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Boost Effectiveness, Go Green
October 9, 2008

In my last post, I suggested three ways to immediately drop your print marketing and document management costs while boosting the effectiveness of those documents at the same time. But  did you know that you get a double benefit? You "green" your print marketing at the same time.

The two options were 1) to move to a zero inventory (or near zero inventory) just-in-time print ordering workflow; 2)  selectively target your mailings only to portions of your database, such as to the top 10% in terms of profitability or to the most inactive customers to re-generate activity; 3) move from large, bulk packets to streamlined, personalized versions that contain only information relevant to the recipient.

The result is lower page counts, lower postage costs, and greater marketing impact by switching from undifferentiated bulk print and mail to a more streamlined, targeted approach.

In this economy, the cost savings and greater "bank for your buck" that you get from this approach should be enough incentive to consider these changes. If not, consider that by reducing your print volumes and document obsolescence, you are also helping the environment.

By eliminating unnecessary print, you end up with...

•    Fewer trees cut 
•    Less energy used to produce paper
•    Less energy used to print
•    Less fuel used to transport logs, paper, and printed materials
•    Less ink used
•    Less energy and raw materials used to produce, package, and transport ink
•    Less carbon emissions produced
•    Less solid waste produced

We're so used to thinking about print marketing in terms of effectiveness and cost that taking time to slow down and think of the anxillary benefits (like greening the environment at the same time) takes a little getting used to. The good news is, the anxillary benefits can be even greater than we realize. We've just been overlooking them all these years.

Have questions? Comments? I'd love to hear from you. You can email me at info@digitalprintingreports.com. For more information on primers for marketers and small businesses on digital, 1:1, Web-to-print, and personalized URL applications, visit Digital Printing Reports. You can also keep up with all of my posts on EBS, The Inspired Economist ("Greening Print Marketing"), and other blog sites by following me on Twitter.

Posted by Heidi Tolliver Nigro on October 9, 2008 | Comments (0)