irect Marketing IQ interviewed Patrick Fultz, founder and chief creative o!cer of the DM Creative Group (Su"ern, N.Y.) and president of the Caples Awards, an international design competition. We liked Fultz’s ideas

so much that we applied them to the world of 1:1 marketing.

In a world dominated by electronic media, how can direct mail create a big bang for your buck?

continued inside

<<First>>, have some fun and sound off in our survey. Log into your personalized URL and receive a FREE gift!

<<personalized URL here>>

<<Your Company>> <<Your Phone>> <<Your Website>>

Multi-Channel Marketing Works!

QR CODE FPONeed a QR code?Call Great Reach

Communications at978-332-5555

<<Rep Name><<Rep E-mail>><<Rep Phone>>

Place Your AddressPlace Your City, State Zip

<<First>> <<Last>><<Company>><<Address>><<City>>, <<State>> <<Zip>>

Place Your

PostageHere

About This IssuePaper Used Your paper choice here

Equipment Used Your printing equipment here

Design Programs Used InDesign CS5 Adobe Illustrator CS5 Adobe Photoshop CS5

Font Families Used Chaparral ProGill Sans StandardITC Franklin Gothic Eurostile

<<First>>, Welcome to the latest issue of 1:1 Messenger. We send these communications that contain helpful information to assist <<Company>> produce e!ective data- driven, personalized campaigns.

In This Issue: In today’s world of electronic media, does print still pack a punch? You bet!

The Direct Marketing Association !nds direct mail still delivers better response rates over electronic methods of communication.

Not only does direct mail work, but we have some ways to make it even better. Read on for some best-in-class ideas.

Your Logo Here

A QUARTERLY FROM THE DIGITAL PRINTING PROFESSIONALS

Your Logo Here

WINTER 2012

Copyright © GRC 2012

© iS

tock

phot

o.co

m/P

inkT

ag

© iStockphoto.com/alphaspirit

Photo composite: © iStockphoto.com/nicolas_(mail box); nadla (digital space)

Well-executed cross-media marketing campaigns generate a sales lift of 7%–34% over traditional marketing approaches. Why? Multiple channels reinforce your marketing message and help it cut through the communications clutter.

Sour

ce: In

tera

ctive

Adv

ertis

ing

Bure

au

1. Stop them in their tracks. Before people will read a personalized message, you’ve got to get them to stop long enough to take a look.

"ink of the outer envelope as a storefront. With email, you’ve only got a subject line. With print, the possibilities

are endless. Try di!erent colored stocks. Experiment with di!erent plastic substrates or textures. One marketer was highly e!ective with a see-through red envelope with white knock-out copy. Try a new printing technique. Use great illustration and photography. Quirky headlines. Eye-catching o!ers. Make people look twice.

2. Take advantage of new formats. "ese days you can do a lot more than just send a postcard or stick a letter in an envelope. Try di!erent types of folds. Unusual die cuts. Add eye-catching labels or

stickers. One financial mailer was highly successful using what Direct Marketing IQ has called “the e#cient envelope,” or a fold-open mailer with a wafer seal. When the reader breaks the seal, the mailer unfolds into two panels packed with information. Or try pop-ups or accordion folds.

3. Get recipients to interact with the piece. What can you do to get recipients to interact with your mail piece in some way? "is is the idea behind asking consumers to detach stickers and apply them to reply envelopes or gift cards. Any interaction with the mailer increases response. QR codes and personalized URLs are other great ways to get people to interact with the piece.

4. Easy to read = good response. Make the mailer easy to read and easy to respond to. Are you using good typography? A nice mix of images and clever copy? How about the copy itself? Is it easy to read? Can you use numbers or charts to tell your story in “bites” instead of words? How about the o!er? Does it stand out so the reader can see it easily? Are there multiple ways to respond?

A reply card prefilled with a recipient’s contact information is another great way to use personalization. By prefilling the reply card, this removes a barrier to response by making it faster and easier to respond to the o!er.

People love direct mail, but they like things to be easy too. Fultz points out that nobody will work hard to hear your message. "e message has to do all the work. It has to grab attention and stand out. It also has to be easy to respond to. To know if your message is working, Fultz suggests

the following rule of thumb: “If you were receiving this piece, how hard would you work to respond to it?”

Direct Mail for a Digital Future

Continued from front page

I t’s o#cial . . . again. Direct mail delivers better response rates than electronic media. "is is according

to the 2012 Response Rate Report from the Direct Marketing Association (DMA).

"e DMA’s annual report looks at response rates from a variety of media, including traditional direct mail, oversized mail, postcards, and catalogs. "e report compares these forms of print marketing to electronic media like email, display ads, and paid search. "e results?

Direct mail out-performs its electronic counterparts by

a wide margin. "e DMA

report found that, on

average, direct mail using an in-house list received a response rate of 3.4%, while direct mail using a prospect list averaged 1.3%. If you want even better response rates, the DMA found, oversize it! Oversized mail using house lists averaged a 4.0% response rate. Using prospect lists, oversized mail averaged 1.4%.

How does direct mail fare in comparison to its electronic counterparts? Extremely well. On average, email received a .12% response rate for in-house lists and .03% for prospect lists. Display ads and paid search didn’t do much better— .4% and .22% response rates, respectively. All the talk these days is about e-media. Certainly electronic alternatives are seen as less expensive. But if your goal is to boost your response rates, then less expensive isn’t the way to go.

Here at <<Your Company>>, we’re big fans of personalization too. "e data back that up. Studies conducted by the Rochester Institute of Technology, for example, have found that personalization alone can boost response rates by 44% over static communications, while personalization plus color can take response rates up 135%.

But wait — it gets better! Multiplying media amplifies your results even more. Here is where email can be a great benefit. Don’t ditch email. Use it as a teaser before you send your direct mail piece. Or use it as a follow-up if people haven’t responded. Email can be a great way to support your direct mail e!orts and make them even more e!ective.

Move Over, Facebook!

62% of consumers !nd direct

mail a useful channel for promotions. Only 27% said Facebook was useful. Even fewer — 3% — said Twitter was useful.

<<Your Company>> <<Your Phone>> <<Your Website>>

Hit Your Target with Direct Mail

Source: Epsilon Targeting “Consumer Channel Preference Study”

Nearly 60% of U.S. consumers say they enjoy receiving postal mail from brands, about new products. Only 43% feel that way about email.

© iStockphoto.com/YvanDube

© iS

tock

phot

o.co

m/b

owde

nim

ages

(w

oman

); D

NY5

9 (y

ello

w s

ign)

; ollo

(st

op s

ign)

; Bre

athe

Fitn

ess

(pea

cock

); tfs

nedd

on (

QR)

© iS

tock

phot

o.co

m/S

canr

ail

HOUSE PROSPECT LIST LIST

Direct Mail 3.40% 1.28%

Oversized Mail 3.95% 1.44%

Postcard 2.47% 1.12%

Catalog 4.26% 0.94%

Email 0.12% 0.03%

Telephone 12.95% 8.21%

Display Ad n/a 0.04%

Paid Search n/a

Average Response Rates from Print and Electronic Media

Sour

ce: D

MA

Resp

onse

Rat

e Re

port

(201

2)

Source: Baynote survey of 1,000 holiday shoppers (2011)

Consumers: “We Like Getting Mail!”

Direct mail tops e-media for response rates, while email support increases success.