Why the Print Department is a Microcosm for Wider Agency Trends
Naysayers have been saying it for years: direct mail is dead. The truth shows that direct-mail advertising is more robust than ever thanks to creative and technological advancements. That’s why an agency’s print department is a microcosm for wider agency trends as we’ll explain below.
Trend #1: Start with Strategy
Strategy should drive all campaigns and tactics. In direct mail, strategy helps us know who to target when and how with the best formats and creative applications. Here are four examples:
1. Credit cards: Put an image of the credit card (personalized with the recipient’s name) on the package to help them imagine what it will be like to have the card in their hands.
2. Business recipients respond better to a letter package than a postcard or self-mailer.
3. Consumers during the holidays love invitation-style envelopes with stamps.
4. Mail that feels more emotional and tactile drives the urge to open it:
a. Handwritten fonts that look more personal
b. Soft-touch envelopes with a velvety feel
c. Gloss UV coatings that shine and catch the light
d. Embossed papers add sophistication and texture
e. Perforations make it easy—and irresistible—to open
Trend #2: Data-Driven Plans and Results
It’s no secret that data dictates marketing dollars. What may not be as intuitive is that data drives direct mail too.
Today, direct mail campaigns are more microtargeted which means they’re more effective. We can tailor campaigns to highly local geographies or to extremely limited audiences based on past consumer behavior. For example, we can pinpoint the 50 people in a 5-mile radius who bought a boat in the past month and target them with products and services for their new boat. This kind of hyper-personalized, hyperlocal targeting means you’re spending your direct mail dollars more wisely so you can get better results.
Direct mail holds the top position among channels for average return on investment (ROI) at 43% according to the most recent Response Reat Report from the Association of National Advertisers. Almost three-quarters of marketers agree that direct mail offers the best ROI. Proof-points like these explain why direct mail should have a place in every major campaign.
Trend #3: What’s Old is New Again
Overflowing mailboxes used to be a daily occurrence nationwide in the not-too-distant past. Now our email inboxes and social feeds overflow. To stand out, businesses increasingly turn to direct mail regardless of their audience demographics. Here’s why:
* Direct mail is the most trusted marketing channel by baby boomers.
* 71% of Gen Xers feel direct mail is more personal than online communications.
* Millennials overwhelmingly love the sense of discovery new mail brings.
* Mail appeals to Gen Z’s creative side with personalized, tactile experiences.
As one of the oldest marketing channels, print too often gets overlooked in favor of digital channels. But much of innovation involves seeing the past with fresh eyes. The brands and agencies who know how to re-imagine direct mail and use it effectively as an anchor channel see higher results.
Trend #4: Technological Innovation and Integration
Technology accelerates productivity and creativity. What used to take weeks in direct mail, now takes days. Digital proofs, more efficient production and new capabilities mean we have more opportunities than ever before to stand out in the mailbox with less time and money.
Developing fully integrated campaigns that use both print and digital drive better results. In a survey commissioned by the U.S. Post Office, 60% of marketing respondents said combining digital and direct mail increases ROI. Don’t just take the marketers’ word for it: 56% of consumers tried a new business in the last six months because they got mail about it.
With Informed Delivery and interactive calls to action like QR codes, the lines between the physical and digital worlds continue to blur—which works. Here are the stats that prove Informed Delivery pays off:
* 39% of marketers see higher website traffic
* 36% saw higher ROI
* 93% of customers would recommend it
* 77% of notifications are opened daily
Trend #5: A Can-do Attitude
As business needs and consumer habits evolve, so have Heinrich’s print department and our skills. When we were founded, we focused primarily on direct mail for financial services, completing 18-million-piece runs with 30+ different versions. Now we also work in verticals like healthcare and multi-family real estate, which require different deliverables. For healthcare, we create fulfillment packages like sales enablement kits for insurance agents to host events-in-a-box. We develop high-end collateral pieces to woo and awe potential renters in multi-family real estate.
We’re yes people who are solutions oriented and always looking for faster, more cost-effective ways to produce the ideas our creative department dreams up. We experiment, we test, we learn—and we know that what worked yesterday may not work tomorrow. As such, we stay up on cutting-edge trends and technologies.
Whether we’re making pop-up coupons for Macy’s inspired by their iconic parade, delivering human resource-department kits for a Kroger’s check cashing campaign or sending salt lamps to Medicare insurance agents to enhance provider affinity while improving personal well-being, we always champion innovation and impact. Because we’re born for business, which means we’re driven by results.
