Why bother to print?

It's a complicated process...mailing is expensive...ink smells bad...Why bother to print? Consider the following:

People appreciate something tangible. It's more difficult to to make a "sale" (of products, services, or ideas) without offering something, at least symbolically. (This is why you will almost never see a trade show booth that isn't covered with free pens, pads, goofy pins, etc.) Printed collateral reinforces the feeling that you have something genuine to offer, and the higher quality you can achieve the stronger this impression will be.

In-Boxes are under pressure. The low cost of online message distribution is creating a traffic jam on computer screens, and the "subject" line provides a form of Caller-ID allowing instant deletion. Unfortunately, this can happen before the visual part of the message is activated. Printed material arrives "already open" and makes it's first impression immediately, with no action required by the viewer. Even direct mail which is destined to be trash will at least get one good look beforehand.

Control your quality. Print on demand is an effective way to shift the cost of printing to your viewer...what would collectively cost you hundreds of dollars will cost them only a token amount. One drawback, however, is that, after your designer has invested an enormous amount of work in the graphics you consign the actual printing to an environment you have no control over. The magenta ink cartridge may be empty, for instance, assuming the printer has color capability at all. The paper will almost undoubtedly be of low quality and the margins may cut off areas which contain your response information (!). This is a cost/benefit equation to consider from both sides.

Most people are non-linear readers. They peruse; they're drawn to various stories by sidebars or pull quotes; ads catch their eye, and this is a process well suited to a multi page printed document. Although some benefits of a PDF are hard to dispute, this is not one of them. People just don't click their way around a PDF the same way they introduce themselves to, say, a magazine. The compatibility of reading style and the ease of navigating a printed document means MORE of your message will get through before the reader tires and moves on to something else.

Some significant portion of your audience is old fashioned. Or, maybe not if you're selling skateboards... but it's a real possibility. Some people spend so much working time at their computers they burn out to online messages. Large demographic sections use machines or connections so slow that your graphics will never be seen. If you aren't tuned in to these preferences you may be missing a significant number of prospects.

Printed material as a part of a comprehensive campaign. The key to optimizing the unique strengths of printed material is to acknowledge it's cost, and fine tune accordingly. Mailing lists must be absolutely clean and up to date. Size and format must be controlled for production efficiency and the lowest possible rate of postage. Production quality levels must remain high to avoid, at all costs, a "homemade" look.

The major players in the direct marketing world invest billions of dollars a year in print and mail because of it's unique ability to reach a specific person and prompt a specific action via a specific transaction channel. (It doesn't matter whether that channel is analog or digital.) The same innovative data and design tools, and the same declining print costs (print, that is, not postage) that are available to them are also available to your organization. There is a spot in the mailbox for your message, and there is no reason why it shouldn't be just as effective as those from the "big guys". Remember, "junk mail" is only as junky as the message it carries.

I hope the New Year is off to a good start for all of you, and look forward to our conversations during 2009.

Hugh Butler
Your friend in the printing business