In honor of National Print Day, we at SPC thought it would be fun to step back and take a moment to celebrate what’s behind the work we do every day. It’s print—the great, impactful medium that powers what we do. So here are five reasons to support print, and some commentary from SPC team members, celebrating all that is great about the medium.
ONE: Print Is Real
Print works IRL (In Real Life.) You can hold it in your hands. It has staying power, unlike the bits and bytes stored somewhere on your hard drive and phone. Teresa Frederick, SPC VP of Lettershop Operations, explained that “print is tangible and legitimate,” adding an air of permanence and authority to marketing pieces. It takes up both desk space and mind space, and has a presence that demands you connect and interact with it in some way.
Valerie Long, Executive Assistant, remarked, “Printed materials remind me that a company or service is still around. While I can delete emails immediately without looking at them, I can’t avoid mail in my mailbox. I MUST at least LOOK at it before making a decision whether to read, keep, or discard it.” Studies also show that 39% of consumers try a business for the first time because of direct mail advertising.
TWO: Print Works in Three Dimensions
Printed content isn’t imprisoned within a screen or an email. It’s multi-faceted and multi-dimensional, with the opportunity to fold, wrap, and curve around the edges of 3D space, depending on your needs. Origami one day, French folded the next, to perfect bound and scored on another. Print is flexible both physically and conceptually, limited only by imagination and the laws of physics. “By nature, people like to receive things that they can open, touch and hold…gifts, awards, and yes, printed direct mail packages,” says Rod Clements, Strategic Accounts Executive.
THREE: Print Moves
When something is printed, it’s shareable and transferable. Whether it’s a postcard, a booklet or something more elaborate, you can pass it along. It can be borrowed, returned, bookmarked, collaged, pinned to an inspiration board, highlighted or changed. It can change hands and journey from customer to customer. And that makes sense because of the way we are wired. Kim Ziebell, Account Manager, says that direct mail is “the only media channel that physically allows you to place your message in your customers’ hands.” Gift cards get shared. Catalogs get borrowed. It’s the beauty of print.
FOUR: Print Is Also Digital
While printed matter ultimately lives in the analog world, cutting edge direct mail and printing technology allow us to bring the best digital tools to bear in the print process. Data integration, variable imaging, inline finishing and perfect-match inserting are just some of the tools used to make print campaigns work harder for their intended audiences. What looks like print on the outside is often the product of a crucial digital front-end system.
FIVE: Print Brings the Bling
One of the greatest parts of print is the way that it extends and morphs to include a nearly-limitless combination of production techniques. Fluorescent inks, textured varnishes, unique diecuts, embossed logos, scented varnishes—all of these things can support great messaging and creative concepts, adding to a memorable presentation. Maria Heart, Scheduling Manager, agrees that “print allows the touch and feel factor that engages the consumers’ senses.”
There are many more reasons why print powers great marketing, but this is just a small sample. SPC believes in the power of print, and we’re always happy to show you why direct mail is our business and our passion.
