Use of Branding in Direct Mail

[Solomon Solomonov]

The expert consensus is that a campaign should include about 5-7 mailings. Statistics show the majority of the deals come from the 5th mailer and beyond. 

@Dev Horn has, on several occasions, stressed the importance of branding in direct mail campaigns in order to help stand out against competition. Moreover, @Jerry Puckett has advised that each subsequent mailer build on previous mailers (e.g. second mailer says "I have contacted you a few weeks back..."). These ideas make perfect sense if you want to create a campaign of 6 mailers, rather than 6 campaigns of one mailer. 

However, I would think that the synergies created would be lost if the recipient can't recognize a common brand from one mailer to the next. Yet, 1)  how does a homeowner distinguish two yellow letters sent from two different people (I'm not sure the name in the letter alone would do the trick)? 2) How can a homeowner recognize common brand between postcards and yellow letters? 

I am assuming several things here: the yellow letter is a handwritten letter the typical yellow paper. The only personal info of the sender included in the message is the name and phone number. There is no return address (according to @Michael Q., a return address could decrease the open rate). 

Any thoughts?   

[Rick H.]

Great thread. Something I may have missed in the discussion is how you build identity via your "voice" or if you prefer, the sound your copy makes in the readers head when read. 

I don't mean the vibrations, of course. I'm referring to the manner of copywriting and how your message (Headlines, sub-heads, USP, P.S., etc.) resonates and how you, as writer are able to connect with their current problem.

Well-crafted mail pieces will stand out as yours and yours alone. Especially when most of the stuff that I see is pure crap. Then you have the debate about long vs short copy. 

I tell you, I'm lazy. I'd rather find the exact guy or gal with the problem(s) that I want to encounter and solve and not even have contact with those folks who are still confused. So, I only look for targets who are absolutely going bat-sh*t crazy about their problem. Maybe that's why I prefer marketing to attorneys because when they can't resolve something, they call me. 

Gary Halbert always said to enter the conversation that's already going on in their head. The savvy marketer knows how to tap into this, agitate the problem in the mind of the reader, plant seeds of doubt (or worms in their brains) and offer something that hurts less (a 'palliative' proposition).

By the way, no one wants solutions. What they want is relief.