When designing a printed piece, how much attention do you pay to the grain of the paper? This is particularly important for pieces that require crisp, clean folds. Aligning your design with the paper grain can make a significant difference in the final result.
What is paper grain? It refers to the direction in which the paper fibers are aligned during the papermaking process. This alignment affects the paper's strength, flexibility, and ability to fold smoothly or resist bending.
Sustainability has become a core value for many consumers and businesses. However, as brands rush to position themselves as environmentally responsible, a growing challenge has emerged: greenwashing.
What exactly is greenwashing? Greenwashing is the practice of making misleading, exaggerated, or unsubstantiated claims about a company's environmental practices or a product's eco-friendliness. Greenwashing can take many forms, from buzzwords like "eco-friendly" and "natural" on product packaging (with no supporting evidence) to images of greenery and leaves in a direct mail piece that implies sustainability without proof.
You've invested time, money, and effort into winning great customers. You have ongoing marketing programs to help keep those relationships strong. But what happens when customers stop buying anyway? Instead of watching them go, reignite their interest instead. Direct mail is one of your most powerful tools for doing it.
Here's why direct mail is uniquely positioned to bring lapsed customers back:
Everyone wants to nail their direct mail campaign or deliver a winning multichannel marketing strategy. But success takes more than a bold idea. It demands coordinating people, resources, and timelines, all anchored by strong project management.
Whether you’re managing direct mail, marketing collateral, email, or mobile campaigns, here are six practical steps to move your project from idea to execution on time and within budget.
Want the perfected printed piece? Finish it with the perfect fold. But communicating about folds can be tricky when you don't know the lingo. Let's look at some of the basic terms:
Panel. A "panel" is the two-sided section of the printed piece defined by the fold. When you look at a standard "3-fold brochure," you are talking about a 6-panel brochure.
As the old saying goes, “Sometimes, less is more.” That’s a key trend we have been watching in packaging for some time.
It’s called “minimalist design,” which strips away the visual excess and retains only the necessary elements of the product or brand. Brands that exemplify minimalism include Apple, COS (Collection of Style), and Aesop, whose simple, clean layouts are iconic and stand out against the sea of visually busy packages characteristic of many products.
Do you think all printers are the same? Not at all! Even though two print shops might have the same equipment, they might have very different philosophies, quality standards, and customer relationships. To help you find the right partner for your printing needs, here's a quick checklist of questions you'll want to ask during the vetting process.
1. Do they prioritize customer service? From the first interaction, you should feel valued. Your printer should listen to you, take the time to walk through your options, and help you find solutions when you're stuck.
When you create marketing campaigns, are you reflecting your value proposition in everything you do? You might think you only sell products, but it’s more than that. Think about a company like Campbell’s. Sure, the company sells soup, but its tagline is “Mmmm, Mmmm. Good.” Its ads show families around the table, enjoying a meal together. The company’s value proposition isn’t, “We sell soup.” or “We help you create healthy meals your family can enjoy together.”
Innovative companies know their value proposition and communicate it, directly and indirectly, every time they send a direct mail piece, blast an email, or design product packaging.
Not every print piece needs a “wow” factor, but what happens when it does? Maybe you are launching a new line of high-end clothing or cosmetics or have an audience for luxury goods you want to impress. That’s where print embellishments come in. Print embellishments are visual or tactile add-ons that create a higher level of engagement than even the best 2D designs can do.
When you need that extra “wow” factor, consider one of the following options:
Are you looking to boost your marketing results by going multichannel? Businesses looking to amplify their direct mail efforts often pair direct mail with email. That's a great strategy. But you know what else is a great strategy? Pairing direct mail with social media.
What makes direct mail and social media so complementary? Customers love direct mail and social media and use and respond to each channel differently. Print's tangibility leaves a deeper footprint in consumers' brains, resulting in more accurate recall and higher buying intent. At the same time, social media is proven for ongoing, spontaneous communications that keep your customers entertained and engaged. With both channels providing different benefits, why not pair the two?
If you listen to all the buzz, you’d need many data points to create relevant, personalized mailings. The reality is that sometimes, name and address are enough. Let’s look at three ways to use a single data point to create more relevant mailings than you might expect.
1. Geographic mapping.
When was the last time you updated your product brochures? Are you still selling all of the same products? Are there new products you need to add? How about your customer base? Has it evolved? Does the messaging need to be updated to reflect who your customers are now? It might be time if you haven’t updated your brochures in a while. Here are six tips to get you started.
1. Hit the highlights.
Whether it's a postcard, an email, or a webpage, your call to action (CTA) motivates your target audience to respond to your offer. Simple changes can often make a big difference, so testing your CTAs to see if they can be improved is essential. Let's look at three real-life examples to see why.
Case Study #1: The Power of Exclusivity
Any type of relationship starts with emotional intimacy. Business relationships are no exception. This is why many companies are investing in customer intimacy strategies.
Is customer intimacy just a fancier way of referring to customer engagement? Nope. Customer engagement is designed to create online and offline interaction with customers using tools such as surveys, social media activity, clickable links, interactive print, and so on. Customer intimacy is different. By definition, it is based on a relationship, not just a response or activity. By their very nature, relationships create a bond of loyalty and advocacy that, in a business environment, directly impacts the bottom line. Relationships are sticky. Thus, customer intimacy is deeper and less fickle than other measures, and it’s worth your time to figure it out.
Paper is more than just a surface for printing. It has its own character. It can evoke warmth or coolness, brightness or subtlety, and feel earthy or extravagant. Let’s explore some essential elements that give each paper its own personality.
1. Brightness Levels: Brightness indicates how much light reflects off the paper, rated on a scale from 1 to 100. A higher brightness (closer to 100) means your colors will stand out more vividly. Papers with lower brightness, particularly uncoated ones, tend to soften colors.
Sure, the volume of direct mail may be declining, but its importance is not. Direct mail plays a unique role in the marketing world and is something digital channels cannot replicate. Let’s look at five reasons why.
1. Print retains authority. Digital marketing is often perceived as low-cost, which diminishes its impact in the eyes of consumers. In contrast, handing someone a brochure, a physical coupon, or a direct mail piece creates a sense of value and credibility.
As concerns about synthetic materials, excessive packaging, and carbon emissions rise, consumers seek sustainably produced and packaged products. But does this growing awareness lead to changes in purchasing habits? A recent survey reveals that it does.
Here are three key insights from the “U.S. Retail Sustainability Perceptions Benchmark” survey (eMarketer/Insider Intelligence) that can inform your marketing strategies:
Content marketing is one of the most effective methods for driving revenue, engaging customers, and enhancing client retention. However, like any marketing approach, it requires a well-defined strategy. Where do some of the most significant challenges lie? How can you overcome them? Let’s look at three main areas: delivering value, establishing routines, and creating processes.
1. Delivering Value: Many marketers are stuck in a cycle of mundane tasks and repetitive content distribution rather than finding innovative ways to provide unique value to their customers. Don’t be one of them! Whether you’re creating content for direct mail, email, or social media, customize your content for each channel. Each channel has distinct advantages and limitations, so tailor your message for each audience.
When designing your next print project, achieving the best results requires attention to detail and understanding how to prepare your designs for print. Whether you're working on a business card, a brochure, or a poster, following these nine tips will help ensure that your print project turns out its best.
1. Use CMYK Color Mode: Design in CMYK color mode rather than RGB. Printing presses create colors using blends of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK) inks, so designing in this mode ensures that your colors will look as intended in print.
Nowadays, everyone wants to stretch their marketing dollars, but we all want the best results, too. The good news is, you can do both! Here are five tips for budget-conscious marketers that will save you money and boost your results simultaneously!
1. Use targeted mailing lists.
