With the help of the U.S. Postal Service,^® Lea Redmond’s tiny mass mailings have helped marketers get their message out in a big way.

Leafcutter Designs, home of the World’s Smallest Post Service, uses a miniature format to send uniquely designed pieces of direct mail, product promotions, wedding invitations and just about anything else someone sees fit to print — in a teeny, tiny format.

Redmond’s tiny letters are one inch wide and her miniature packages are two inches wide. The notices are delivered by the Postal Service™ in larger envelopes that include magnifying glasses, so reading the notices are no problem for any of their recipients. She notes she can fit up to 1,000 characters on a piece of paper that is 1 X 1½ inches.

“There is just something delightful and fun when you play with scale like this,” explains Redmond. “You definitely get people’s attention.”

The design of the mailings is customized to fit the needs of her customers, which range from individuals to multinational companies.

Roy Goodart — senior vice president of marketing for Aplifi, a firm that helps organizations simplify the selling of insurance through web-based applications and policy delivery and agency management systems — says Redmond’s tiny mailings helped generate a significant response. Miniature packages that looked like insurance policies were sent out to drive customers to his company’s website.

“It looked pretty cool,” he says. “It was very interactive. You had to use the magnifying glass to read it, but it drove people to open it and that’s what you want in a direct mailing.”

Goodart says the mailings resulted in nearly 9 percent of the recipients calling for a demonstration, and he adds there was a 30-percent hit increase on his website.

“That’s big for us,” he notes. “In the past, the direct market response has been generally 5 percent.”

Companies have also utilized Leafcutter’s tiny post office to say thank-you and maintain relevance in the minds of consumers. One of those clients was the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which hired Redmond to send out 400 donor thank-you notes in honor of its 75^th anniversary.

Another project Redmond is particularly proud of involved sending one-inch wedding invitations that were in tiny blue- and red-striped airmail envelopes. Inside, the recipients found a miniature invitation with a hand-drawn typewriter on the front and a tiny folded map of the wedding’s location.

Redmond says her heart-themed invitations and save-the-date announcements are popular. She describes them as “simple and sweet.” The mailers also feature a heart wax seal.

Redmond says she’s been creating things since she was a child and notes “the miniature idea came when this image of an itty bitty letter just popped into my head and I sent it to a friend, who loved it.”

She is quick to credit the Postal Service for her success.

“People really like things to be sent in the mail,” Redmond says. “You can feel it and hold it in your hand. It comes across as more meaningful than something sent electronically. This is a labor of love for me and it’s really my delight to make these magical little mailings.”