There are many ways to engage your audience, raise your company's visibility, and define your brand in the marketplace. From drip marketing to event planning to strategic direct mail campaigns, you have many tools at your disposal. Regardless of which tools (or combination of tools), you use, here are five tips to keep in mind.

1. Plan your timing carefully.

Although you want to communicate with your audience frequently using the right channel mix, be strategic in your timing. Some companies bombard their audiences so that those audiences begin to tune them out. Pick your channels—and your moments—and make them count.

2. Don't complicate your message.

It's tempting to load up your communications with every bit of information right out of the gate. The risk, however, is that your audience will get overwhelmed and buy nothing at all. Keep it simple. Let your most compelling points come ringing through.

3. Don't go it alone.

Encourage the departments within your company to work together. Whether in marketing, sales, or customer service, break down the silos and lean into each other's experience. Bring in outside perspectives, as well. Ask objective experts. Do focus groups. By all means, ask your customers! Just because your message is clear to you doesn't mean it's clear to everyone else.

4. Remember the call to action (CTA).

Once recipients have read your communication, tell them what you want them to do. Call for more information? Buy a product? Sign up for a seminar? Without a CTA, the communication can get set aside for later, then be lost or forgotten and never acted upon. We mention it because the CTA gets overlooked more often than you think.

5. Don't rush.

When you've got a great idea, it's tempting to want to take it to market quickly. But take your time to get it right.

Before planning your next campaign, pick up the phone and call us. We can often offer suggestions on targeting, mailing formats, coatings, and other critical elements of a mailing that you might not have thought of.