I receive a lot of direct mail pieces on a daily basis and one of the things I like to do as my typical “junk mail” piles up is pull helpful advertising ideas from what other successful companies are doing.

Luckily this week I received a piece of mail I could use as one of my newest advertising ideas and it happens to be from Google.

As you can see on the outside, Google gave me a $100 credit to try out their AdWords.  I am definitely going to pull a few advertising ideas from this envelope , but the most important out of all the advertising ideas is:

1. That Google showed me the “gift card” through the front of the envelope

If you are sending any of your clients, prospects, etc. a direct mail piece with a gift card or trial offer, make sure they know about it without having to open the envelope or else it could wind up in the trash or recycling bin with the rest of their unread “junk mail.”

It’s always helpful to get advertising ideas from successful companies so make sure not only to sign up for their email lists, but to get on the direct mail lists so you can pull great advertising ideas like the one above for your campaigns!