When planning a direct marketing campaign or a mailing, be clear about your desired outcome.

Remember that a mailing can have several aims; achieving a sale, generating an enquiry, asking for a referral, stimulating a sample request, collecting data, and so on.

You may have heard the joke where one person asks the other ‘what’s the secret of great comedy?’ Before the other person can finish replying, the questioner blurts out the answer;