Digital Printing and Variable Data Printing are powerful tools that you can use to dramatically increase your response rates. Just like your basic marketing plan, however, it is important to realize that having a good strategy is critical to success.
PODi, or Print On Demand Initiative, is an organization that educates the market on print on-demand and variable data printing. They have published a list of principles that outline the “best practices” to follow when doing a variable data project. Here’s an outline of PODi’s best practices and some further explanation on our part.
Know your objectives and metrics: Almost every great project starts with a measurable objective. Set goals. Know exactly what you want to achieve. This is how you can determine success and determine your return on investment.
Know your audience. When you know something specific about someone’s needs you’re in a position to offer it to them. What do you know about your customer or prospect? How can you use this information to better position your company’s offerings as the best solutions for their needs? This means knowing what you have in your existing company databases.
Use effective layout and design techniques. It is important to “intelligently construct” the layout of your variable data print job. This includes taking into account lengths of fields, placement of images, rewrapping of text, emphasis of key information and mailing considerations.
Make it easy to say “Yes”. Pre-fill out reply cards (you are using variable data so it is easy). Offer a toll free number to call. You can also point them to a customized web address (you’ll need to work with your IT department to set these up). Finally, cater the pitch so that it is difficult to say “no”. Example: offer a discount off the purchase— in other words, incentivize the customer to buy.
Build tracking and results measurement into the plan. At the end of the project, you need to match results to your goals and to do a ROI (return on investment) analysis. You’ll need to count your responses (reply cards, phone calls, web hits) and your conversions (actual sales). Measure your results against “traditional” marketing methods.
