How Mailers Can Build Better Relationships with Printers

For direct mail marketers working on a campaign, it would make sense for them to want to ensure that their mail piece doesn’t wind up in the trash can. 

During her presentation, McQuilken emphasized the fact that printers are more than just vendors.

Having a strong relationship with their printer can help take their direct mail from good to great.  

To help explain how to do this, Alliance Media Brands Senior Editor Toni McQuilken gave a presentation to the Greater Portland Postal Customer Council (GPPCC) about how mailers can foster strong relationships with printers to help their direct mail campaigns in the long run.  

“There might be more than you realize that your printer can do for you than just print it and stick it in a mailbox for you,” McQuilken said.   

You Must Engage  

In order to build a better relationship with a printer, McQuilken explained that engagement is key. To get the best result for a direct mail campaign, marketers need to do more than just send their file to the printer.  

“Printers can do a lot, and they bring a lot to the table. I think some people tend to forget that printers are more than just vendors. Printers are working with hundreds of clients across multiple industries, doing all kinds of projects, and they can come up with some really great ideas,” McQuilken said.  

Share Your Pain Points 

When they do eventually start engaging with their printer, McQuilken urged her audience to not be afraid to share their pitfalls with past mail campaigns. Marketers shouldn’t be afraid to tell them their frustrations because there is a good chance they can help boost response rates.  

 “They might say you're doing all you can, but odds are pretty good that they’re going to come back and they're going to tell you, ‘Here are five or six different things we could try tweaking with the technology that we've already got that you might not have thought of,’ and who knows, you might get a massive return on investment,” she said.  

Cheaper Doesn’t Mean Better  

While budgets can be tight, that doesn’t mean it’s necessary to always settle for the cheapest option. McQuilken told her audience to think of it this way: Say they do choose to work with the vendor that promises them $1,000 shaved off the bottom line because they’re using a less expensive stock – if their ROI dips because of that change, was any money really saved?  

“I would stress that you will get far more out of every dollar working with a printer that brings value to the relationship and is offering suggestions, rather than just trying to nickel and dime,” she said “I think you will find that you can take the same budget and stretch it so much further when you realize what these printers are capable of. Just don't make budget your number one priority when you're choosing a print partner, I think you will find that you'll get so much more out of it.” 

Don’t Be Boring  

To increase the chances that a direct mail campaign won’t be directly thrown away, McQuilken said, “You don’t want to be junk mail, you want to be direct mail.”  

To fall into the direct mail category, McQuilken explained marketers need to get creative, and for that, personalization is key. And with today’s printing technologies, customization is easier than ever before.  

“Thanks to today's print technologies, personalizing is more than sticking names on the front of the envelope,” she said. “Printers can customize the graphics for every person. They can customize the content that goes to every person. Like for example, you can put a map that goes from that person's address to your retail location for every single person. There's so much out there that you can do to take a mail piece and turn it into something that somebody goes, ‘Huh this is really cool.’” 

Think Beyond Mail  

While direct mail is still known to have higher response rates as opposed to electronic campaigns, McQuilken emphasized that only doing one or the other is no longer optional, and that omnichannel campaigns are here to stay. 

“You want all of those components working together, and that's one of the things printers can bring to the table,” she noted. “They've got the technologies and the systems in place to create these integrated omnichannel campaigns that are more than just print. They can manage those online email campaigns, they can manage the print, and they can manage your promo products if you want to have pens or t-shirts that you're handing out as part of the campaign. They can do all of that under one roof.”  

Educate Yourself 

It may seem like a no-brainer, but another very important component is education – especially when a marketer is not well-versed in the print world. To be able to clearly communicate what is desired, there needs to be some base knowledge.  

Luckily, there are so many resources out there to help navigate this rapidly evolving landscape and McQuilken pointed out that you can start local like that day’s meeting, and eventually work your way to the National Postal Conference or PRINTING United Expo taking place Oct. 22-24 in Orlando, Florida.   

“I know most people tend to think of print as just your desktop printer, but print is so versatile today, and it seems like every month they are pushing the boundaries even further and coming out with new technologies and new ways to engage, or new ways to use the equipment they've already got,” she said “And the more educated that you are about what print is capable of, the more you're going to get out of your print relationship.”