique formats but sometimes these formats are simply not cost-effective. Ensure that budget guidelines are established and fully understood at the start of the creative process; this will help prevent or limit budget overruns.

Part 2 — Hiring a direct mail production company — is up next.