do you make any of these 12 mistakes in your mailings?

I read a lot of different blogs to get ideas from other professional copywriters and marketers. Clayton Makepeace is one I like to follow, especially because he has some very good guest writers. Bob Bly recently posted a great article on there called ‘The 12 Most Common Direct Mail Mistakes … and How to Avoid Them’.

You can read the post at 12 Mistakes To Avoid

Every one of those mistakes he describes is spot-on. And each is relevant to both commercial and business audiences. However, I do think that number 11 needs updating…

Mistake No. 11: Failing to appeal to all five senses.

He suggests using other media to reach your audience, including audio-cassettes and video-cassettes. I would suggest replacing audio-cassettes with CDs and video-cassettes with DVDs.

But what else could you use to appeal to your audience’s audio and visual senses?

How about:

Sending an MP3 player with your message recorded? The player could be branded with your company logo.
An MP4 player, containing an exciting and informative video clip, might hit the spot for your prospect.
A memory stick - again branded with your company logo – containing audio, video and a PDF delivering your sales message
If your product or service is a very high value and you are OK with spending more, how about an Amazon Kindle with your full sales message as an MP3 and / or PDF? You could even gift a copy of a relevant book with it too.

What other, more modern, alternatives do you think are viable for appealing to these senses?
Share your ideas below.