Pack a Punch With Four-Color Envelopes
An envelope is like a person’s appearance. Although it’s true that what’s on the inside is what matters most, no one will ever know if they can’t get past what’s on the outside. Like the jacket of a book, a four-color envelope can entice a reader to have a peek inside to find out more. 

Imagine you just had a fabulous invitation or direct mail piece printed.. The words were written by a talented professional and approved by top brass. Perhaps a focus group weighed in to ensure the message conveyed the right tone for the intended audience.

The Plain White Envelope With Black Ink
Now imagine that beautiful pitch hidden inside a plain white envelope addressed in regular black ink and arriving in the mail among others that look just like it. Worse, it will compete for attention among envelopes printed in four colors, alongside oversized brochures and glossy postcards.

What do you think will happen to your perfect pitch, the one that cost thousands to craft and weeks or even months to get approved? That’s right. It will rarely see the light of day. Few people if any will open that unexpected plain white envelope with black ink from the person or company they don’t know. An anonymous plain envelope practically screams “boring ad for a boring service” and that envelope’s destination is most likely the recycling bin.

The Anatomy of an Envelope
Most people don’t view an envelope as anything more than a container for mailing, with room for an address. But it’s so much more. There is a lot of available real estate on the average number 10 envelope, a lot of space for messaging.

Most addressing equipment, along with the United States Postal Service, require 4-¾ inches by 2-¼ inches space for the address and the barcode. The rule of thumb for the return address is “above and to the left” of your mailing address and the permit “above and to the right” of your mailing address. Everything left is a blank canvas to fill.

Filling Your Canvas
Now that you can visualize a four-color envelope as more than just the obvious, what should you put on it aside from the requirements? Well, for starters, ask yourself a few questions:

• Who is my audience?
• Why should they open this four-color envelope?
• What am I selling?
• What response do I want?

Creating a message that captures those answers will not only help your envelope get noticed, it’ll up the chances it’ll get opened. And every envelope wants to get opened!

Changing the Message and the Variables
Sometimes your call to action might need to change according to the audience even though the inside contents are the same. With Variable Data Addressing, it’s easy to change anything you want on your four-color envelopes, from the messaging and addresses to the postal information.

The Four-Color Envelope Difference
Kirkwood has been making companies look good in print since 1973. Reach out to discover what a difference four color envelope printing can make to your ROI. 

This happening before the pandemic might have felt like the end of the world if a child or husband walked into the room or interrupted my presentation.

Two years later, we don’t even notice when their cat crawls up their back or a child interrupts because they are hungry or thirsty. I’m able to see into their homes and offices – what kind of sports they follow, what kind of art there is and it all just seems so much more personal. I have so loved these moments.

It was also pretty hilarious as people were learning to use Zoom. How many times have you yelled “turn on your microphone” or you can only see the top of their head. My 26 year old daughter, who was quarantined with us, was constantly rolling her eyes bursting into the room yelling “TECH SUPPORT to the rescue!”

Despite all this, most of us were able to find the beauty in continuing our relationships remotely. I think because of the pandemic we are more open and vulnerable and had to let go of the small stuff, like worrying about the little things.

I’m ready for some serious outdoor time now that it is getting warmer, but I feel like I have grown closer to our clients and that I will always cherish.