With the onslaught of ads and online messages we are receiving every day these days, our brains have learned to tune out digital communication without even noticing.
Now more than ever, do not let your fundraising or outreach campaign rely on digital efforts alone!
At GDLOFT, we know there’s been a move towards digital in recent years. While digital can be less expensive, it can also have low click rates and become disposable as saturation increases. There is certainly a place for digital in your organization’s efforts, but…
Print must play a role—now more than ever! Here’s why:
• Print harder to ignore.When it comes to email or digital, we’ve trained ourselves not to look at it anymore. We don’t even have to make a decision. With print, you have to at least pick it up, recognize it’s there, and make a decision about what to do with it.
• Print buys you a moment in time.If what you’re sending is irrelevant, then that moment in time is wasted. But if you’re sending something relevant, valuable or shareable, then you’ve made a valuable connection.
42.2% of direct mail recipients either read or scan the mail they get. Only 22.8% say they don’t read it at all.(Data & Marketing Association)
• Print shows effort, stability, respect. In a world of fleeting digital, print has a bit of luxury to it. It’s afternoon tea instead of a Wawa takeaway cup. At GDLOFT, we believe that if you’re asking for money or attendance, print can be superior. It shows you’re invested. And in our experience, the responses and donations reflect that effort.
• Print is tangible—which is memorable.With the tactility of print, you’re activating more senses. You can see it, feel it, hear the paper crinkle, smell the ink.
“People understand and remember what they read on paper better than what they read on screen. Researchers think the physicality of paper explains this discrepancy.”—Ferris Jabr, “The Brain Prefers Paper”, Scientific America
• People like getting mail—and it converts! Mailboxes used to be filled with junk mail. Now, an intentional print piece truly stands out.
41% of Americans of all ages look forward to checking their mail each day.(Gallup)
The response rate for direct-mail marketing is 37% higher than the email rate.(MarketingProfs)
• Print creates ownership. As we said in our 2016 presentation for the Federal Reserve (which may be even more relevant today):
In psychology and behavioral economics, the endowment effect is the hypothesis that people ascribe more value to things merely because they own them. Touching and the physical nature of things enhances this effect. To touch a thing is to trigger a reaction: as soon as we do, we develop a sense of ownership and value towards it.
Want to see the power of print in action?
Here’s a piece we did for Eastern State Penitentiary’s annual appeal that resulted in a huge increase in donations:
“Our donations for the annual appeal increased by 333% because of this printed component. GDLOFT guided us and made it easy.”
At GDLOFT, we ensure your print materials are connective, relevant, valuable and sharable. Otherwise it’s a waste of money—and our priority is maximizing your money.
When it comes to print:
• We maximize your budget.Do we want you to create elaborate print pieces with enormous quantities? Absolutely not. We want you to use print when it will create a result. Our approach is sophisticated, strategic, and targeted.
• We are thoughtful and intentional.When a prospective student receives a piece of mail from a college, or a potential supporter receives a call to action—these are important moments. We honor them.
• We use a systematic approach.We interlace print and digital in a way that is smart. Print should be part of a multi-touch effort that considers goals, timing, your audience and so much more.
• We consider multiple or extended use to reduce waste. We work to make print pieces savable and shareable—and we also consider the environment is our printing practices.
At GDLOFT, we empower and maximize print to empower and maximize your organization.
We don’t do print for print’s sake—we do it for your organization’s sake. For the sake of creating genuine connections with your patrons!
If this is the moment when you need print to make an impact, we can help.
At GDLOFT, we can help you craft a multi-touch campaign which incudes print, digital, and everything you need to make your initiative a success.
This Blog post was Featured in GD USA Magazine! Check it out here.
