A seminar invitation arrived at our office this week from a company selling Marketing Automation software. The 9 x 12 envelope contained a cover letter and a gorgeous, 4-color, gatefold product brochure. In one package, this company broke two cardinal rules of high-tech direct marketing:

1. Sell the offer, not the product.
2. Don't send information; make people ask for it.

It's always a great temptation to make marketing materials do double-duty. However, product brochures are designed primarily to fulfil a request for information. Direct marketing cam paigns, on the other hand, are designed to elicit a response. That fundamental difference makes nearly all product brochures unfit for direct mail duty. Case in point: the brochure I received said absolutely nothing about the seminar.

Secondly, if you use a product brochure as part of any campaign, you undermine your program by eliminating the prime motivation for response: a request for more information. (Don't expect prospects to line up for more information if you've already told them everything they need to know.)

Ironically, had our software friends designed a custom invitation, besides creating a more effective campaign, they also could have saved money. In addition to the decrease in print cost, a simple, tri-fold insert would have eliminated the need for a 9 x 12 envelope, and also cut their postage cost in half.