Scary Mail

By Gary Onks
Posted Wednesday, November 24, 2004

I wish it was Halloween mail that I was talking about, but due to recent events, it's everyday mail that now scares folks.

Mail is very important to all of us. We look forward to its arrival each day. From a business perspective, mail is an essential part of our daily activities. As individuals we look forward to getting letters and postcards from people that we care about. Whatever our age, getting mail is a decades old and ingrained habit. As for seniors, they will read just about everything that you send them. There is little if any *junk mail* from the senior viewpoint.

However, there has always been some mail that most of us are a little suspicious of and it truly applies to mail we get today. Mail without a return address screams JUNK rather loudly and nowadays no address will mean no opening or viewing. A real close second is mail with a PO Box address. We tend to view this as a fly-by-night or at best a small potatoes outfit. After all what kind of business would fit in a PO Box anyway and nobody could actually live in one (hey, it's an old saying so bear with me).

To avoid these old issues as well as the scary new ones, here are some tips. Follow these and your mail will get through and not be ignored and cast out or even worse, returned to you unopened. These tips apply to all envelopes and mailing labels that you use.
* If possible do not use a PO Box address
* Show your full street address (with PO Box if necessary)
* Print telephone number and toll free number with return address
* List your website and email address as part of return address
* Use a postage meter for the "real look" of business mail

We have been doing this all along here at my company. The whole point is to make your business as real, legitimate and easy to contact as possible. Not just to the person you are mailing to, but to everyone who sees and handles your materials in transit. It's an inexpensive advertising method that could bring more sales.

SOS Factoid: Well labeled mail is not scary mail to anyone.

[b]About the Author[b/]
Gary Onks is the author of "How You Can Reach & Sell the $20 Trillion Senior Marketplace" which is described as: "The 'Art' of pleasing senior customers" ~ Washington Times Sold On Seniors, Inc. (http://www.SoldOnSeniors.com)
Phone: 800-416-8785 or 540-785-4438