Effective Design and layout for Fax Marketing

Fax Marketing often gets described as a simple medium given its rather constrained design opportunities. That said, within these guidelines, there are a number of things to be aware of. Adestra's Jim Ellis explains more:

Fax marketing is a unique medium. Printed by recipient's fax machines in black and white, the trick is ensuring that your fax promotion reads clearly, conveys your message effectively and generates a response. In our experience of managing well over 3000 fax campaigns, there are some key rules that any marketer should be wary on when designing their next campaign:

Addressing your intended recipient of your fax promotion

Personalisations and title slugs

Use a personalisation if possible so that your fax broadcsst is delivered to your intended recipient. If you don’t have a contact name, many Adestra client address them to a job title (we call this title slugging). Not addressing your fax to anyone, means that the first person who sees it will deal with it- this increases the chance of the fax being binned before getting to the correct person.

Think about it- how often would you mail a prospect with a direct mail pack without addressing it to the appropriate contact?

Don't go overboard

Mail merging in many fields about a recipient (e.g. mailing details) can often be overkill. Not only does the recipient already know who they are, but it takes up valuable space on your fax message, which could be used for more promotional messages.

Imagery

Nothing conveys a complicated message as effectively as an image. From corporate branding through to product illustrations, a good use of imagery can make a fax look interesting and spread out promotional text.

However, images can also distort so avoid using ones with:

• Complicated gradients and shading: they'll be reproduced as a block of colour
• Large images using lots of dark colours: they'll drain the recipient's ink cartridge, something they will not thank you for!
• Fine detail: when they are printed you will lose all the detail
• Permission: you are not breaking any copyrights by using the images!

Lay-out

Following on from direct mail, the key is ensuring the lay-out is clear and well spaced to ensure it is easily 'scanned' (when a recipient glances of your fax marketing message). One thought may be to use boxes to make key USPs (unique selling points) stand out using bullet points and numbered lists. Try and make the first paragraph less text heavy and more punchy as this is the main thing your reader will browse before scanning the rest of your copy.

If you have a key selling point or offer, use a PS (post script) to emphasise

Text

Use a font which is easy read once printed. We recommend that you do not use Times/Time New Roman as it is a ‘curly’ font, instead using a more crisp font like Arial. These fonts reproduce clearer on the recipient’s fax machine. Make sure your Font size is set to no less than 8 as when printed, anything smaller is extremely hard to read

Call to action forms

If you are using a reply vehicle, remember to include a tracking code (perhaps a reference: Adestra_fax1). Make the form large and easy to complete- once it has been faxed back to you, if it is closely packed together you'll struggle to read their reply- bad news if it is credit card details!

As a rule of thumb, Adestra recommend using a separate page for your entire reply vehicle. You can also pre-fill these forms to make it easier to complete for the recipient.

Test your fax marketing messages

There is no replacement for experience in discovering best practice design and lay-out. I recommend all clients do a trial fax to themselves to see how the design will look.

Consult a fax marketing expert

It is also worth noting that every Fax which is broadcast through Adestra is checked by an in house fax specialist who will provide you with feedback and suggestions on how to improve your designs.

Adestra's fax marketing tools

Many marketing professionals are using Adestra’s fax broadcast capabilities to reach conference attendees, report buyers, theatre attendees and more. Working with our in house fax marketing specialist, your campaign receives the benefit of an expert eye optimising your creative. For more information, please contact us

Free fax marketing white paper

Based upon Adestra's unrivalled experience of broadcasting over 3,000 fax campaigns for an extensive and diverse B2B and B2C client list, this white paper includes:

• An overview of fax marketing
• Case studies of uses of fax marketing
• Best practice techniques to optimise your campaigns

To receive a free copy of this white paper, please contact us and state Fax Marketing Whitepaper within the Further Information section.