Get your postal and email marketing campaigns ready to go

Postal

> Postage and pages
There are many options to choose from for example is it A4 or A5? It is going to be double sided or single sided? How many pages will it be? Do you want it sent in a printed envelope or as it is with the address printed straight on to it?

> OCR Placement
To qualify for this your content should be placed correctly in adherence to the Royal Mail Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Placement guidelines allowing for clear zones where needed. Ask the Marketing File campaign team to send you over the guidelines for your letter and postcard campaigns.

> Images
Only use professional high quality imagery to show your business in a good light. For printing the images need to be high resolution – 300ppi (pixels per inch) and in CYMK colour mode. The size of an image and its pixels correlate so the higher the number of pixels the larger and sharper the image so always supply the high resolution version.

> Bleed and crop
Supply your artwork with a 3mm bleed around and with crop marks ready to send straight away. All images that reach the edge of your page should be stretched out to the bleed line. Our Touchpoint system already includes crop marks when uploaded so we ask for artwork to be supplied with just a 3mm bleed.

> Greeting line
How do you want to address your reader? By first name, salutation surname or salutation, first name and surname? Do you have all the data to be able to do this and more importantly is your data accurate?

> Header and footer
Your high resolution logo, contact details and any small print should be positioned here.

> Signature
Do you want a signature included? If so, again, this needs to be sent over as a high resolution JPG.

> File type
If you have completed the above and your campaign is ready to be sent straight to the printers then all you will need to send over is a high resolution PDF with bleed and crop marks. However, if you want amends made then the original InDesign file will need to be supplied.

Email

> Subject line
Make sure it will grab the reader’s attention, don’t be vague and think about spam filters for example ‘FREE’ will flag up as spammy.

> Logo
Always tell your readers your identity; including a logo displays strong product placement and builds brand awareness.

> Images
Again, use professional high quality imagery to promote your business in a good light. For generic photographs you can source these online from copyright free sites such as pexels or through creative commons (check link). These should be supplied as 72ppi in RGB colour mode. The designer will then compress these images to reduce the file size and loading time.

> Content
Be minimal and link back to your website to expand on further details. The most important points and your ‘call to action’ (CTA) button should appear at the top. Lastly, your content should be organised into small sections to promote scan friendly reading.

> CTA
Your call to action button is the main reason why you are sending your email so it needs to be immediately identifiable, tap friendly and repeated again if your email requires a lot of scrolling.

> Links
Clearly indicate the URL’s you want attached to images and/or text. Make sure you include your website and all your social media profiles if you have any, and an unsubscribe link as it is illegal to not allow recipients to opt out.

> File type
If you want to design your email yourself or already have a designer then it can be put together using creative software such as Photoshop or InDesign and exported as a PDF to be converted into HTML.

For more knowledge including guides on 'Sourcing, using, cleaning and enhancing lists'; '14 Top Tips: Before sending your direct mail' and 'The Complications of Constructing HTML Emails' go to www.marketingfile.com/knowledge