The Elements of Direct-Mail Marketing

When it comes to direct-mail marketing, there are several things to think about as you put together a successful program:

• What is your offer?
• Do you have a targeted list?
• What does your package look like? Is it appealing?
• Have you tested it?

Unless you know what your specific offer is, don't create a mail piece. Example offers include: half price, buy one get one free or 50% off. The more specific you can be, the more return you will get.

The more you know about your list and the more accurate and up to date it is, the more return and response you will get.

Consider the shape and size of your package or piece with reference to US Mail regulations as well as memorability. Color, shape, size are all important. Think "will this get past the executive's secretary?"

Trying things out in advance of the actual mailing is key to success. Just like a car test drive, if you can send a sample to 5 or 10 test subjects and record their responses, you can be assured that the item will work.

For more information about successful direct-mail campaigns, call Jennifer Beaty at Executive Press, 214-217-7000. Or check out this story on Answers.com, which was the inspiration for this post.

The Executive Pressman

What Our Customers Say: Dalfort Media

The greatest project in the world means nothing if you can't meet the deadline.

Dalfort Media knows all about deadlines.

"I ordered a printing job from Executive Press and they finished it ahead of schedule and even delivered it to me by courier when I couldn’t pick it up, Nick Nichols told us. Nick is a principal in Dalfort Media Internet Marketing, an online branding and reputation management company based in North Texas.

"Nick asked us to print his brochure," Jennifer Beaty said. "We not only delivered it early, but we ensured that the level of quality he needed was there," she said.

Jennifer is the managing general partner of Executive Press, a full-service printing and mailing house based in Richardson, Texas.

"We understand our customers have a choice," Jennifer continued. "We go out of our way to make sure the balance is struck between quality, cost and schedule. "

"I was very happy with the quality of the work and will definitely order from them again," Nick said.

For more information about Executive Press, Call Jennifer or any of her team members at 214-217-7000.

The Executive Pressman

Offset printing

In this day and age of the digital press, there still is a place for offset printed products.

So, just what is offset printing?

"Offset printing is a printing process that transfers an image from a plate to a blanket to paper," Jennifer Beaty told us recently. "There are several types of offset printing, including photo offset, sheet-fed offset and web offset."

Jennifer is the managing partner of Executive Press, a full-service printing and mailing company based in Richardson, Texas. Offset printing is a big part of what they offer their clients.

"Understanding the offset printing process is critical to understanding printing in general," Jennifer said. "The creative input stays about the same, but the mechanical differences between offset and digital are vast."

For larger jobs, offset is the better choice. Catalogs, magazines and multi-page products with special bindings are better matched to offset, Jennifer told us.

"We are very fortunate to have some of the best pressmen in North Texas on our staff," Jennifer said. "Between them, Luke Stacy and Todd Johnson have almost 60 years of printing experience."

"When you add in Jay Norwood, our bindery manager, we have three great craftsmen working for our clients," She said.

To reach Jennifer, Luke, Todd, Jay or any of the Executive Press team, call 214-217-7000 or visit their website. They know offset.

The Executive Pressman

A Fulfilling Opportunity

OK, so you’ve printed up the manuals, product brochures and posters that your clients and prospects need to use.

Now what do you do with them?

“We learned a long time ago that when a customer asks for help, you find a way to help them,” Dave Allen said. Dave is a principal owner in Executive Press in Dallas.

Recently, Executive Press’ client, Atlas-Copco, requested help with their literature and product support materials distribution. While Executive Press’ primary business is printing and mailing, collateral distribution is only a few steps removed from the kinds of fulfillment they were already doing for other clients.

“My partner, Jennifer Beaty, went on a visit to A-C’s Denver operation,” Dave related to us. “When she arrived she thought she would be touring the facility and meeting some new people. However, before she left they asked for help in the distribution of their manuals, brochures and posters, We were more than happy to lend a hand.”

What Dave and his team did was create a system that can be applied to other customers’ needs as well. All of the collateral is stacked on simply-built shelves in an empty portion of Executive Press’ warehouse. All of the 400-plus shelf spaces are labeled with a bar code. That bar code corresponds to a line in an inventory program.

“With a basic storage and distribution system,” Dave said,” we distribute over 400 pieces of printed material to nearly 300 distributors and end-users of A-C’s products. Our bar-code-based system helps us reach out to these clients on average 6 or 7 times each day.”

The distribution system has done a number of things. First, it took the load off of a valued client. Secondly, it is a low-cost alternative, since the client pays for the shipping and gets one bill for all distributions at the end of each month. And, lastly, it allowed Dave and Executive Press to regain use of unused warehouse space and cement an important relationship.

“We’re very grateful to Atlas-Copco for asking us to help them with this business issue,” Dave said. “We’re happy to help.”

You can find Dave and the other members of the Executive Press team by calling 214-217-7000 or by visiting their website.

More on QR Codes

More and more of our clients are using QR codes as a way to communicate with their customers. We are seeing codes used in these ways:

• On the backs of business cards to either bring up a website or contact information.
• At the bottom of a brochure or fact sheet as a way to link to deeper information or a longer form type of content.
• In a technical manual (which, by the way, have gotten really small) to take you to the in-depth version of what you are trying to fix/adjust/replace.
• On equipment to give more information of how to operate that equipment.
• In flyers or single-page ads that allow for more information to be shared--including photos and videos.

The list keeps getting longer and more useful by the day. Consider the code. Here are some links to software that both creates and reads codes.

• Kaywa
• QR Stuff.com
• Smartytags
  

Then bring the code to us and we'll include it in your printed piece.

The Executive Pressman

The Voice of the Customer: WaterMax

Getting call backs from your marketing efforts is the name of the game. So is being "green."

"Originally WaterMax used a tri-fold color brochure printed on 30-pound paper because it was inexpensive," Spencer Matthews of WaterMax told us recently. "Executive Press suggested a larger brochure with a heavier card stock. We NEVER received a call back from our first brochure. But now, we get them all the time."

That attention to detail won Spencer over to Executive Press. His company, WaterMax, produces water-saving products for the construction and agriculture industries. Spencer is the chief marketing officer for the company.

"People even pass the brochures on to others we never had the opportunity to meet," Spencer added.

The green aspect of both businesses was a plus as well.

"Being a green company ourselves, it only makes sense for us to have a green printer," Spencer said. "It’s actually cheaper for us to go green with Executive Press than it was to print with our old printer."

For more information on how working with a green printer who also understands effective marketing, call Executive press at 214-217-7000.

The Executive Pressman

What Our Customers Say: WRA Architects

Having a business partner who knows what they are doing is very important to the success of your business. We are very fortunate to have WRA Architects as a partner.

Recently, our client at WRA, Grady L. Frank, told us what he thought of the working relationship he has with Executive Press.

"Marketing professional services, especially in the design arena, demands very high quality in all our printed imagery, Mr. Frank said. WRA depends on imagery to help sell their end product and brochures and other quality printed pieces are a part of their promotion as well as the final deliverable.

Mr.Frank, AIA, is Director of Marketing for WRA Architects, Inc.

"I've been in marketing over twenty years and started using Executive Press four years ago, and have never looked back," Grady continued. "Their pricing is competitive, their turn-around time is excellent, and their quality is outstanding."

Grady also feels that while quality is important, a printer's consistent dependability and ability to deliver is just as important, if not more so.

"Executive Press delivers our expected level of high quality on every job without variation," he said. "But what puts Executive Press above other printers in my book is the knowledge and professionalism of their staff. They are very accommodating with my press-checks, they know how to make my jobs come out right every time, and they remember our firm's subtle preferences, which is not easy, but greatly appreciated."

"I highly recommend Executive Press to anyone needing a fully equipped, agency-quality, commercial printing source."

To learn more about Executive Press, please call Jennifer Beaty at 214-217-7000.
The Executive Pressman