I get a lot of bills in the mail. It’s really a fairly unpleasant ritual, going through my mail pile. I sift through it with great efficiency, looking to separate that which is necessary to keep, that which might be worth keeping, and that which can go right into the recycling bin (I try to do my part for the environment, too).

Those plain little letter sized envelopes with anonymous return addresses from somewhere in the Midwest…I assume they are bills, so they automatically get placed into the “must keep” pile. They all survive the first cut. Guess who knows this…the people who send them. They know I will think it’s a bill, and that’s one reason why they send their information in this way (besides that fact that it’s cheap). At least, that’s what I believe.

Anyway, once I have done my civic duty and placed the unwanted ‘junk’ where it belongs, I look at the stuff that I find interesting (because I really don’t want to ruin my day just yet by looking at the fuel oil bill for my house). I may spend a little time flipping through a cool catalogue, and maybe looking at some kind of coupon offer made by my local purveyor of “whatever”. Eventually, though I get my courage up and begin slicing open my “bills”.

It’s not a painless experience. I want to get it over with as quickly as possible. I make sure to open them all at once, plowing through the envelopes with a letter-opener. Once they are all open, I take them all out of their respective envelopes, put the envelopes in a pile (also meant for the recycle bin), and begin the gruesome task of looking at how well I have lived for the last month, knowing and regretting the fact that I now have to pay the fiddler.

But, wait! As I thumb through the pile, I find (much to my relief) that half of the stuff in my “bill” pile is not bills at all. They are actually marketing offers! I am not only relieved, but excited!! Why am I excited? Because I have fewer bills than I thought (for the moment)! Then, my emotions turn again…this time to disdain. Disdain for these marketers who attempted to trick me into looking at their offers by making me think that their communication was something that I needed to look at…or else! Do you know what I do with these “interlopers”? Not only do I NOT read on to find out what a great offer has come my way, I throw them in the trash! They aren’t even worthy of the time it takes me to bring them to the garage. Trickery is no way to get people to do business with you. Neither is cheapness.

I don’t know about you, but when it comes to receiving mail, I actually appreciate the thought and creativity that people put into their messaging. Not that many companies do it, but for those that do, it creates a positive impression. If nothing more, they have impressed me and I think more highly of them. I may even take the time to read about what they have to say and what they are trying to sell me. Structural Graphics can certainly help those that want to do a better job of enhancing that positive impression, for me and everyone else that they would eventually want to call a customer.