Direct Mail Marketing using Variable Data Printing will increase Return on Investment up ten times over. Use for leaflets, booklets, brochures, flyers, postcards etc.

1. Direct Mail Marketing is now Available to Companies of all Sizes using Digital Printing
A Marketing tool used by large companies and corporates for decades is now accessible to Small to Medium
Sized Enterprises at an attractive cost thanks to the new Software available.
Over the years Direct Mail Marketing or 1:1 Marketing has been one of the main marketing tools used by large
business to target prospective customers. The problem with this process is the cost largely outweighs the potential
returns, The Return on Investment or ROI.
The fact is that when these brochures, leaflets, flyers, catalogues or whatever other literature were sent out (and of
course this is still the case) to their target audience they were or are really exactly the same, the only difference
between each is an address label stuck on the outside, looking rather unprofessional, the rest of the information is
utterly and completely the same! The reason for this is that the printing is done by lithographic offset printing on
huge presses which cost enormous sums of money. Therefore, in order to be cost effective, many thousands had to be
printed in one print run to bring the unit cost down to an acceptable figure. That’s why it has always been too
expensive for smaller companies to introduce this method of marketing with any success.
With the litho process, each colour requires a separate plate which itself is expensive and takes a large amount of
labour time to set up, furthermore there is an amount of wasted prints early in the run whilst the printer attempts to
get the colours to match, the alignment correct and so on. Naturally if these costs were amortised over a small amount
of copies the unit cost would be horrendous.
The biggest problem with this type of mass mail marketing is the ROI is about 1% to 2% and unless those turn into
substantial business, the question has to be “is it worth it?”
Fortunately, with the advent of better quality Digital Printers and speciality software, it is now possible for companies
to have small runs and sample runs prior to a full-scale roll out and to individually target by business type, authority
or area. Variable Data Printing Software in conjunction with Digital Printing increases the potential ROI to a very
desirable 10% to 15%. Personalisation is the key. Not only can the sticky address labels be eliminated by printing
names and addresses directly onto each printed item, but each can also have a different bar code, individually
personalised message and even a change of graphics and the colours can now be different on each printed part.
Companies simply provide a database of names and addresses to the print company, the individual graphics are
designed in the Graphic Design department and uploaded to the Rip Drive. Rip stands for Raster Image Processor and
is like a print driver but more sophisticated with many enhanced features. Once all the data is uploaded, the print job
is ready to go and unlike the litho process there is no need to stop to change plates or waste many copies getting the
print correct, all the changes are effected on ‘the fly’ by the rip, in other words whilst the job is running.
The advantages are obvious, by targeting prospective clients with the inclusion of more relevant data and with a more
professional image it is more likely the recipient will read the information they receive rather than put it straight in
the bin, also the labour costs are reduced as the printer runs the job non-stop and there is no need to set up individual
plates or print large volumes which are not required. This type of marketing also means that it’s trackable and the
success is measurable. It allows the marketer to get the message across more directly.
This process can even be combined with sending out data on CD and DVD or other types of media by printing and
personalising the card wallets, Digipaks or the paper parts in a CD Jewel case for instance.
For more information on Direct Mail Marketing using Variable Data Printing, please call 01495 243222 or visit
Dischromatics website at http://www.dischromatics.co.uk/variable-data-printing/