Winning Combination
The pairing of digital printing technology with sophisticated data processing promises great possibilities for producing customized, targeted direct marketing communications. But putting the two together can be quite a challenge, as there are many facets that must be coordinated to create successful campaigns.
To maximize relevance to recipients, an immense amount of data must be collected on each market segment to be reached. Significant data processing knowledge is then needed to process that information quickly enough to fit into a fast-moving production work flow.
The design of the communication itself must attract attention and induce responses while being flexible enough to handle all permutations of the data. Last but certainly not least, digital output capabilities must be in place to create finished pieces that compel recipients to respond to an offer that appears to have been created just for them.
It’s these output capabilities that are perhaps the most-improved functions in direct mail personalization. Current digital printing presses offer reproduction quality so close to offset that most people can’t see the difference. In addition, faster running speeds, a wider range of stock and coating choices, and lower overall production costs have allowed variable data printing to fit into many more budgets.
Printing Options
These advantages mean digital printing can improve the production of many direct mail applications. Here are a few ways digital printing can be used:
- Static printing
These are short-run color printing applications, such as a few hundred copies of a self-mailer booklet. Although none of the content changes, static printing applications take advantage of digital printing’s speed to offer quick turnarounds and high-quality production of projects that might otherwise be done by offset printing. This could be an ideal solution when a select group of customers, prospects or donors need an up-to-the-minute communication in a very short time.
- Hybrid printing
Hybrid products combine static and variable content elements, such as a personalized cover applied to an offset-produced booklet. Another possibility is to print
