Beginning January 5, 2014, The United States Postal Service will enforce its revised 2013 self-mailer postal regulations with penalties for non-compliance. Continue reading
Category: Custom Design & Printing
Sappi Paper Presents Print in the Mix
Sappi Paper’s Daniel Dejan presents an evolved approach to marketing. Continue reading
Boost Your Giving Campaign with Direct Mail
Many nonprofits are considering one last push for donations to their annual fund before the year ends – a stand-out mailing piece is one of the most effective ways to get members to take notice.
Here are five tips to enhance your end of the year giving campaign.
1. Compose a message that gets at the core of your organization’s mission.
Look back at program and event attendance figures, review feedback and surveys, pull out the kudos you’ve saved and learn your most successful events and programs. Use this information to gather insight into what people are most enthusiastic about. Craft a message that reminds members about those programs and why they exist.
2. Encourage people to give what they can.
Embrace donations at every level and let individuals know that every level matters. Consider partnering with a charitable organization in your community to match individual donations.
3. Make it personal.
What statement is more impactful: “children throughout the U.S. are suffering from malnutrition and disease every day” or “Sue, your contribution makes the difference between a healthy child and one suffering from malnutrition and disease in the U.S.”
Enough said.
4. Get a good designer.
Nailing down the message is key. So is good design. Create something easy-to-read, dimensional and consistent with your branding.
5. Experiment with different dimensional formats.
A flat standard-size envelope is the common fare in most mailboxes. Break out of the pattern by using different dimensions, textures and formats. Ditch the black and white mailing label for a handwritten font. Play with color. Send goodies.Think outside the envelope.
(image: envision-creative.com)
Trish Witkowski: Direct Mail Evangelist
Educator, author, speaker and award-winning designer Trish Witkowski has curated one of the most comprehensive collections of folded print and direct mail samples and authored seven books for the graphic arts industry. In the last four years, the Rochester, New York native has introduced a growing legion of fans to the value of print marketing through her popular YouTube series “60 Second Super Cool Fold of the Week.”
Now, the self-proclaimed folding fanatic is poised to break into new territory as a direct mail evangelist, creating inspiring educational resources for marketers who may be missing the boat on the power of mail.
Witkowski recently spoke to Structural Graphics about her experience in the industry and what she plans to do next.
SG: Has art always been a passion for you?
TW: I would say I was always artistic. I was class artist, voted most artistic. Always drawn to anything creative. I started studying fine art [in college] and then I just realized there was never going to be any money in it, so I decided to go to a more marketable career and that’s when I switched over to graphic design.
RIT has a world renowned school of print – one of the best programs in the world at the time – so I decided to get a masters degree there to improve my production skills and printing knowledge. That’s really where the interest in folding came around. I had to come up with a thesis topic and something that I was running into as a designer for RIT’s university publications department [was that] we kept using the same few folds over and over.
So when I was coming up with my thesis idea, I decided I’d try to determine how many different ways you could fold a brochure. I thought it was going to be a quick project and it ended up being a seven-year research project that led to publishing FOLD: The Professional’s Guide to Folding.
SG: How did the YouTube series start?
TW: It came to me as an idea in the middle of the night. I was frustrated with not being able to get my message across and not getting people excited about the content. I had a speaking event years ago at one of the big print shows [and] was expecting 30 to 50 people to show up and three showed. I gave my presentation and left with my tail between my legs. That day I realized I had a choice. I could give up on this whole thing because nobody’s ever going to get it or I can reinvent myself. And that’s what I did.
I had this idea and I decided to give it a funny name, “60 Second Super Cool Fold of the Week“, and have something fun and different every week and that’s how I came up with the slogan on my shirts. You can use the word ‘fold’ in just about anything and it makes sense. It’s been a fun hook to keep people watching.
SG: Do you think today’s marketers are savvy about direct mail?
TW: I would say there are certainly marketers today who are very savvy in mail, however I think there are a lot of people that need to learn more about it. Mail has an image problem. There’s this idea that technology trumps mail and mail is old school. What I hope to push out into the industry is really compelling evidence of how successful people are with mail. You combine highly targeted mail with a really great mailing list, an interesting format, a solid message and a compelling offer and it’s magical. I think people need to get re-acquainted with mail.
SG: What are the most important components to an effective direct mail piece?
TW: The biggest most important thing is audience. It doesn’t matter how creative and beautiful the piece is if it doesn’t fall into the right hands. You have to get your audience right first. Then, once you’ve got the audience, you need to give them a compelling offer, a reason to act. Those are the two most important things. If it’s not to the right person or if the offer isn’t compelling enough none of the other stuff matters.
SG: Do you think direct mail works better for some companies than others?
TW: I don’t. I have a sample of a direct mail piece sent by an email marketing company. Even email marketers are sending mail. I think any business can benefit. I’m not just trying to be all-inclusive and broad. I really believe that because marketing is a relationship. I don’t see mail as the single point of contact. I see it as part of a cross channel marketing type of approach. You might send an email sometimes to compliment your direct mail or do a web ad or other types of marketing too, but mail is a wonderful way to connect and create a relationship with your audience. It’s not as old school as people think. It really can carry different types of technology and drive people to other ways to be in touch with the customer.
SG: Moving forward do you see your role changing?
TW: It’s definitely going to continue down the educational path. It’s pretty neat I’ve been able to craft a career that’s interesting and fun to me. And to be able to share and inspire other people in the industry and ultimately promote print and the value of it.
These days people want information and inspiration so I do a lot of speaking, video and writing – and I’m bridging into online learning. I’ve really gotten interested in direct mail. It’s an incredibly valuable marketing tool. It’s evolved for me from just about format to the whole process of creating effective marketing communications. Although I still am collecting things like crazy and all about formats and techniques. [Now] I’m talking about the process involved as well and getting results. Not just saying, ‘here’s a great idea for a cool format’ it’s more like ‘here are all the things you need to think about and here’s how format plays a role.’ Once people know how to use [direct mail] and what their options are I think they can really get tremendous payback from it.
Print Valued in a Diversifying B2B Audience
In “The Value of B‐to‐B: Quantifying the role of the business‐to‐business information and media industry in the buyer‐seller relationship” a report published by The Association of Business Media and Information Companies (ABM), surveyors revealed some interesting statistics demonstrating how diversified today’s B2B media users are – and that marketers aren’t necessarily getting the picture.
The report, which surveyed more than 6,000 media users from a range of industries, examines how trade media and information companies bring business buyers and sellers together; Among its findings, 96 percent of media users read both print magazines and websites followed by product information from the manufacturer (93 percent), e-newsletters (92 percent), conferences or trade shows (80 percent) and print newsletters (76 percent).
But the buck doesn’t stop at print. Other stats from the surveys show that 63 percent of users are also gathering business information from mobile websites and applications.
No surprise there, but what is surprising is that these users don’t have a loyalty to either digital or print, instead more than 70 percent of these professionals prefer a mix of digital and print media outlets.
Unfortunately, this is exactly what most marketers are refusing to see. A majority of publishers with growing audiences identified print as the most important revenue source to their bottom line.
Yet only 11 percent of marketers plan to increase their print budget in the next year.
Marketers, in their haste to digitize, have missed the boat on the effectiveness of print media. ABM’s report proves that there is still a definitive audience responding to the tactile approach of print media.
So if media audiences are still valuing print, why aren’t marketers?
Image courtesy Association of Business Media and Information Companies
Trish Witkowski Featured in Online Direct & Dimensional Presentations
Trish Witkowski, chief folding fanatic at foldfactory.com will be featured in two free live-streaming online presentations highlighting direct and dimensional mail at 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 20.
The presentations are part of “Adobe Creative Cloud Design Week,” hosted by creativeLive, a fast-growing live, online classroom for creative entrepreneurs that was recently featured in TechCrunch and The New York Times.
Witkowski, an expert in folded solutions for print and mail, hosts a popular video series entitled “60-Second Super-Cool Fold of the Week” on her YouTube channel.
“I’m so excited to be a part of this event,” states Witkowski. “It’s an incredible opportunity to reach a global audience of creative professionals and to share my passion for direct mail and print. I’ve spent my entire career researching folding and, in recent years, mail – and I know I can help people get amazing results. It’s going to be a blast.”
The events will stream live at their scheduled times at creativeLIVE.com and will be rebroadcast within a 24-hour period. For more information and to RSVP for the free events visit creativeLIVE.com.
About the presentations
“Direct Mail to the MAX” (9:00am PT/12:00pm ET) The 90-minute presentation is focused on the process behind creating direct mail that performs. She will cover audience, strategy and planning, format choice and engagement techniques, testing, tracking and measurement. She plans to back up the information with powerful real-world case studies. Trish will also be launching her new publication series, “Direct Mail (simplified)”, during the event.
“That’s Fold-tastic!” (10:30am PT/1:30pm ET) For this presentation, Trish will be sharing her best folding tips, tricks and formats from nearly 20 years of research on the topic. This fun and inspiring session will feature some of the most fascinating real-world folded solutions from her vast collection of print samples. She will also make a move to the desktop to share some production techniques for creating accurate Adobe InDesign files for folded materials.
Your Customer Wants to be Part of Something Bigger
“Value speaks directly to what benefits a product or service adds to a customer’s life. Some smart brands get this and are using packaging, design, sourcing strategies and technologies to entice consumers to get them to open their wallet a bit more, even in these tough times.”
– Maureen Morrison & Matthew Creamer, “How P&G, Ford and Wendy’s Are Redefining Value”
For decades, marketers have prodded consumers to associate value with low cost. Today, this strategy is becoming increasingly irrelevant as consumers pay more for the value of peace of mind. As a result, the cheapest and easiest marketing tactics are not always the most effective ways to get your audience’s attention. Today’s marketers must find ways to get consumers to connect with their brands with other factors like convenience, quality, lifestyle and innovation.
In a recent Nielsen report, “Consumers Who Care” 50 percent of respondents reported that they would be willing to pay more for goods and services if the companies they purchased from made a commitment to give back to society.
This sentiment is widely shared among respondents under age 30, although consumers ages 40 to 54 are increasingly agreeing with them – 38 percent more consumers ages 40 to 44 are now willing to pay more for goods and services at companies that give back compared to results just two years ago.
What does this mean to marketers? In an article published Crain’s Chicago Business, Cheryl Guerin, senior VP at MasterCard summed it up well, explaining, “Consumers are very focused on experiences right now. It’s a movement from being a collector of things to being a collector of experiences and stories that last a lot longer than the purchase of an item.”
Increasingly, consumers value brands that have depth and a mission behind their messaging. Dawn dish soap has done a stellar job at communicating its own mission to protect wildlife. In a recent commercial, the brand ditched its usual efforts at promoting soft hands to instead talk about something people can connect to: protecting wildlife. The commercial reminded consumers of its role in helping to save animals following the Deepwater Horizon Spill. The spot features heart wrenching images of oil laden penguins being cleaned with the soap and concludes with an announcement that the brand is donating 1 million dollars to wildlife rescue efforts.
Dawn is proving that value is not just about cost. As Guerin said, consumers are increasingly looking to become part of an experience that resonates with who they are – or even who they want to be.
Smart marketers understand that purchases are about more than the consumer’s basic need for a product or service. It’s also about how that purchase defines them.
Dimensional Mail: Kicking B2B Marketing Into Gear
Record response rates of dimensional mail, which is anything but your typical flat envelope, are giving B2B marketers new and effective ways to reach out to their prospects.
Last year, the Direct Marketing Association reported that dimensional mail averaged the best marketing response rate at more than five percent compared to digital channels.
Highly targeted mailing lists are key to the success of dimensional mail campaigns. Other important factors include creating unique messages that expand upon your company’s existing marketing campaign and building manageable mailings that marketers can easily follow up on within one to three days.
Read more about the value of going dimensional here.
Samsung Galaxy S4 Launch Kits
Sometimes it’s not all about the design. It’s about the function too.
When Structural Graphics teamed up with advertising agency, TracyLocke to help produce Samsung’s Galaxy S4 launch kits, it produced important custom packaging components to help support the sleek, elegant design.
The kits, which were delivered to cell phone carriers like AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile targeted retail VIPs to introduce them to Samsung’s new product.
Erik Hluchan, lead paper engineer at Structural Graphics recalls, “[Fit and] quality was paramount. The pieces had to fit perfectly within the box so that even upon being overturned the items would not come loose. Careful consideration was paid to the stock and how it wrapped the box’s exterior and interior.”
He added, “The careful work of the design was made possible by the work of our Mexico hand assembly team.”
Along with creative design services, Structural Graphics offers a complete line of hand assembly services from its warehouse facility in Piedras Negras, Mexico. From sortation and match mailings to kitting, gluing and labeling, SG’s scalable production and warehouse space provides additional design options for projects both large and small.
Spotlight on Packaging: Nokia Launch Kit
Last week’s post got us thinking about some of the packaging products we’ve created over the last few years – and there have certainly been some fun ones.
Like this Nokia launch kit
To celebrate the release of the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music phone, Structural Graphics aided client, Tracy Locke with the construction of Nokia’s product launch kit, which was inspired by the phone’s appearance in the Batman film “The Dark Knight” and unveiled at the movie premiere.
The packaging, decked out in full Joker style is a misleading little gift – a quirky, purple gift box tied decoratively with lime green ribbon. When opened, the box swiftly deconstructs as all four sides collapse and a recording of The Joker’s maniacal laughter automatically plays (scroll down to the YouTube video below).
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This design earned the bronze award at the Dallas DMA show.
We also created accompanying “popcorn” boxes, also launched at the premiere.
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