February 17, 2012
Fundraising is the lifeblood of any non-profit organization and one of the most important streams of income for a non-profit is through direct mail. In today’s economy, you need to do everything you can to get the most from your direct mail fundraising campaign.
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February 9, 2012
Don’t let the move to online marketing fool you – creative direct mail is still a big moneymaker. But the key to getting the results you want is to create an envelope that people want to open.
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February 2, 2012
Catching a prospect’s eye can be a real challenge when it comes to direct mail. Even with the best-written content, if the piece is not eye-catching and engaging, you are reducing your chances that your mail will be opened and increasing your chances that the mail piece will end up in the trash. For both business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) companies, creative direct mail is a must. Here are some ideas:
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January 30, 2012
Today marketers really miss the boat if they neglect to use a multi-channel approach to reach their audience. Although the mailbox is no longer the only way to reach consumers, it remains a great first step to get your foot in the door. Once you’re in the door, however, your next mission is to keep and hold consumers’ attention -and that’s where your creativity comes in.
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January 12, 2012
Face it, a plain old envelope just doesn’t cut it anymore. Direct mail can get your foot in the door, but creative direct mail will REALLY get you noticed.
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August 4, 2011
Color psychologist and branding expert, Jill Morton, shared a few general tips about “Finding Colors That Sell” on the Xerox blog.
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May 5, 2011
Wouldn’t it be nice if David Copperfield materialized at your next marketing meeting, gesturing with a flourish as your response rates magically spiked? Fortunately, stellar direct marketing results don’t involve disappearing and levitation. Marketers do their heavy lifting the old fashioned way - with fresh applications of tried and tested channels.
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November 11, 2010
Campaign improvements don’t necessarily need to start from scratch. In competent hands, tweaks can make a big difference in returns. That’s the theory behind EU’s Package Improvement Program, which takes a look at an existing or proposed direct mail package and suggests ways to make it better.
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September 27, 2010
With traditional direct marketing, the creative typically drove the data. But the increased use of highly personalized messages has flipped that notion on its head.
Now that direct marketing managers have discovered the power of variable data printing, they’re turning to their databases first to identify information about customers that can be leveraged in a successful VDP campaign.
“The question for direct marketing managers becomes, ‘What can I do with what I have?’” says Forest Wathen, prepress manager at EU Services. “What data can I segment or append to drive the creative content?”
With data in the driver’s seat, it’s imperative that marketing managers uncover every bit of customer/prospect data at their disposal. Customer relationship management files are an obvious place to look, but you may have additional prospect data lurking within your company files. Consider the following less obvious places to dig for the data you need:
September 7, 2010
Variable data printing (VDP) – also known as variable information printing or variable data personalization – is a form of on-demand printing in which elements such as text, graphics, and images are changed from one printed piece to the next without stopping or slowing down the printing press.
All variable data printing begins with a basic design that indicates which sections can be altered, along with a database of information that fills in the changeable fields. The information used to personalize each printed piece comes from a database or external file.
VDP enables the “mass customization” of documents via digital print technology. In other words, instead of producing 10,000 identical letters containing the same message to 10,000 customers, VDP can deliver 10,000 unique letters with customized messages for each customer. Such modern data management alchemy has the potential to generate better ROI than that of standard direct marketing campaigns.
At its most basic level, VDP involves changing the salutation or name on each printed piece. Each person’s name and address appears on each document to attract attention, but the marketing message is exactly the same for each customer, regardless of their relationship or value to your company or organization.
More complex VDP uses “versioning,” which allows for further customization designed for different market segments. Text and images are varied for groups of recipients based upon which market segment receives the piece. Segmented versions of a document are created to meet the needs of different groups. A list is segmented according to demographic attributes. Customized content is then delivered that best addresses the needs of each particular segment.
Finally, there is fully customized printing, which allows both text and images to be altered for each individual recipient. In this ultimate application of direct marketing, each document’s content is fully customized to be highly relevant and custom-tailored to specific individuals. A full-color document is dynamically composed, and everything in the document can be varied – the layout, text, and images – depending on the recipient.
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