My organization would like to do a large mailing to single-family households in our region with information on environmentally friendly landscaping. We are considering various types of mailing materials, ranging from newsprint to booklets to folded newsletters. Does anyone know of any studies indicating which types of mailings people are most likely to actually read, rather than immediately discard? There is some concern that newsprint - while the most affordable to print and mail - may just get immediately recycled because it closely resembles advertising circulars.
Thanks!
Emily Levin
Restoration Program Manager
Ipswich River Watershed Association
978-887-2313
[email protected]
Effectiveness of Paper Mailings
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Could you use a paper product that could easily be used to mulch a small area of the garden? In other words, link the mailer to the concept you are advertising.
Terri
'Traditional' (i.e., for profit) direct mail/marketing campaigns typically target a 2% response rate. That is the reason our mail boxes are so indundated. With those low figures, it's imperative that you craft the piece to look as little like a direct mail piece as you can. I'm not sure what you had in mind, but you may want to opt for a 'post card' type mailing rather than a piece enclosed in an envelope. It absolutely should be printed on recycled material, and easily identified as such. I'm not sure whether there is any recycling/sustainable campaigns going on at the local/county/state level, but if so you could time your execution to coincide, while there is sufficient buzz going around to make the audience more receptive. The suggestion about making the piece compostable is great - 'practice what you preach' You will also really have to focus on the content - the salutation (avoid 'Dear Resident', or 'To our Neighbor at XYZ Address') I'm not sure whether you have access to mailing lists, but if you can personalize it to the addressee it may get passed the first screen. If not personalized addressed, you may want to think about crafting a salutation that reflects the recycling/sustainable theme - again, this would depend upon the level of awareness/interest/regulations are active in your community. You may want to look at Dr. McKenzie's basic principles of community based social marketing, from his book "Fostering Sustainable Behavior". I am a regular visitor to his website www.cbsm.com It's difficult to go into a lot of detail via listserv, but if you'd like additional discussion please feel free to contact me at [email protected]
Good Luck
Daniele Loffreda
Plateau Enviro, LLC
-Sustainable Environments-
2331 West Hampden Avenue, Unit 135
Sheridan, CO 80110
Tel: 917 334 7422
Fax: 303 484 3598
Emily,
I think Terri's idea is excellent, especially when you combine the "mulch-able" mailing with a catchy slogan... something like "Mail to Mulch, and other ideas to green your yard" (there must be better ones). Something fun and upbeat usually works best. Your mailing could be a large, folded piece with eco gardening tips on one side, and an image on the other, illustrating how the unfolded mailing could be used for mulching a patch of the recipient's garden. Since "triability" is key for an innovation (or new behavior) to catch on, sending folks the eco gardening info *and* tools to try out some of the tips could be a promising combo. Seems that newsprint - the most economical of your choices - would also be the best to use for mulching?
Stefanie
Hi Emily,
Check out http://www.malwarwick.com/learning-resources/ The bulk of the information is about direct-mail fundraising, but you may still find some relevant articles and publications.
Good luck.
Edith Ben-Horin
T.R.E.E.S. Project Associate
TreePeople
12601 Mulholland Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
direct :: (818) 623-4889
main :: (818) 753-4600
www.treepeople.org
The Canadian P2 Roundtable provided lovely paper bookmarks embedded with wildflower seeds - not sure how much they would cost (The Canadian Centre for P2 is probably on this listserv and might be able to respond). You might be able to get them embedded with native species....
Debbie Wallace
Environment Canada
45 Alderney Drive
Dartmouth NS B2Y 2N6
(902)-426-6257
telephone (902)-426-8373
See http://www.bloomin.com/ for seed paper and other products.
Jeremy Solin
Wisconsin School
Forest Education Specialist
Learning, Experiences, & Activities in Forestry
Wisconsin Center for Environmental Education
College of Natural Resources UW - Stevens Point
715-346-4907
[email protected]
www.uwsp.edu/cnr/leaf/sf
Daniele makes some great points. I'm working on a "Bayside Living Guide" with the National Estuary Program that will be 44pp with a fold-out cover, all recycled. It would be prohibitively expensive and wasteful to print and mail the 30,000 we'd need for every household in the area. We've decided to mail postcards and run ads offering to send the Guide free to anyone who wants it. We'll also distribute to libraries, visitor centers, chambers of commerce, etc., as well as post it on the NEP website. So we expect to print 2000-5000. Our hope is that those who 'opt in' are more likely to want the information and to follow the guidelines. Terre GAIA GRAPHICS .... creative by nature
Terre Dunivant
[email protected]
[email protected]
805-544-9676 office
805-704-5433 cell
805-543-3813 fax
866-232-1519 tollfree
One concern about wildflower seeds is that they should be native to the area where they will be dispersed.
Terre
Dear Emily
My organization does not do any studies about the effectiveness of mailings. Still we mail recycling information to all homes in Wayne County, New York, just east of Rochester. Our mailing is about 45,000 pieces. Each year when we mail, we get dozens of calls requesting more information. Although the program has run for over 15 years, we still get calls from long-time residents who know nothing about curbside recycling in their county. My suggestion is to try the mailing. You may never know exactly how many people whose thinking you affect. It takes several exposures to any concept before people really notice. The more you can put information in people's hands, the better. I usually have the mailings printed on good quality, recycled-content paper. I can usually only afford either one or two colors of ink. I try to use at least some eye-catching graphic to catch people's attention before the brochure hits the recycling box.
Marjorie Torelli
Western Finger Lakes
Solid Waste Management Authority
Lyons, NY