“I wish we had involved you earlier in the process.”
This is something we hear periodically from first-time clients. They struggle with different aspects of their direct marketing campaign—the prospect list, formatting, design and color choices, brand consistency, postage costs, understanding print capabilities and options, delivery, tracking, response analysis, and every phase of project management.
The mistake they made was viewing us as a vendor. We were the company they would come to when they were ready to print. They didn’t fully grasp until very late in the process what an asset we could be at every stage of their project.
The right print and direct mail solution provider is your marketing department’s best friend, especially when viewed as a strategic partner.
Even if your marketing team is a powerhouse of experience and knowledge, they’re probably not working on direct mail marketing campaigns every day. They’re managing the website, social media, all forms of online and offline advertising, trade shows, and anything else that might be part of your marketing mix.
A strategic print and direct mail partner brings a specific skill set and expertise that provide value from initial planning and goal-setting, to production and delivery, to measurement of your campaign’s effectiveness.
If you don’t have the same skills and expertise, you’re more likely to create unnecessary stress and confusion for your team. You’re more likely to design a mailing that doesn’t do justice to your brand. You’re more likely to miss deadlines and pay too much for postage. And you’re more likely to invest valuable time and resources into a campaign that falls short of your goals.
Consider this small sampling of questions that may crop up during a direct mail marketing project:
- Do you know if there’s a way to reformat, modify, or slightly trim your mailing in a way that could save you thousands of dollars in postage?
- Do you know how to account for creep and color bleed?
- Do you know what technology is capable of personalizing your mailings with custom images, text, and graphics without slowing down the production process?
- Do you know if the paper, coatings, and/or packaging you’ve chosen are strong enough to arrive undamaged and fully intact in your prospect’s mailbox?
- Do you know what advanced technologies and features, such as texture treatments, virtual reality, video, and scent, can be incorporated into your mailings?
- Do you know how to cleanse and refine your list data to improve targeting, maximize efficiency, and reduce waste?
A vendor probably won’t have the answers. A strategic partner will.
When you build a strong relationship with a print and direct mail solution provider and involve them in your marketing projects from the outset, you don’t have to figure out the answers to these and other questions yourself. The insights and recommendations they provide will likely save you a lot of stress and aggravation — and produce better results.
Digital Dog Direct wants to you be your strategic partner through every phase of your direct mail marketing campaign. Contact us to discuss you next project.
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