Frontline Perspectives

Friday night, I tossed my disposable contact lenses into the trash after realizing I’d been wearing them way longer than the recommended period. When I reached for a new pair in the medicine cabinet the next morning, I came up empty. I’d just bought a year’s supply of lenses with my new, ever-stronger prescription, and they weren’t where I thought they were.

My husband and I searched the house all weekend. He thought he’d seen them on a bookshelf. I thought I’d spotted them on the desk. He thought they arrived in a padded envelope. I thought they came in a brown box.

Finally, while cooking on Sunday afternoon, I pulled the Kosher salt out of the kitchen cabinet and THERE THEY WERE. In a plain white box. Next to the red pepper flakes. Behind the honey. Of course. Then I remembered I’d ordered some loose tea, and I guess I must have gotten the boxes mixed up. This brings me to my point: You can’t underestimate the value of eye-catching, distinctive packaging.

At MarketSense, we happen to be working on a couple of direct mailings for our clients. We’ve had multiple discussions about how to design the packaging to be sure our mailings don’t get lost on cluttered desks. Here are a few tips borrowed from PostcardSmart and Smart Marketing Strategy:

• Send your message in a colored envelope or box.
• Use stamps instead of postage meters.
• Omit your logo on the exterior packaging so it looks like personal mail.
• Address the label by hand (if feasible).

These are just a few pointers that will prevent someone from classifying your mailing as junk (or mistaking it for tea, as the case may be).

Read Success in a Box: The Power of Dimensional Direct Mail in B2B Marketing, a great case study from Smart Marketing Strategy. Then check out these 25 examples of amazing packaging design to get the ideas flowing for your next mailing project.

Anyone got a packaging success story they want to share? We’d love to hear it.