Category: Mailing

If you have a business and do your own printing then it is vital that you ensure the quality is of a high standard. It may be that you use your in-house printer to print invoices, letters, reminders or even stationary such as business cards and compliments slips. It is important that all of these are printed to a high standard before being sent out to your customers as it may be reflected badly on you as a business if there are errors.

Ensuring that you clean your printed heads regularly, replace cartridges when they are low and aligning the print head will help with giving you the better quality printed documents. This is often very easy to do, but something that we often put off until we really have to do it.

If you start to send out documents or leaflets etc., out to your customers that have not been printed straight, have parts of the ink faded or look smudged, then it can give the impression that you don’t care or take the time needed to ensure that everything is correct before it is sent out. This alone can be enough to put many people off from contacting you. Quality of paper or card is another point you need to consider. If you are giving out business cards or leaflets that you have printed out yourself, then they should be printed on the right material. Paper is not usually sufficient for this and you may want to opt for a gloss card or thicker paper.

Always double check anything that is being printed for spelling and grammar mistakes. It only takes a few moments but if they are missed, it can ruin the whole document.

Being able to write a letter is very important, and although many people use text, social media and instant messaging now, there will still come times in your life when you need to write a letter. This may be for a job application, to make a complaint to a company or possibly write to an elderly relative that may not use emails etc.

Many people opt for using a computer when writing letters, as most software applications such as Word have a built in spelling and grammar checker. This can be very useful, but you should also brush up on letter writing skills that will not only help you with spelling and grammar but also structure, how to make it interesting and what to write.

There are always workshops running through various companies to help improve your letter writing skills. One of the main reasons people still write letters is for a cover letter which is often sent with a CV when applying for a job. It is vitally important that these letters are done correctly as it is often the first impression a potential employer will have of you. Be sure to have a look at examples of other covering letters to see what sorts of information you need to include and how to lay your letter out.

Over the past few decades with technology advancing less and less people are sending letters in order to connect with family members of friends who they may not see that often. Most of the younger generation and a good number of the older generation now chose to use social media and instant messaging apps to connect with each other. But is letter writing a hobby that we all need to keep alive? Writing is a very important skill to have and being able to know how to write and format a letter can help in later life when writing over letters to send off with you CV or asking for when making a complaint to a company for example.

It is important to allow children to practise letter writing as not only does this help with their writing and spelling but also with their imagination and communication skills. Why not ask your child if they would like to write a letter to a cousin or to a gran or grandad and give them ideas of what they may want to talk about. You could get them to send a postcard to people back home when on holiday or ask them to write a thank you card to someone that gave them a present at their birthday. Many children enjoy writing letters and if you can let them buy a stamp and post it, they often get very excited, especially if they also receive a letter back!

With the advent and prevalence of the internet and digital communications, there are many who will tell you that the direct mail campaign is a thing of the past, an analogue item from a past age.

However, whilst it has certainly seen some decline in volumes sent, this now appears to have settled and it remains at a robust and steady level, albeit somewhat reduced. So why is that?

Email marketing campaigns are certainly cheaper as they involve no physical product, so no printing or material costs. Delivery is also cheaper – no need for stamps or to pay a delivery agent.

Ultimately it boils down to effectiveness; recent studies have shown direct mail to be significantly more effective – a 4.4% response rate compared to email’s woeful 0.12%. When you think about it, it’s easy to see why; it’s much easier for an email user to filter or ignore content.

A physical piece of paper is much harder to ignore; for one, there’s no easy way to stop it coming through your letterbox, and you will have to handle it even if to simply dump it in the recycle bin.

In addition, postal marketing tends to be at it’s most effective when it’s locally targeted; essentially, offers to encourage people to try local businesses.

If you have recently ordered something online or someone has sent you a parcel or letter in the post you may be very disappointed if it turns up damaged. It may be that you have ordered a birthday card for someone, but when it arrives it has been bent. This can be a nuisance and can often cause people agro as they then may have to rush out to buy one. Even if you have had to replace it yourself you should still get in touch with the relevant company to discuss the issue. Who you need to speak to depends on how the item was sent. If for example, it was sent through one of the royal mail tracking services and has a warning on to say fragile then you may be able to dispute it with them but the first port of call is often the company that have sent it. You will need to keep as much evidence as possible such as the damaged packaging to show the condition it was in when it arrived with you. Contact the company and explain what has happened. If you want them to send you a new one then ask for this otherwise you may ask for a refund if you no longer need the item as you have had to go and buy one instead. Most companies will be able to sort this out for you but if not then you may want to contact the delivery firm.