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Updated over 5 years ago,
Experience with brochure-like self-mailers for direct mail?
Hi BP,
I've been brainstorming ideas for low-budget and creative direct mail pieces (I have already sent 3 rounds of postcards to absentee owners, but I think it's time to change it up a bit). Since I have access to a high-throughput color printer, it occurred to me that printing out creative tri-fold "self-mail" pieces (no envelope, sort of like a brochure) might be something worth trying. Of course folding, sealing, and adding postage would be quite labor-intensive, but I think I might also have access to a folding machine, and in any case those are the sorts of tasks I don't mind doing while watching TV or something.
I've done some research and think I have a decent understanding of how to get bulk mail rates with folded self-mailers, and how to save even more on fees by adding a barcode (probably by using the free USPS IMsb tool?), CASS-certifying your list, pre-sorting, and using pre-canceled stamps. I imagine that the direct mail companies out there leverage these bulk-mail discounts for their economies of scale, but I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with / thoughts on whether doing something like this is worthwhile for more of an individual smaller-scale operation. I'm thinking it's not likely a great return on time investment, but wanted to at least consider it.
I'm also curious if anyone has thoughts on how the tri-fold self-mailer might perform for marketing, as I've not really heard it discussed much.
Thanks!