There is a growing awareness of environmental issues. Direct mail marketing has had a bad reputation for a long time because many see it as an environmentally-unfriendly marketing technique. A growing number of organizations have expressed interest in going green, but that’s not something that needs to exclude traditional mail marketing. Your organization can be greener during a direct mail campaign by focusing on quality over quantity.
Personalization will let you send individually customized content to your members and prospects. Data-driven marketing will assist you in narrowing down the right audience every time. On-demand printing will help your organization avoid printing too many materials that may not be needed and go to waste.
You can implement these effective alternatives and guidelines to achieve a green direct mail campaign.
How to Reduce Waste in Direct Mail
When you plan campaigns carefully, you can have a maximum effect on helping the environment. Opt for environmentally-friendly materials like recycled paper, chlorine or chemical-free paper, or tree-free papers made from non-wood-based pulp. If you are getting better results after each marketing campaign by targeting your message and reaching the right audience, you are lessening your carbon footprint.
Let’s see how you can help reduce waste during your next direct mail campaign.
Personalization
Personalizing direct mail is a great way to reduce waste. People value targeted mail that is about their wants and needs. When they receive a piece of mail that appears generic, it is likely they will quickly throw it away. For that reason, sending generic mail can result in an increased amount of waste. In addition to generating more waste, your direct mail won’t result in a successful marketing campaign. The more personalized your message is, the more likely your campaign is to succeed while also staying green.
Personalization also involves what you decide to print your materials on. You can opt to print your message on both sides of the paper. Printing on both sides helps save resources and reduce mailing costs. Another alternative is choosing to send a postcard. Postcards cut back on the materials that you mail while still offering a personalized feel.
Data-Driven Marketing
Data-driven marketing is a green option that allows your organization to focus on sending materials to specific groups of people. Narrowing down your audience helps keep your message personal while also helping save the environment from bulk, generic marketing materials. Use data-driven research techniques to target your audience effectively.
Your organization can be more successful with data-driven marketing strategies. The data-driven approach uses your members’ information to tailor marketing campaigns around groups of people. There is a wealth of information that will help you determine future trends too. Analyzing current marketing projects while preparing for future goals enables you to maintain a focused marketing approach. Using analyzed data allows you to be green and focus on targets instead of blindly sending messages to random people.
On-Demand Printing
On-demand printing is a great option to choose when you want to stay green. On-demand printing allows you to print direct mail materials when needed. This green option ensures your organization doesn’t need to keep a stock of marketing mailers. There’s also less chance that your leftover materials will go to waste. You can print what you need on-demand instead of producing mass bulk orders. On-demand printing also allows you to adjust the text, images and more as you need before you print your campaign.
Lessen Your Carbon Footprint
Direct mail has a bad reputation for producing paper waste. But there are changes in the industry that are set to change all of that. There are many marketing companies, such as Valtim, that want to help make direct mail a greener industry. It’s important to discuss your environmental concerns with your direct mail company. Together, you can come up with a workable, greener solution, like the options mentioned above.
How to Stay Green with Valtim
Valtim wants to help encourage more organizations to go green with their marketing initiatives. We are highly proficient at helping organization’s build personalized direct mail content. We can also help you with narrowing down the right audience using data-driven techniques. Once you finish your project design, we offer a wide variety of printing options, including on-demand printing. When you choose to create a personalized project, send it to the right audience, and print in the quantity needed, you can stay green while advertising through direct mail. Contact Valtim to get started on your next green direct mail marketing campaign.
