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The Importance Of Variable Data Printing

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Marketing is constantly evolving and direct mail tactics are transforming with the evolution of digital technology. Nowadays, companies use high-quality software to put a personal touch on all mailed pieces. Businesses rely on variable data printing (VDP) technology to help create more engagements and responses from clients and consumers. If you are a business owner, it would be in your best interest to adopt VDP to boost the results of your marketing mailing campaigns.

 

New printing technology can bring a fresh new aspect to your marketing strategy. Take advantage of the top perks and watch your business grow right in front of your eyes. These are some of the ways that VDP software can help your business generate a greater ROI:

Build Attention-Grabbing Mailing List Data Sets:

Increase the response rates from customers and prospects by filtering out any sets of irrelevant data. With VDP technology, you have the ability to build specific mailing lists that pertain to different audiences. This software generates analytics and insights about where people live, their marital status, occupation, and so much more. Variable data printing is one of the best tools for you to utilize when you’re building a strategy for mailing campaigns.

Create Automated Mailing Processes For Multiple Locations:

When you are sending mail to businesses, make sure you send it to the right branch. If you are targeting a company with multiple franchises, it’s important to send your piece to a decision maker at his main office. Variable data printing allows you to print pieces that are most convenient for that targeted recipient. This helps if there are multiple store locations available. With VDP, you have the ability to see which address makes the most sense. You’ll get access to the zip codes and distances

Generate Analytics To Target The Right Market:

With variable data printing support, you have the ability to discover demographic data and consumer interest information. VDP offers sophisticated targeting applications so you can determine which audience is best to send mail to. With VDP software, you’ll always have the metrics you need to get the right reach. Additionally, you can also integrate VDM software to monitor website traffic and digital strategy approaches. Using VDM gives you the ability to detect the interest of your website visitors. If you run a digital advertisement, you can track how many engagements that specific ad generates.

Save Time And Money:

A variable data printing system will help you eliminate the frustration that comes with mass printing. With VDP, you have the ability to print the exact amount of mail pieces that you need. This eliminates waste and duplicate prints. In addition, VDP reduces the amount of time  spent on labeling. VDP systems grant users the ability to print addresses directly onto the mail piece. Just type in the information and when the piece is printed out, you have the advertisement ready to mail.

Create Custom-tailored Mail Pieces

Create custom-tailored mail pieces with VDP software.  Variable data printing systems give you a gallery of fonts, colors, and other custom applications to create an authentic marketing piece. Thanks to these advances in technology, you have the ability to create a piece that makes a direct connection to each client or consumer..

 

Factors for Analyzing a Successful Direct Mail Campaign

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Is your direct mail printing strategy effective enough?

Starting up a direct mail campaign without having specific metrics in place is a recipe for disaster. If you’re not diligent about adhering to a set of predetermined factors to measure yourself by, then you’re already putting yourself at a disadvantage; how can you ever hope to understand whether or not it’s successful if you don’t even have a method to measure that success?

An effective campaign relies on heavily backed data to emphasize what went well or highlight where it fell short. Without that in-depth analysis, it’s impossible to make the proper adjustments for your next direct mail advertising campaign. So, what factors do you need to be looking at? We’ve outlined a helpful guide below so that you know exactly what you need to do to make sure your mail ends up in the right hands.

  • Results: Sure, this one might seem like it should go without saying. But you’d be surprised at how frequently there’s a disconnect between what you’re offering and whether or not potential customers take the bait. If your mailing list isn’t generating results, then it’s time to think critically about why: Was there interest with no purchase? Where specifically did your numbers fall short? See what about your process turned customers off, and what about that specific part made them wary of moving forward.
  • The Offer: Is this the second, third, or maybe even fourth time that you’ve tested this offer? If so, think about what offer you’re putting out there, and how its message might be compromised by myriad factors. Make sure what you’re trying to say is coming across loud and clear; if clarity isn’t the issue, make sure that the message aligns more closely with what your audience is looking for.
  • Audience: Direct mail services live and die based on the people they reach. Make sure that the audience that you’ve identified is one that you’re trying to bring in, and that they’ve been identified because they’re the best candidates for what you have to offer.
  • Size: Direct mail postcards might vary in size, but that doesn’t mean you have to go gonzo and pick a size and look that’s obnoxiously large. You want your message to stand out, but you don’t want to be intrusive. If you’ve used a similarly-sized piece of mail before and it’s been successful, stick to playing the hits; if not, it’s time to make a change.
  • Design: Design is more than the simple placement of colors or images; you need to select specific color-schemes and on-brand images that get your message across effectively. Make sure that the layout is in keeping with what you’re trying to say to your audience.
  • Copy: Now that you’ve got their attention with an eye-catching design, make sure your copy backs up the message in a conducive way. Make sure that your font is eye-catching—highlight or bold the most important words and stay away from confusing language.
  • Timing: When it comes to engaging customers, timing is everything. Mailboxes are more cluttered than ever around election time, so try and avoid that season for revving up your direct mail campaign.

For small businesses and large corporations alike, high-quality marketing campaigns are a critical component. They require less resources than a costly digital campaign; delivered right to your door, direct mail business cards, free samples, and engaging written content are a great way to drum up interest in what you have to offer. As long as you’re committed to quality printing for your postcard design and strategically map out when you need to kick things into high gear, you should be in good shape.

Tips for a Successful Holiday Direct Mail Campaign

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Even with all the social media marketing and internet advertising, there is still no substitute for a smart, targeted, and well-designed direct mailing campaign. Direct mail is appropriate for any size business and are a great way to get your message in front of a targeted, motivated audience.  But it takes proper planning, the right target, and a great design to get noticed. Before you start to plan your campaign, here are some tips to help your holiday mailer on the right track.

Make sure you have the right target – How you go about choosing the right target is the most important part of your campaign. The greatest design in the world is meaningless in front of the wrong target. It’s pointless to send a postcard about roofing repair to an apartment complex, right? If you don’t have a working prospect list, you’ll have to find one that uses the right target criteria.

Make sure your mailer looks great – If your mailer looks dated and is poorly designed, it can do more damage than good. In fact, people will connect poor design to poor service. A better way is to design something memorable that shows your company as a vibrant, competent provider of a service or product. The content should be clear and free of typos, poor grammar, or misleading claims. The look should be colorful with pictures and easy-to-understand graphics. Your mailer should stand out, be relevant, and be useful.  This is an important way your piece will avoid being considered “junk mail.”

Use different sizes and colors – Larger and differently shaped mailers helps your piece stand out from the rest and gives you more room to add content which is more useful than standard postcards, or letter sizes. Color is an important factor to making your mailing piece stand out from the rest. Bright, vibrant hues of green and yellows are great ways to do this.

Anticipate a realistic response – If you send out 2,500 mailers you shouldn’t expect to close hundreds of new deals.  In fact, the response rate for a direct mailing campaign is between 6 and 3%. This figure should be used when trying to determine what kind of success you need to have in order for your campaign to be profitable.

Look at the competition – Remember that other companies are sending out mailers too and even if they aren’t direct competitors, you should get an idea about how they approach their mailer pieces. The best place to start is your own mailbox. Take a look at pieces that catch your eye and use those aspects for your next piece. Imitation is the best form of flattery after all.

Use QR codes – these make it very easy for a customer to scan and head to whatever online resource you want to send them to. This could be your homepage, a blog about your product offering for the holiday season, or a specific product listing on your site.

Track the response – Make it easy for you customers to contact you, but also remember to make it easy to track how they got to you. This will help you gauge the profitability of this campaign and give you feedback that will allow you to improve later campaigns.

Plan ahead – The best time to get your marketing materials in front of a customer is the week before Black Friday. Black Fridays are planned ahead of time nowadays as shoppers want to maximize their bargains and with your mailer in hand they can add your store to the list.

Presort can not only print and get your mailer distributed, we can assist you with the marketing research needed to find the most potential customers and make your campaign a success.  Call us today!

 

Direct Mail Digital Technologies

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Intertwined Marketing Campaigns = Increased Audience Engagement

In an era where marketing is more dependent on technology than ever before, it’s hard to fathom that direct mail marketing is something you need to get involved in. Sure, tech-heavy campaigns can offer a lot that traditional printing can’t, but that doesn’t mean that they should be ruled out entirely. There are myriad benefits to diversifying the mediums you advertise on; the more you expand your audience, the more likely you are to attract more customers. Plus, there are exciting, proven ways to cohesively tie in your digital marketing with your direct mail campaign. We’ve highlighted some of the most effective ways you can incorporate technology into your next mail campaign to create engaging content that generates tangible results.

Augmented Reality

With an interactive interface that overlays digital elements on a mailer’s physical service, Augmented Reality (AR) brings further context, movement, and tangible connection to your piece. Able to be activated through a consumer’s smartphone, camera, or tablet, AR brings sights, sounds, and scenery that that’s seemingly far away that much closer.

Video-In-Print

First impressions are important than ever—with so much content available across multiple mediums, you need to make sure that your brand stands out. An in-print video gives your customers a chance to watch your advertisement play out so that they can explore more about your brand while remaining engaged with on-message marketing.

Redesigned QR Codes

Quick Response (QR) codes give your customers an opportunity to explore an online store, product video, or live stream tangible content. They’re an optimal medium to get as much information to the customer as possible without overwhelming them. QR codes can work in tandem to help customers instantly purchase specific products or look up other things you have to offer.

Buy Now Technology

Social media is more than just for browsing when you’re bored (even though there’s still plenty of that); it’s officially transitioned to a more buying-intensive experience, implementing scanning technology for digitally-enabled mail can drive new customers to your social media platforms, and vice-versa.

Near Field Communication (NFC)

NFC allows recipients to instantaneously engage with your digital content without having to download a cumbersome app or open a new tab. A microchip embedded in your mail piece emits short-range radio waves that communicate with mobile phones to activate an engaging digital experience. You can offer your customers unprecedented access like never before, all by just installing a user-friendly piece of technology.

A marketing campaign’s success is contingent on how effectively grounded it is across several mediums. If you have multiple unique options that all interact with each other, you increase the chances of reaching your target market. Don’t limit yourself to solely print marketing or adhering closely to an email list; a combination between digital and print direct mail is the best way to have your voice be heard at the level you want it to be.

 

Postcard Printing

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Make your mark with postcard printing.

You might normally associate a postcard with a faraway place that your parents went to once, but they can be a whole lot more than that with the right marketing strategy. Postcard printing and mailing services can be a huge boon for your company if done effectively—their high readability, cost-effective price, and high-quality, full-color design combine to make them a potent marketing tool in the right hands.

You might be hearing more and more noise recently about going digital. Pouring all of your resources into digital marketing isn’t necessarily a bad move, given how effective that’s proven to be for so many businesses. But if you do have room in your budget to diversify your options, it’s a no-brainer—more advertising platforms are better than less and spreading the word about what you have to offer across multiple mediums ensures that you gain traction in areas that otherwise might go untapped. We’ve highlighted some of the most pertinent benefits of printing custom postcards for your business so that you can effectively reach more potential customers than ever before.

  • They’re cost-effective: When it comes to deciding what marketing strategy you want to roll out for your business, the cost is an enormous factor. You must analyze which marketing strategy is going to yield the best results for the lowest price; as we mentioned above, diversifying your options is always a healthy decision if you’re looking to veer away from putting all of your eggs in one basket.
  • They’re measurable: Unlike convoluted, sprawling marketing campaigns, postcards offer a direct reflection on how effective your product is at reaching customers. You know how many you sent out, and you know how many inquiries or sales it generated. They’re perfect for test marketing—you can send out a small sample size and see what kind of response you get.
  • They’re versatile: Postcard printing services can be fine-tuned to meet your specific needs. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution—whatever you envision for your brand, whether it’s a specific font, color scheme, or image, printing postcards is one of the best ways to get that message across in a unique way.
  • They’re efficient: As soon as your audience receives your postcard, they receive the message—no opening tricky envelopes, no strings attached. Delivered right to your door, direct mail postcard campaigns are an effective way to get your information in the right hands without coming across convoluted.
  • They’re easy to produce: No more languishing around, waiting for your marketing campaign to finally roll out. Postcard printing gives you the opportunity to hit the ground running and get your message out quickly and effectively.
  • They’re ideal for targeted marketing: Not seeing the results that you anticipated with your advertising? It might be an issue with who your mail is being sent to. Targeted marketing is easier than ever with postcard printing. Make sure that your information falls in the right hands.

 

Why Direct Mail is the Ultimate Form of Marketing

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Marketing has come a long way in the last 30 years. The internet has invented all kinds of new ways to put your product or service in front of consumers. But even with these flashy new marketing tools there has always been one way to get your product noticed, direct mail.

What is direct mail?

Advertising through the mail is as old as the postal service itself. It involves creating physical promotional material and sending it to prospective customers to drive business and increase awareness for your product or service. This form of marketing can be in the form of postcards, brochures, letters, flyers, newsletters, catalogs, coupon envelopes, and packages, is indirectly unsolicited through the use of mailing lists which leads to it sometimes being referred to as “junk mail.” But its versatility and its ability to sell has remained strong.

What is so great about direct mail services?

It is the perfect substitute for an actual sales person – In fact it may be even better. A good seller will go to a prospect, educate the prospect about your product, show them the benefits answer questions, and actively close the sale. But the physical presence of a salesperson, goading the prospect for the sale, presenting a sometimes heavy and sometimes misguided pitch, may turn a prospect off. Some consumers want the information, but they could do without the pressure. This is where direct mail can work as a salesperson. It presents the information, even gives the customer something they can show to friends and relatives and puts the decision to buy in their hands. Let them come to you because one they have decided they have interest, it is easy to close.

The look of your materials will say a lot about your product – Consumers will equate a slick, well designed direct mail piece to your company as a competent business, and your product as the best at what it does. Your marketing piece represents who and what your business is about so if you are offering a high-quality, professional service, your mailing needs to reflect that.

People love getting mail – And by sending them a direct marketing piece, you can be reasonably sure that the piece will reach its audience as opposed to an email that is either ignored, automatically sorted to junk mail, or immediately deleted.

With direct mail, you are bringing your message to its exact audience – Think of it as using a pencil to draw a picture instead of a can of spray paint. Your mailing lists can be one that you have cultivated yourself from former customers or one that you buy from a source that has tailored it to the exact audience you want.

It isn’t as expensive as you might think – Here is where Presort can help. If you are interested in a direct mailing campaign, we will help you make it a reality. Call us today and speak to our marketing experts about how you want your product presented, what other marketing your business uses, and your goals for your direct mailing campaign. We can design a campaign that will help you accomplish them.

6 Reasons Why Inventory Management is Important

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Businesses keep inventory on hand for a variety of reasons, perhaps it is needed to quickly fill special orders, or respond to an unanticipated demand, or maybe to supply spare parts quickly. Whatever the reason, your inventory management systems are vital to responding to these market demands quickly and efficiently. If you find your inventory methods are lacking, here are some reasons why it is important.

Increase employee efficiency – It is 5pm on a Friday and a customer calls for a replacement part. They are willing to pay more to expedite it, but it needs to be there Saturday afternoon at the latest. How does your business respond? Without an organized inventory process your business will find it difficult to respond to opportunities on these and profit from them. Your employees will spend the majority of their time digging through files and spreadsheets to make sure the product is available and in stock. Getting it there isn’t the issue, knowing you have it to send, is.

You will be able to close out more sales – If you are not sure exactly what is in stock and at what quantity, an employee can tell a customer that an item is out of stock when in fact it is available. A customer can be sent to a wrong store that should have an item, but your system isn’t capable of answering those kinds of questions.

You will be able to deliver on time – When your customer orders something and is told their products will arrive between a wide range of dates, it shows your company is not organized enough to fulfill a simple aspect of selling goods. This isn’t just poor customer service, it is bad business. Instead, a proper inventory management system will give you the ability to not only pinpoint a date for delivery but gives you the means to hit that target.

It is clear where your inventory is – It may seem like good customer service when one of your locations is out of an item and calls another to see if it is in stock there. On the surface this appears to be going the extra mile to help a customer, but the real issue is your system doesn’t allow them to know for certain that the item is there. A good inventory system will allow them to see this in real time and respond accordingly.

You will be able to order the correct amounts from vendors – Reorder points can be sent with ease when you have a solid inventory management system. This reduces cost when you are ordering things unnecessarily either through not knowing how much you have, or not ordering enough.

No need to duplicate purchase orders – A sophisticated inventory management system will either generate purchase orders automatically when your inventory levels hit a reorder point or allow you to create one from drop down menus which lowers the potential for errors.

Even small businesses that keep a minimal inventory on hand would benefit from even the most basic of inventory management systems.  Presort can help you find the right software and implement the right procedures to make sure that this aspect of your business is a strength and not a weakness.

Why Direct Mail Matters for Your Political Campaign

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Direct Mail Political Campaigns Are More Effective Than You Think!

Political ads—you see them all the time, good or bad. This candidate hates puppies; how can they possibly be trusted to run our great state? Or, since they announced their candidacy for Governor, over five people have said that they’ve personally witnessed him pick his nose in public!!! Is this someone you want making decisions for your taxes?  It’s easy to think that this is the only way a political campaign is won (or lost—who would vote for someone who hates puppies?), but a lot of elections come down to more than just commercials. After all, buying up ad space on TV can cost a fortune, and a lot of candidates don’t have room in their budget for just one type of campaign.

That’s where political mailing lists can be a huge boon for your campaign—instead of a big, fancy (and mean) ad, pivot to a medium that’s plenty reliable and only costs a fraction of the price. We’ve outlined some of the key benefits of a direct mail campaign, and what steps you need to take to make sure that your targeted audience reads and listens to what you have to say.

Effective, cost-controlled marketing

When you’re deciding which direction to go in for your political campaign, your budget is undoubtedly one of the most important things that you need to consider. Why waste all your money on one medium, when you can diversify your options while still reaching your target audience? Direct mail is a cost-effective method of reaching the people you want to reach. Compiling a mailing list is relatively easy—you can choose voters that are active participants in local politics (you can see how many elections they’ve voted in recently), which party they vote for, what precinct they voted in, and where they’re registered to vote.

How to avoid the garbage can with your mail

Now that you’ve determined who you want to target with your mail campaign, how do you make sure they don’t immediately toss it away, never to be read again? While some voters that take a little more time to read what you have to say, the vast majority of recipients will barely skim your mail before throwing it away almost immediately. There’s not much that you can do to change what people do with their mail (some people would rather not receive mail at all), but you can certainly change the content of your letter to get your message across more effectively. You want to let your voters know why you’re running for office in as little time as possible—delivering a message that is too granular, issue-specific, you risk accelerating your trip to the trash can. Two key parts of a direct mail campaign are:

  • Raising name awareness
  • Highlighting your message/emphasizing negatives about your opponent

If there’s one thing you want the reader to see, it’s your name. Soon, they might be asked, “are you voting in the local election?” They may not have the best idea yet, but at the very least they’ll know your name. If there’s another thing that you want them to see, it’s what you do well, or what your opponent doesn’t do well. As long as you’re effective in your brand positioning, you’ll be able to reach the audience you want with minimal hassle.

 

Millennials and Direct Mailing

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The internet is an indispensable part of everyday life for nearly everyone. Some more so than others, as millennials are spending a lot of time online, reading blogs, browsing social media, reading email. The internet provides everything that used to be done by leaving the house. If you had a question about a topic you went to the library and looked it up. Entire networks were based around buying but you still had to leave the house to do most of your shopping. And when it comes to letters and postcards, do millennials read their snail mail, or even know it exists? Why would a generation used to instant gratification have any patience for direct mail marketing?

The fact is that direct mail is an extremely effective tool for reaching consumers of any age or demographic, including young people. Millennials respond well to direct marketing and here is why.

They respond well to targeted advertising – Just as Google uses your browsing history to prompt advertising, so does direct mail, albeit in physical form. The same online methods used to gather consumer data that allows brands to target individual consumers with accuracy can be used to great effect with direct mailing campaigns. Instead of sending mass postcards, marketers can clearly define an audience and tailor the message to them.

There is no substitute for physical marketing materials – Rather than being gradually replaced by online advertising, postcards and brochures are integrated with online materials creating a combined experience into a unified brand. All a postcard needs to direct an interested millennial to more information, or an online order form, is a QR code and a spare minute.

Individuals that grew up in the digital world still read the mail – Even mailings that are considered “junk mail” are still read and sorted by millennials on a daily basis. And the response rate for millennials to direct mailing campaigns is equal to or in some cases greater than older generations.

Direct mail gives you the opportunity to show off your brand – You can be authentic in direct mailing offerings.  Since you control the entire message, how it is presented, and most importantly, who gets it, you can use the opportunity to show a strong, cohesive brand identity which is something that appeals to millennials. When you treat your customer as a human being, create a sense of connection with the individual consumer, and humanize your brand, you are appealing to this new demographic regardless of how long your brand has been around.

Millennials don’t ignore snail mail because it is old, they do so because it is irrelevant to them. Your marketing can be tailored specifically to this demographic and with precise market research and a fantastic and eye-catching design, your direct mailing campaign can indeed reach millennials. Call Presort today. We know how to design a campaign that will help you achieve these goals.

How to Use Variable Data to Improve Direct Mail Response

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Variable data is a powerful tool for brands who are trying to send a targeted message to their customers. Variable printing is another term for personalized printing. It allows for the personalization of direct mail without slowing down the production process.

Digital print tactics are so effective yet so underutilized. The ability to target customers and still get a print job done quickly is beneficial for sending a marketing message via direct mail. Here are six ways that you can improve direct mail response by incorporating variable data into your printing for marketing materials.

Localized Marketing

The point of a targeted piece of mail is typically to make a sale. This is easier to do if you provide location-specific information to your customer. Ways that you could do this include:

  • Provide a URL or QR code to a specific webpage that’s custom to that recipient’s city
  • Include a coupon that’s only valid at that customer’s closest location
  • Talk about a particular event or sale going on at the store in that customer’s town

Whatever location-specific information you decide to include is entirely up to you. It’s variable and can be changed for each piece of mail, get creative!

Personalization

Personalization is a very effective method of variable data printing (VDP) to create actionable conversations with your members and show that you are invested in their participation. Personalization can range from very small and simple to something very unique. With variable data, the possibilities are endless.

Examples of personalization in direct mail used variable data include:
  • Addressing the customer by name instead of saying “Dear Member”
  • If a customer recently moved to a new address, mentioning this in the mail piece
  • Tailoring each mail piece to the preferences or interests of your customers through changes in font size, background color, images, altering the content, etc.
  • Sending a customized message to customers based on demographics or behavioral attributes (past purchases, recent purchases, etc.)
  • Special offers for frequent or long-time customers

And the customization doesn’t stop there. Variable data allows companies to get very creative with their marketing campaigns. Instead of having thousands of completely identical brochures, pamphlets, pieces of mail, etc., marketers can use variable data printing to create customized mail pieces in the same amount of time.

High-Quality Digital Printing Services in St. Louis, MO

Variable data printing can help your customers feel more valued, and therefore, they will be more inclined to make a purchase. If you are looking to personalize your marketing materials, our printing services at Presort can help. For professional digital printing services and customization through variable data, contact Presort.