Is business printing worth it in the digital age?
Think of it this way — can you guess which generation has a 95% positive response to print? That is, receiving personal cards and letters?
Baby Boomers? The pre-1945 Silent Generation/Traditionalists? How about Gen X’ers (late 30s to early 50s)?
Nope. None of these.
In fact, it’s Millennials (a.k.a. Gen Y).
Yes, business printing is a great way to even reach Millennials.
Millennials Like Mail
According to a forbes.com* article, a significant percentage of Millennials like mail. And Gallup reported that:
- 36% of people under the age of 30 look forward to checking their mailboxes daily
- 95% of 18-to-29-year-olds have a positive response to receiving personal cards and letters.
Yes, that’s a whopping 95% of people under 30. And yes, that’s printed mail.
There’s no need to wonder about their contribution to your revenue. Millennials will wield US$1.4 trillion in spending power by next year (according to Accenture).
In the digital age, business printing has not lost its power to connect.
While the inbox and newsfeed are overflowing, the mailbox is not. Mail is still receiving a LOT of attention. Full colour business printing is very affordable. So using the mailbox makes a lot of sense. There’s a big payoff for your investment.
There’s so many options for your business printing. Your mail can be effective in many ways. Here are some examples:
- Mail addressed in regular envelopes — brochures, flyers, letters, offers, vouchers, gift cards and more
- Mail that works on its own — postcards (each postcard can be fully personalised to your recipient)
- Non-addressed mail — such as flyers, booklets and catalogues, vouchers and takeaway menus
- Ridealong mail — mail in someone else’s envelope (a special offer, where you cross-promote with another business)
It’s all a matter of planning and strategy. There are “lots of ways to be right”, ie, to be effective.
Content Is Crucial
Before you commence printing your mail, it all needs to be planned and designed!
That of course applies to any message you send — business printing, social media, email and more.
Your message must match your audience.
And when done right, it will get a response. That’s another subject all on its own.
Timing is always a consideration too.
In effect, your message must be to the right person, with an appealing offer, timed to make sense.
And when it comes down to it, you’re better off sending a good offer to a great audience than a great offer to a poor audience. In other words, get it in front of the right people! Otherwise, even if it’s the perfect offer, but the wrong audience, your mail won’t get the response you’re after.
With print, that can be your existing customers. Or it can be lapsed customers. Or it can target a particular area that matches your best prospects.
It can also be something that targets prospects who are NOT yet ready to make a purchase.
And, like any communication, sometimes it requires a series of messages, not just one on its own.
You can plan that of course so that the first message is the lowest cost to you. Then, as someone gets more interested in making a purchase, you can invest more in getting their attention.
What ever your plan, there are ways to make the message personalised and targeted.
Your business printing can speak to an audience of just one person, even if created in larger quantities. Or, depending on your plan, you can have a really small quantity and still have very professional printing convey your message.
And of course, your printed mail can target particular generations, like millennials.
You’d EXPECT older generations to respond very well to print. And of course, they do. But this response rate — 95% — in people under 30 is a great reminder of the power of print.
Personalised Business Printing
So it’s not only the older generation you can reach. It’s also effective in reaching a younger audience.
And using personalised printing makes your message more powerful. Digital printing means every copy you print can be different. So each copy can be focused just on one recipient. And that’s while keeping costs very affordable.
If you need to communicate with any audience, business printing works. Even with a younger audience. To reach your customers, you can’t ignore print.
Let us easily quote all of your business printing. Whichever generation you’re talking to. #PrintWithNeptune
*Article reference: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2017/08/30/why-direct-mail-marketing-is-far-from-dead/#26aaa05c311d