Print Buying Direct

Transactional and Direct Mail – Part 3 – 19th March 2009

Threatening behaviour
Probably the biggest threat to today’s printed transactional, transpromo, and direct mail documents is the internet. But, according to research from the Royal Mail, ‘advertisers that combine direct mail with internet search activity are more successful at bringing their brands to life,’ with some 58% of people saying they were more likely to click on a link if they had already received something in the post. In addition, some 49% also felt brochures or catalogues received through their letterbox help make brands that advertise on TV seem ‘more real’.

The research also revealed that 28% of people feel ‘valued’ by a brand that contacts them through the post.
Overall, 33% of consumers found mail to be better than search engine marketing at engaging their attention.
The internet is a growing entity, it is powerful and strong, but it still has a weak underbelly. Although things are gradually getting better, there are always security issues with online interaction. No matter how secure a site may seem, there are always those who manage to break through the walls of security and get at your personal documents- and it has to be an easier, less messy and altogether more pleasant, way of getting information to commit identity theft than to rifle through somebody’s rubbish and waste bins! This security issue can be off-putting who manage accounts online, or who buy through suspected unsecured networks.

In the early days of the internet, it was forecast that e-commerce websites would revolutionise the world, and whilst the trend to buy online has risen dramatically there are only a handful of ‘true’ e-commerce website such as Amazon and eBay rather most companies, such as supermarkets, have used it very successfully as an additional route to market rather than a specific marketing tool. According to DMIS, ‘Only 8% have fully integrated the web with their marketing, while nearly one in five still run it as a standalone function. This is preventing websites from performing direct marketing functions. Although 77% of companies always include their URL in campaigns, only 22% routinely use it as a response channel. While nearly half fund their site from the general marketing budget, only 7% have reduced their use of direct mail by substituting web based marketing’.

And, it is fair to say, that many people still don’t automatically go online to shop or to find out about products, although this will change over the next 20 or so years. In fact, according to the DMIS organisation ‘Direct Mail is most widely used medium to generate website traffic. Over one quarter commonly use their site as a response mechanism. For mail shots. More than four in ten expect their direct mail use to rise in the next few years, principally as a result of more integrated marketing’. Very good news indeed for the print industry!

Another huge issue that is threatening this market is the environment. The waste of paper for documents received that are unwanted and simply thrown away is a concern. As stated before, going the transpromo way will help in some ways to mitigate this argument by neatly wrapping together the two elements statement and promotional message.

With around 4% of the UK’s total paper use derived from direct mail production, it is easy to see that this is an open target market sector for the green brigade to hit.

Some 2% of household waste is accounted for by direct mail, which is equivalent to about a third of a Sunday newspaper. But according to the Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI) 95% of paper used in direct mail comes from recycled or managed (sustainable) sources.

Spearheaded by the DMA, PAS 2020 is a voluntary environmental code of practise for the direct marketing industry, which aims to help companies working in this industry to improve their environmental stance and to comply with environmental legislation for the sector which will be coming into force in 2010 (the provisions of the EU Landfill Directive will come into effect in 2010, through which greater volumes of rubbish will have to be recycled; local authorities will also pay a cost- the arte for spending waste to landfill will double from today’s rates, and they will have to pay an additional £150 for every tonne of rubbish sent to landfill that is over their allowance).

One of the lines of advice that the DMA is giving to members is to make marketing more targeted rather then sending blanket mailings- saving on waste and thereby cutting raw materials.

Importantly, although the form that transactional and direct mail documents may take in the future may change, there has been a definite rise in response rates and conversations. Much of this is being driven by the benefits of digital print. This is a great opportunity for digital print companies, who can offer shorter runs of personalised documents that really answer the need of this market. The technology today has come to a point where transpromo documents are set to take off.

See Part 1 & Part 2

See some of of useful recent blog articles

• The Top Questions Creative Agencies and Print Buyers Ask of Potential Print Providers

• Marketing Postcards – 4000 only £259

• Award Winning Graphic Design – From Print Buying Direct

• 10 Tips for Creatives in a Digital World

• New Website – specialising in School Prospectus Design & Print

• Improving Your Response Rate to Leaflets, Flyers and Brochures

• Transactional and Variable data printing

Print Buying Direct is one of the Uk’s leading suppliers of graphic design and print, based in the Crewe and Nantwich area of Cheshire (UK) but supplying all of the UK & Ireland. See our websites for more information on graphic design, brochures, business cards, appointment cards, leaflets, flyers, pamphlets, posters etc

Print Buying Direct is a trading name of The Printing House Ltd. This brand was originally set up to protect the quality name of The Printing House of Crewe and Nantwich, Cheshire, Uk – recognised throught the North of England as a quality printers. Now Print Buying Direct has established itself over the last two years and has become a quality brand in its own right with very competitive prices nationally. Take a look at both websites and learn more about us.

Please feel free to browse our print buying website and use it as a useful tool – we are adding new pages and offers every week. So keep popping back, subscribe to our printing blog, email info@printbuyingdirect.co.uk or call call 0870 950 8444.

For more information please see our websites – especially our Printing Glossary – Printing A to Z – this makes a really useful guide for designers, printers, print buyers, college students etc.

Don’t forget The Printing House also specialise in Printing for Schools, especially School Prospectus, Secondary School Prospectus, College Prospectus, Primary School Prospectus & Sixth Form Prospectus. We have a vast range of experience design and print of primary, secondary, 6th form, college and universtity prospectus. Visit our School Prospectus Made Easy website to see examples of our work and more about our products. Our customer testimonials webpage is constantly being added to – please stop by and see our reviews.

Eight Easy Ways to Improve Digital Print Sales to Creative and Design Agencies – 11th February 2009

Print Services Providers (Printers) Can Help Design Agencies Improve Business Results for their Clients with Fast-Growing Digital Colour Printing.

The greatest opportunity for printers to grow print volume today is with digital colour printing and a new study finds that creative agencies play a critical role in that growth.

Looking specifically at digital printing. Over the next five years, digital printing is projected to grow 11 percent annually, while the U.S. printing industry as a whole will grow by only 1.5 percent, according to market research from CAP Ventures. The firm further projects that the total revenue generated worldwide with digital colour printers and presses producing 41 pages per minute or more will grow by 26 percent annually.

Creative advertising and design agencies will specify many of these jobs. A recent survey of 250 agencies by the Printing Industry Center at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) found that 83 percent were involved in media buying decisions, accounting for an average purchase of $1.5 million annually and a median of $400,000. And 89 percent say they play either the primary role or a collaborative role with the client in campaign development and direction. According to Victor Basile, senior vice president/director of Print Graphic Services, Publicis N.Y., and chair, Print Management Committee, American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As), Agencies today seek to offer integrated services that tap into all the resources in their network at speeds that weren’t possible a few years ago. Digital printing provides the fast turnarounds that keep pace with these programs. The quality is really good, and it can only get better. If you’re not looking at digital printing today, you should be. Digital colour printing’s economical short runs and personalization capabilities can also improve the targeting, response rates and overall effectiveness of such integrated communications programs. Print services providers who can support these programs and help agencies use new media to better track with their clients’ goals will have an advantage in landing agency business.

Following are eight tips for print providers seeking to sell digital colour printing to creative design professionals.

1. Target agencies with business-to-business clients.
Agencies that support businesses communicating to consumers generally focus on building brand awareness through mass media, such as television and radio. In contrast, business-to-business (B-to-B) agencies tend to have more limited budgets and narrower targets that they reach through trade magazines, direct mail (leaflets, flyers, postcards) and sales collateral (brochures). Digital-colour printing delivers the highly targeted, cost-effective print that makes these programs thrive. One additional point: B-to-B firms tend to have smaller marketing departments than business-to-consumer (BtoC) outfits, so they rely more on the agency for everything from marketing strategy to media and print services provider selection.

2. At the agency, target the production manager.
According to the RIT survey, the production manager is the most common agency contact to the print community. In numerous agencies, the production manager also plays a role in educating the creative department on new technology options (for example variable data printing), making that person both a sales target and a marketing partner, who can help the print provider sell its services to the agency’s creatives.

3. Demonstrate the image quality.
Designers are unforgiving judges of image quality, yet many may be working with dated references for toner-based print, which has only recently become an effective substitute for offset in most applications (even Annual Reports, Parish Plans and Brochures). Bring designers up to date and set correct expectations with a sample book that shows offset and digital prints of the same text and image files. Consider enabling designers to submit test files via the Web to receive a free digital print sample of their design.

4. More advanced technical infrastructure supports stronger partnerships.
Supporting a sophisticated integrated marketing campaign typically requires a set of advanced capabilities that can include variable information colour printing, Web systems programming and design, telemarketing, fulfillment and other services. Some print providers develop these capabilities, others partner for some or all. Most count digital colour printing among their base core competencies, and most find that broader infrastructure support strengthens partnerships with agencies.

5. Demonstrate effective return on marketing investment.
For the best results, print providers should link their service offerings to the agency’s media selection criteria: reaching target markets, cost and budget considerations, and marketing strategy implementation. In other words, print providers need to demonstrate that digital color is the most cost effective alternative for successfully reaching target markets. The pitch is most effective when backed by examples showing a significant return on the marketing investment.

6. Quality and dependability are more critical than price.
That’s right: price is not the agency’s key factor in print vendor selection. The RIT survey found that pressure on the agency to meet deadlines and deliver quality led respondents to select dependability as the top factor in selecting print services providers. Quality was second, followed by turnaround time and ease of doing business. Price ranked fifth.

7. Help creatives design for digital.
Print service providers can help creative designers improve their printed work by providing guidebooks and seminars on designing for digital. Many print providers and industry associations publish materials and can provide assistance to help in this effort. In addition, color variable information printing introduces new design challenges, such as accounting for all the possible image and text variations in a piece. That requires close collaboration with variable information programmers, relationships that print providers would do well to foster.

8. Measure the results.
Print services providers should ensure that a measurement system is in place for programs they run, and the best measurements use ‘boardroom terminology.’ For example, one creative group in the study was able to show that every dollar spent on marketing communications in one campaign resulted in $6,000 in revenue. Such measurements increase the likelihood that the agency and its clients will buy into future programs, and they are useful as a sales tool for prospects and for fine-tuning programs to optimize results. The RIT study found that a change in sales was the most frequent measurement (29 percent), followed by the number of sales leads (24 percent), the response rate for a direct mail piece (ie postcard or leaflet) (23 percent) and return on investment (six percent).

Most measurement programs were conducted by clients (37 percent), though client-agency partnerships were nearly as frequent (34 percent) and agencies sometimes took on the task alone (22 percent).

Help Lead the Transformation
More than ever before, marketing executives are looking for more efficient ways to communicate and share business information. Many are finding these efficiencies in integrated communications that mix old and new media to deliver improved business results. Digital printing technology plays a critical role in this more efficient media mix, while also offering printers their best opportunity for revenue and business growth. Print services providers who help lead this transformation by building strategic partnerships with creative agencies around integrated communications opportunities will be well positioned to capture this growth.

For more information please see our websites

The Printing House

Print Buying Direct (Print Buying Direct is a brand of The Printing House Ltd, Crewe, Cheshire, UK)