When does a direct mail campaign actually work well? The answer rarely starts with questions about paper, format, or print run. Rather, it begins with the question of what a campaign is intended to achieve. Is it meant to attract new customers, re-engage existing customers, draw attention to an offer, or complement a digital campaign? Only once the goal is clear can you consider which format and communication mix are best suited to it. This is exactly where Sappi with his magazine Let's Talk About Print, or LTAP for short.

From Production Order to Customer Meeting

Sappi is an international manufacturer of paper and packaging solutions that has been active in the printing industry for many years and is a partner of WE.LOVE.PRINT. Through LTAP, the company highlights the opportunities that print offers in marketing and provides facts, studies, and real-world examples to support this.

This also raises the question of how printing companies can engage with their customers beyond the actual production order. After all, customers are often looking for more than just a printing company to produce a job. They want to know how to reach their target audiences and what role a direct mail campaign can play within their overall communication strategy.

What should happen on the recipient's end?

A direct mail campaign can serve a wide variety of purposes: A postcard can draw attention to a promotion. A self-mailer can provide a more detailed description of an offer. A personalized direct mail campaign can be tailored to specific customer groups, and when combined with digital initiatives, print can create additional touchpoints.

According to Sappi, direct mail captures attention for an average of about 134 seconds. Sappi states that combining print and digital strategies can increase ROI by up to 25 percent. Figures like these can be helpful in discussions with clients. They provide concrete arguments and help both parties take a closer look at the situation together.

More Than Just the Right Format

For printing companies, this opens up a different kind of conversation. Instead of talking directly about paper and format, the discussion can start with the target audience, the occasion, the message, and the desired response.

Which customers should we target? What should they do after receiving the mailing? Are there already digital touchpoints? What content can be personalized? And how can the campaign align with the rest of our marketing efforts? These questions quickly lead to more concrete ideas and ultimately help us find the right approach for implementation.

LTAP as a conversation starter for the sales team

That’s exactly what Sappi’s LTAP magazine provides. Studies, statistics, and real-world examples show how print and digital channels can work together, what opportunities personalized mailings offer, and what role print can play within a campaign.

For sales teams, this provides a practical foundation for customer conversations. Instead of just talking about products and production capabilities, they can build on their customers’ marketing goals using concrete facts and examples. After all, a customer doesn’t need to know right away what printing technology is behind a mailing. What they need to know is what they can achieve with their campaign.

What this means for print

When a discussion with a client focuses more on these questions, the perspective on the print job also changes. The focus then shifts to a campaign, a target audience, and a desired response. The specific print product is developed from there.

For printing companies, this may present an opportunity: They continue to contribute their production expertise, but also broaden the conversation to include their customers’ perspective. After all, a mailing doesn't start with the paper. It starts with the question of what the recipient should receive.

LTAP provides facts and examples to support this. And perhaps that’s exactly what’s needed sometimes to turn a traditional sales pitch into a better conversation with the customer.

You can find the magazine on the topic of “dialogue marketing” here.