The Proof is in the Planning (and don't forget it's Movember!)

Late last week I met with a customer at a credit union. Over lunch, we were discussing direct mail ideas for 2012 (yikes! that will be here very soon), and ways that you can most effectively use mail to reach clients and prospects. After tossing out the typical questions, such as do you want this to be an ongoing mail campaign (multiple drops), how many are you targeting, are you offering different services or a group or services, etc., I realized she needed more ammo than I could "shoot from the hip." In planning for her annual budget, she needed proof that what we were discussing was a good method of approach for her 2012 marketing campaign. So, I came back to my office and dug up some case studies from BPI Media Group's storefront for account reps. Here's what I found, and I wanted to share it with you in case you need to tap into some of these resources in planning your marketing strategy for 2012.

I discovered a wealth of knowledge and experience we have through case studies. The case studies are those from BPI and our peers in the industry through professional associations. We have these broken down by vertical markets:

• Automotive
• Education
• Financial
• Fundraising
• Grocery
• Healthcare
• Hospitality
• Insurance
• Mortgage
• Real Estate
• Retail
• Sports
• Statements (Notices/Invoices)
• Telecommunications

Within each of these folders for each vertical are multiple case studies. Some are geared strictly toward direct mail, some toward personalized landing pages, some toward digital printing and some toward VDP (variable data printing). There's a ton of info and insight into what has worked for other marketers. The way I see it, why not learn from the experience of your peers and colleagues in the same industry? Your planning can be made easier by the proof they provide in these case studies. How awesome is that?

Being able to help this marketer by providing her with case studies not only gave her the statistics she needed to see for what has been effective (and present that data to the board for budget approval), but it also got the creative wheels turning. Sometimes, just a different perspective is all one needs to come up with a genius marketing plan! This is where marketing and strategy come together to develop a plan.

Another thing that you may want to consider in your planning is having an online storefront. Using BPI's storefront made it easy for me to locate the case studies I needed, save them as a pdf or order a few copies as print on demand. If you could benefit from having a site where reps or employees can order items as print on demand or have access to pdf documents, we would be glad to discuss your needs and provide a quote. You could include a storefront in your 2012 marketing plans, and myself along with some of BPI's clients can tell you how much time that has saved! (PS-I have a marketer's brief that is all about materials asset management to help you determine how much a storefront/fulfillment solution could save you.) If part of your to-do list in the coming weeks is to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and present a marketing plan or preliminary budget and you need some help with planning or proof of what works, let me know. I'd love to talk with you about it and share a case study (or studies) with you to help guide you in your planning. We could do some quotes for you to help know costs up front. After all, doing your homework can really pay off in the long run! (I know some high school teachers who are grinning ear to ear reading this.)

Join me in supporting men's health during Movember for the special men in your life (Dads, brothers, boyfriends, husbands, sons, etc.) Click here to learn more and donate to this great cause if you'd like. Until next time...Elizabeth

1:1 and Other Ways to be Green

Kermit the frog said it best when he said, "It's not easy being green." However, with more options now, being environmentally responsible doesn't have to be difficult. In fact, with BPI Media Group, we make it pretty easy.

Today, I'll share a few ways you can take comfort in knowing that printing isn't as bad as you think for the environment. It's all about partnering with folks like BPI Media Group who care and are willing to do what it takes to make a difference.

"What's your company's environmental policy?" Sure, I hear this from time to time from marketing executives. Sure, every printer more or less has a policy like this in place, so I'm not going to tell you that ours is better, but I will tell you some ways we offer solutions that can make your efforts to protect and conserve go further, and save some green at the same time.

Top 3 ways BPI Media Group can help you go green and save green:

1. Database cleansing. When's the last time you really took a look at your data and purged it, updated it or deduped it? Even if you mail to your entire list, you can save paper, print and postage costs simply by checking for undeliverable addresses or deduping. In a lot of cases, there's no need to send the same direct mail piece or catalog to more than one person at the same address. Deduping by address is a great way to eliminate this extra cost. Many lists we see have incomplete addresses or misspelled names. BPI's mail department has some really great systems in place to help with these common issues. We run all lists through what's called NCOA (national change of address), which automatically updates an address for anyone who has moved and left a forwarding address. We also cass-certify all mailing lists to verify addresses. This same process will dedupe by name, address or exact match. All of these are great resources that are FREE when we handle your mailing.

2. Targeted personalization. By pairing down your main catalog or book to only include what is appealing to an individual or a targeted group can help your ROI and efficiency tremendously. Not only are you saving on print costs, but you're also sending a focused message to that customer or prospect of relevant material. Here's a great example of this: a small college prints a full catalog listing all majors, courses, extra curriculars, etc. This 200+ page catalog can be awfully pricey, and consume a lot of raw materials, to print and mail to all students. Instead, this college reduces their consumption of paper, ink, chemicals, etc by approx 75% simply by narrowing down the material that is relative to that particular student or group of students. This is essentially called versioning, and we'll cover this indepth in a future blog. BPI's digital print department can effectively handle this type of project when you wan to print various versions of the same piece. The info you need to narrow down a catalog like this can be gleaned from your database, online surveys, sales team, etc. Use this info to reduce waste and be more effective in your communications pieces. There's a trickle-down effect here too: elimination of energy used to produce excess/unread pages, gas and/or postage to distribute them, and not to mention all the raw materials saved during the production process.

3. 1:1 Mailing. Along the same lines as #2, you can get even more focused on your list by personalizing your direct mail pieces. Printing a 1:1 message engages your customer or prospect in ways that weren't possible a few years ago or cost effective for that matter. With the addition of our Kodak Nexpress and prinergy workflow, BPI can handle variable data printing (VDP) in a multitude of ways from graphics to messaging. These personalized mail campaigns tend to be to a tighter group of recipients, thus having a direct decrease in your print and mailing costs. More green saved!

Here are some of the technologies that BPI has in place to help make us all better stewards of our environment:

-Kodak Insite Proofing System: Offers soft proofing instead of hard-copy proofs. (We know there are times when color is critical and a hard-copy proof is needed, but for the times that you can soft proof, this is a great alternative!) You can also use this for your internal proofing without having to print out multiple copies of proofs every time changes are made.

-Storefront Solution: Set up this online ordering site where your internal staff, sales team, etc. can order collateral and stationery on an as-needed basis rather than printing and storing tons of materials that will become obsolete a few months from now anyway. This is a huge time/energy-saver for your team as well as a way to reduce print and storage costs. You'll also be saving paper and other raw materials as well.

-Database Analysis: We can help in cleansing your database, so you can do more targeted mailings, save on print and postage costs. Our mail department has been trained on ways to help mail more efficiently. We can even suggest some parameters at the design phase of your project that could help. (Size, shape, paper really does matter.)

Here are steps BPI takes to make sure we are preserving the environment:

• Recycling all plates, ink, wooden pallets and paper
• Using vegetable-based inks
• Using a soft proofing system
• Cleaning mail lists to reduce bad addresses (wasted print and mail costs)
• Providing options for recycled-content paper
• Using papers (both digital and conventional) that is 100% biodegradable
• Using a digital press with consumables that are 100% biodegradable
• Using only paper that comes from sustainable forests.

Interesting stats about print vs digital media:

• It takes 500 kilowatt hrs of electricity to produce 440 lbs of paper (average amount we each consume annually). This equates to powering one computer continuously for 5 months.

• 20% less CO2 is used/yr by a person reading a daily newspaper (print!) vs that person reading web-based news for 30 min/day.

• Print is a renewable resource, on average 5 million trees are planted ea day in the U.S.

• According to the EPA, paper is recycled at a much higher rate than any other materials at 57%, with glass at 24%, plastics at 7%, electronics at 18%.

-Source: DOWN TO EARTH, A Practical Look at Environmental Issues and Trends, The Print Council

So, printing isn't the environment's worst enemy after all and paper isn't the only way you can save money on your print budget. I'd love to talk with you and explore ways our environmental measures can mesh with yours to help us preserve this beautiful planet we call home. Here's a great resource for learning "Why Print is Green."

Until next week...Elizabeth