Enhancing Your Printed Pieces to Increase Shelf Life and Response

Post Press Specialties — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 14:41:26 +0000

Let’s be honest, getting your printed piece noticed is sometimes very difficult. Consider this: Yankelovich, a market research firm, estimates that a person living in a city 30 years ago saw up to 2,000 ad messages a day, compared with up to 5,000 today. About half the 4,110 people surveyed last spring by Yankelovich said they thought marketing and advertising today was out of control.

Marketers need to take advantage of every possible strategy that will get them noticed. Today we’re going to discuss foil enhancements and how they’ve become one of the most viable ways to increase success of your printed piece. Post Press Specialties new MGI Jet Varnish 3D Spot Coater can help you attain remarkable results through foil enhancements.

Consider these findings from a study commissioned by the Foil & Specialty Effects Association:

There are many processes that can be applied to printed pieces to stimulate attraction and hold the attention of a viewer. Some of these processes have long been in existence and are a part of the branding strategy for many companies in a wide variety of product marketing categories, including food and beverage, cosmetics and grocery. Today, processes that increase visibility, stimulate attraction, hold attention, and convey an image of value are known as High-Visibility Enhancements. The list of high-visibility enhancements includes several processes and many references. These processes include embossing, specialty UV coatings and metallic finishes.

The study outlined instances where foil enhancements increased the success and viability of marketing campaigns, such as these case studies:

Colgate® Total® Toothpaste Launch 2

 Product introduced in the United States with holographic foilstamped packaging in early December 1997 with a $100 millionmarketing campaign
 Becomes the #1 toothpaste brand in USA within four months witha 30 percent market share
 Altered the standard of packaging in the oral care category

Best Choice® Private Label Products 5

 Added gold foil stamping to its olive oil brand
 Retailers who stocked the new package experienced a 30-percentjump in velocity for the brand and retention of 10-15 percent thereafter. Over time, other products received packaging makeovers featuring foil stamping.
 Sales for parent company Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc. from 2004 to 2008 increased by nearly 50 percent.
 A 2006 survey commissioned by the Private Label Manufacturers Association reported that 57 percent of respondents said packaging for private label brands is just as good as the packaging for national brands.
 Best Choice® products are the test subjects in the study described within this white paper.

Gillette® MACH3® Razor Launch 3

 Product introduced with overprinted/foil stamped graphics in 1998
 Becomes the #1 selling razor in the USA and Europe within sixmonths despite a premium price tag that many critics believed wastoo high

Perhaps the most significant finding was how the use of foil enhancements increased the perception of security and quality in the marketplace:

It is the conclusion of the research team that this was a very thorough and effective pilot study. There are clear advantages to foil stamping on packaging, in terms of attracting attention faster and retaining attention on packaging longer than identical packages without foil stamping. Through these tests, it is also the hypothesis of the research team that foil stamping increases sales, but this will need to be quantified through a study specific to tracking sales.

Overall, this pilot experiment clearly indicates that foil stamping on packaging provides real benefits concerning consumer attention on packaging. Additional studies are recommended to confirm these results and explore other potential benefits of visual enhancement techniques on packaging.

The Foil & Specialty Effects Association estimates that high-visibility enhancements are found on less than 10 percent of printed items. What impact do those enhancements have on shelf presence? Find out by reading the entire study here on the Post Press News Blog.

By providing state-of-the-art post press services, Post Press Specialties has become a valuable resource to commercial printers everywhere. Contact us today and we’ll be happy to discuss how we can help you provide your customers a profound competitive advantage.

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Self-Mailers: The Do’s and Don’ts

Post Press Specialties — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 16:09:49 +0000

The 2015 DMA Response Rate Report has come out and shows that, on average, direct mail achieves a 3.7% response rate with a house list, and a 1.0% response rate with a prospect list. Not bad, in fact, direct mail has an open rate that’s almost 6x better than most digital response channels.

While those stats are pretty good, direct marketing professionals are always looking for ways to get “the envelopes opened”. That’s why more and more direct mail campaigns are “self-mailers”.

Simply put, a self-mailer is any mailing that is completely self-contained and doesn’t require an envelope. A postcard is a self-mailer. So is a catalog. In fact, there are hundreds of kinds of self-mailing pieces or formats you can use. Obviously, self-mailers eliminate the “get the envelope opened problem.”

Here are a few reasons why a self-mailing piece might be a great option:

$$$$$

Perhaps the greatest advantage of a self-mailer is the cost. Self-mailers eliminate quite a bit of printing. Obviously you’ll save on the envelopes, but also on all the collateral that goies in the envelope.

YOUR MESSAGE CONVEYED IMMEDIATELY

A well designed self-mailer gets your message across immediately. There are no pesky envelopes to get in the way.

PERFECT CALL TO ACTION

Self-mailers work best when there is a clear call to action. Subtle selling is where the self-mailer shines. Driving traffic to a website, getting new subscribers for a mailing list or inviting prospects to an open house are perfect for the medium.

DON’T DO TOO MUCH

Don’t use a self-mailer to convey a complex message. The self-mailer should be used when the sales message is short and sweet.

TIPS FOR COPYWRITERS

Some general tips when writing and designing a self-mailer:

* Make the call-to-action clear and compelling on the front panel.

* Make it newsworthy!

* Always use captions for all images. Space is limited, don’t waste an opportunity to sell.

* Testimonials and great product reviews work great! Make ‘em short!

* Have you won any awards? Perfect opportunity to brag.

* Coupons, coupons and more coupons. Don’t forget to create immediacy by including an expiration date!

* The offer is just as important as the product.

Post Press Specialties are experts in self-mailers. Call us today at 816-257-1919 and we’ll be happy to discuss your upcoming project.

The post Self-Mailers: The Do’s and Don’ts appeared first on Post Press Specialties.

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Enhancing Your Printed Pieces to Increase Shelf Life and Response

Self-Mailers: The Do’s and Don’ts