BULLETINS, INVITATIONS, AND INVITATIONAL BULLETINS

Bulletins and invitations are widely—and successfully—used for business-tobusiness seminars to sell products and services. They are discussed together because, for advertising and promotional purposes, their uses are frequently the same. Bulletins are also used for two other purposes with which you may be involved as a creative resource:

1.Bulletins that must be posted, but that no one reads. State and federal offices, personnel and accounting departments, and senior management (among others) issue materials that must be placed on bulletin boards. However, unless the information displayed has real and immediate application to the audience for whom it was written, it is simply ignored. If you ask how that audience knows it can, with impunity, ignore such bulletins, the answer is, they just do.

2.Bulletins that must be posted and that everyone reads. Often issued by the same sources as in item 1, they give information on newly issued or revised mechanical, safety, or material-handling instructions, on public or private requests for assistance, and many other things. The list is endless. In this case, the audience knows what it must not ignore. The preceding two categories, insofar as they require promotional expertise, can be considered flyers and handled as such. Most often, there are models that can be followed and desktop publishing that can be used to produce the disk or new art.

The Challenge of Optional Posting A third category of bulletins is of much more concern to advertising and promotion than the foregoing two. This is the bulletin that no one is required to post, although everyone who sees it should want to . . . and want to read it, too! Usually distributed by mail, it has to jump the initial hurdle of the mail room or secretarial censor, pass its second barrier of managerial scrutiny, and, most difficult of all, crash through the stone wall of passerby indifference. Because your bulletin competes for posting with all the others received at its destination, the challenge is formidable. Your likelihood of success is directly related to a slight modification of the first insight given in this article, which said, Keep it simple . . . keep it specific . . . and you’re likely to keep solvent. Apropos of bulletins, the insight would urge:

Who Decides What’s Posted? Even if you’re sure you know who controls the posting of bulletins at the places to which you mail them, call a dozen of these places at random and ask to speak with the person in charge of putting up bulletins. If the operator does not know, ask for personnel. People will tell you almost anything if asked politely, so remember what you want to learn:

• What happens when a bulletin is addressed to an individual by name?

• What happens when a bulletin is addressed to a title (say, vice president of finance) or a job description (e.g., person in charge of posting financial training bulletins)?

• Does the size of the bulletin make any difference to its being posted? Which sizes are actually used?

• Does how the bulletin is received (e.g., in an envelope, as a self-mailer, hand delivered) make any difference?

• About what percentage of bulletins received actually get posted?

• Why? Probably the single most important insight this article has to offer is this. The steps in the posting process will tell you how to address and how to send your mailing, as well as what message, if any, to put alongside the address. Usually, a purely informative message, is adequate. The combination of the right name or title, together with an appropriate “teaser”—that is, an interest-focusing outside message—will likely get your bulletin posted. Now all you have to do is to get it read and acted on.

How to Get Your Bulletin Read For posting on a bulletin board, get all the excitement and information on a single page. Don’t force your audience to see the other side to understand your message. You are producing a kind of billboard, not a brochure!

INVITATIONS All of us have received invitations to events that made us a captive audience for a sales pitch—from the chance to meet the candidate to hearing an ex-President try to sell time-sharing condominiums. Whether it’s Tupperware in your living room or executive jets at the Paris Air Show, the party proves an effective sales tool, and the one thing every party has in common is an invitation. This section focuses on inviting people together for business reasons— specifically, to inform them, persuade them, or sell them—and perhaps all three. It is not concerned with purely social or personal functions, although the suggested method of structuring an invitation is practical for both. How to set up the function itself is covered in the article on conventions, beginning on page 272.

A Magical Word Invitation is one of those magical words, like free, new, and now, that many prospective and current customers accept uncritically. You are “invited” in magazine and newspaper ads, by radio and television commercials, on bulletin boards, on the Internet, by fax, and in the mail. All of these take advantage of the built-in association of “invitation” and “enjoyment.” It is this expectation of a pleasant experience that makes invitations such an effective sales tool and one that should be more widely used. Invitations even let you bring together fierce competitors who have nothing but you in common. Think of fitting new golf shoes to shoe retailers at a golf outing, perhaps as a surprise before teeing off. Or what about a winetasting session for wine merchants as they sail along on a moonlight cruise. A bit of imaginative soft sell can do wonders.

AWord about Design Invitations permit even the least creative among us to become designers. When the event itself has a festive feel, almost anything you develop in typography and layout should work, provided that you include the eight pieces of information from the model that follows. For a more formal feel, look through any stationery store, card shop, or “quick” printer’s sample article and pick a model invitation to follow.

Structuring Your Invitation The basic invitation has an eight-part structure that adapts to almost any occasion. Although you may not want to use all eight parts, at least consider each one to make sure that it can be skipped. To show how this works, let’s produce an invitation to attend a demonstration of a solar-powered car. 1.

You are invited. Invitations imply an enjoyable event. The very word “invitation” prepares the recipient to be well disposed toward what comes next, so make that word prominent and the very first thing that’s seen. 2.

To the first public presentation. Generally the single most important part of the invitation. Use your utmost inventiveness to make attending the event a benefit. Translate attendance into what the attendees will carry away, and then state that as a promise. For instance:

• The most exciting test drive of your life

• Your chance to get frank answers from . . . about . . .

• A full month of free . . .

• Machine tools you will never have to sharpen

• Get richer! Get smarter! Get ahead! 3.

Of a truly functional. Make the description of the event too valuable or appealing to ignore. If a large part of that appeal lies in a guest of honor or a presenter, let your invitation explain who the person is—even if everyone should know who he or she is. (For presentations, always use the best presenter rather than the person most knowledgeable on the subject if the two are different. But always have the latter there to help answer questions.) 4.

Saturday, June 24, 10

Before setting a date and time, make certain that no conflicting activity will keep your most important guests away. Call and ask, then “confirm” later as a reminder just before the meeting date. 5.

Zip-Along Racetrack. Make the location a benefit if possible. Glamorize it (e.g., historic, beautiful, unique), and make it a place that is easy to get to. As with bulletins, provide a map for people who drive and a telephone number for those who may get lost. 6.

Champagne brunch. Mention food only if it’s free or, for longer meetings and events, how it will be made available. Make it sound good, but don’t overpromise. Let your surprises be pleasant ones. 7.

Free admission and drawing. State the charges if there are any. For professional meetings that have a fee, be specific about what is covered and what will be provided. Be generous with the things that cost little (e.g., writing materials and note pads, outlines of presentations, tote bags, door prizes). Be equally specific about what attendees will pay for themselves (e.g., travel and lodging, specific meals, gratuities). Be mindful of possible legal problems with overly generous benefits. For example, a $500 luxury weekend for a $50 fee may raise questions later. Be prepared to document legitimate business necessities and off-season rates, or have advance approval from the appropriate attorney. 8.

R.S.V.P. Make accepting the invitation easy. Include a reply card (and envelope for privacy). Encourage responses and questions by fax or phone. Have your reply form restate the major benefits, as well as any conditions of acceptance—especially those that favor the respondent.

NOTES ON THE INVITATION/INVITATIONAL BULLETIN

CHECKLIST These notes are a supplement to the material presented in this article. They are not a selfcontained substitute for that material. This checklist covers the creation, printing, and mailing of invitations. It does not concern itself with who is invited or why, except insofar as that information (#6–7) must be reflected in the invitation. 1.

Event Budget OK. Invitations generally take up only a small portion of an event’s total cost. Has that complete budget been approved, and does it include the number of invitations you plan to use (#14)? If either answer is no, get written approval (#3) before you continue. 2.

Quotations. Allow a week to get cost quotations and whatever time is required for their approval. On budgeted projects, these quotations should not have to go back to management for another round. 3.

Invitation budget. If the budget as a whole has not been approved, can you get approval on the invitation portion? Give the decision makers absolute deadlines beyond which invitations are useless. 4.

Speaker(s). Arrangements for speakers or other attractions or entertainment must generally be made far in advance of an event. Who decides? Who follows up? What’s the last possible moment for including changes in the invitation? 5.

Free/charges. What’s free, and what costs, if any, will be charged to the participants? 6–7.

Audience. Identify the audience to whom you are mailing the invitation and the specific focus of the invitation—the benefits, to the audience, of attending. 8–9.

Copy. Identify the writer and designer of the invitation. Who follows whom? Who must approve the copy? When must both be done? 10.

New art. Will there be hard copy produced by the designer or desktop publishing system? 11.

New Art OK. Approval of final art is the last chance to make changes before the production of disk for film. Give an extra copy to those who must approve the original, for their notes and comments. 12.

Proof OK. Approval of proofs is a combined design and advertising function, even when both are carried out by the same person. Design makes sure that the work has the quality specified on the art. Advertising makes sure that everything that was on the original is on the proof and that the designer’s instructions still make sense when seen in print. If you do both jobs, wear one hat at a time, but be sure that both get worn. 13.

Printing OK. For routine jobs, most printers can be left to their own devices. For large, complicated, or otherwise critical projects, be at the printer to give on-press approval. You’ll be so bored that it will be the perfect time to read the entire copy one more time . . . and actually call all the telephone numbers and check on the addresses. About 10 percent of the time, you’ll be very glad you did! (I twice saved major projects by calling new toll-free numbers given to me by clients and about to be printed on every page of their catalogs, only to find them wrong.) 14.

Quantity. The quantity is frequently more than the mailing list. Ask about nonmail distribution to staff and field workers and for last-minute follow-up. 15.

Mailing list. Who supplies the list, contacts the sources on the list, and checks to make sure that it is reasonably accurate? When using outside lists, responses only, not the list as a whole, become your property for future use. 16.

Telephone list. Will you phone, fax, or e-mail to issue invitations or as a reminder to those who accept? For initial invitations, what is involved in getting the phone numbers and in getting through to those you call? Test by actually trying to call a dozen potential guests before you commit yourself to getting results. 17–18.

Mail format. If you are using a self-mailer, skip #18 and #19. If you are using an envelope, check with suppliers of envelopes regarding standard sizes and costs. It’s seldom economical to customize envelopes for fewer than 10,000. Before you get too creative, check with the post office to make sure they’ll accept the mail as designed. They almost always say yes, but check. 19.

Components. Components include the invitation plus any other elements, such as RSVPs and reply envelopes. Don’t be afraid to load up the invitation. If travel is involved, add a map. If the speaker is special, tell why. If the event is extraordinary, tell how. Use a separate invitationsize sheet for each of those items, and watch attendance soar! 20.

Size. Invitation sizes are determined by the envelope. If the quantity is large so that you will use a mailing service (see Article 16), check with them about the practicality of inserting the invitations into the envelopes by machine. The envelope design is critical. Do this before anything, including the mailing list and how it will be addressed, is ordered. 21–22.

Stock/Color. Not every paper stock comes in every color, especially when you want to match or contrast an envelope. But you can often print the stock into the color you want. It costs practically nothing extra when that color is a tint of a darker ink used on the same page. Discuss this with your prepress firm and printer. You may be pleasantly surprised. 23.

Printing colors. Use any color paper and ink you wish—as long as the message can be read. If printed in light pink and blue or similar tones, your project may well die before the very eyes of those too nearsighted to see it. 24.

Out date. The mailing date should be determined by considering the audience to whom you are sending the invitations. How articleed up do they get for the time involved? How willing are they to commit their time far in advance? If you’re not sure and can’t easily find out, telephone a few invitees and ask. They will thank you for your concern! 25–26.

In date. When must you have replies to permit final planning for the event? Telephone (#16) key prospects a few days before the deadline to reinvite them or to confirm their acceptance. There’s nothing like an actual human voice to generate response. 27.

Mail class. Most invitations are sent by first-class mail. Use a stamp or a printed permit that looks like a meter. For larger mailings, don’t pre- stamp the RSVP envelope. But just to play safe, test your level of response by adding a stamp to every tenth reply envelope. Let results guide future invitations. 28.

Film supplier. For routine mailing pieces, your printer may wish to supply the film. Whether you agree or use a prepress firm, the proofing process (#12) is the same and is a production responsibility rather than an advertising decision. Where the two jobs are handled separately, thank those involved, and let them do their job. 29.

Printer. Printing is also a production function. For major projects, insist on being kept informed. For others, let those doing the job do it without your help. If you are a printing novice, ask them to help you learn. Don’t pretend to expertise you don’t have: You do not have to know how to fix something to insist on its being done right. 30.

Mailing service. Your direct mail production company works on a schedule, too. Don’t surprise them with projects out of the blue, or you may be blue indeed when you get the bill. Usually, anything can be done if you are willing to spend the money. Just remember . . . it is your money. Plan, stay on schedule, and save. 31.

Records/Reports. What records must be kept? By whom? What analyses of results done? What reports made and to whom? Direct Mail and Database Direct Marketing