A professional mailing house – also known as a direct mail company, or specialist – is a business which specialises in the organisation and despatch of packages and letters for their clients; this is the short answer and it covers the basics. But we know that from one end of the process to the other, there’s much more to a complete mailing service than simply closing an envelope and sticking it in the post-box.

So what kind of services does a mailing house provide?

1. To start at the beginning, the first obvious service provided by a mailing house will be project management – we have the experience and the expertise to help you prepare your targeted direct mail campaigns to optimise results, choose between different types of direct mail to maximise success and assist in the management of the campaign at each step so that you can rest easy – it’s what we do!
2. Next, a professional direct mail company offers first-rate printing solutions, with most mailing houses having their own on-site equipment for just this purpose. You provide the necessary data and the artwork you wish to appear on your material, and we take the hassle of putting it on the page out of your hands – whether it’s a newsletter, a gift offer card, or anything else.
3. A mailing house can then offer personalisation services across a variety of mailing formats: letters, greetings cards, vouchers and promotional material, customer rewards or even standard statements. According to bakergoodchild, 57% of respondents to their survey said postcard marketing makes them feel valued and gives them a sense of authentic relationship; the same number said they were more likely to remember a message sent by mail. Personalising the mail you send out gives you the edge when it comes to engagement, and a mailing house can tailor individual pieces of mail to the recipient by including personal information, marketing based on related purchases, personalised images, etc, to make sure you get the best possible ROI on your direct mail campaign.
4. Finally, no piece of mail can go out for delivery unless it’s properly sealed, so that’s why mailing houses offer boxing, packing and enclosing services too. With some mass mail out campaigns involving many thousands of individual letters, it’s vital to be able to get through the process of sealing them with speed as well as precision; we have machinery on-site for sealing magazines in poly bags, folding printed materials and for sealing letters and leaflets in envelopes far quicker than it could ever be done manually, cutting down the time it takes to get them on the road for you. Sometimes, circumstance demands that a job be done by hand; even then, we provide the hands so that you don’t have to!

Is hiring a mailing house better than trying to do all this myself?

Every business is of course different. The benefits of outsourcing direct mail essentials to an experienced third-party are multiform however, and different companies and entities across an incredible diversity of fields find that a complete mailing service make business easier for them. To list just a few reasons…

1. A mailing house saves money. The name of the game is “bulk”: by purchasing consumable supplies in bulk (paper, ink, envelopes etc) and leveraging discounts on bulk postage, one of the benefits of outsourcing bulk mailing services to a third party is the savings passed on to the client – and that’s not even thinking about the added labour costs saved!
2. A mailing house saves time. Designing material, printing it, arranging it properly, and sealing it ready for delivery – one of the biggest challenges presented at each stage of this process is time consumption, and many businesses find that time could be better spent on other things. By outsourcing, you can devote your company time to more urgent business, knowing that the “grunt work” is safe in the hands of off-site professionals.
3. Direct mail services are flexible. Professional mailing houses know that your need for their services may not be uniform and may ramp up or down depending on the circumstances, so the terms of your contract can be made to fit your changing needs. This way you can be assured that when the time comes for a big direct mail marketing campaign, the staff and resources needed will be ready in-situ.

A mailing house is accurate. As mentioned above, the tasks of folding and sealing packages and envelopes to be sent out for delivery is usually automated in a mailing house (unless the job specifics make this unfeasible). Aside from making the whole process faster, this also results in greater accuracy: automation entails the use of direct mail systems which can remove duplicates, validate the accuracy of customer details (like titles and postcodes), and ensure printed material conforms to the required format – all of which serves to bolster the strength of a good mail campaign.

Now that I know all of this…where do I start?

Based in Northern Ireland, Tricord Ltd has been proud to deliver trusted Direct Mail services for our clients across the private, public and non-profit sectors since 1997. From advertising mail and glossy brochures to financial correspondence and information packs, there’s not a lot we haven’t despatched over the last twenty years – if it can be posted, odds are, we can post it!

The good news is that getting started could hardly be easier. Whatever your needs are – design, printing, or package assembly – get in touch today, and let’s get talking: