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direct mail campaign

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Together with the water-cooler, the telephone, and the desktop the photocopier is the most common piece of office equipment everywhere. You most likely don’t think there’re a lot of things about the photocopier that could shock you and, to be frank, you’re maybe right. Yet there’re still one or two fascinating facts that may just take you by surprise.

Here are some things you probably didn’t know about your office-photocopying machine:

1.     Staple and Hole Punch Documents

If your institution or workplace still requires you to hole punch or staple your own documents, you’re missing out on useful efficiency-improving state-of-the-art technology.

Modern-day photocopiers can staple documents themselves, using automatic processes to make the subsequent documents hardwearing and giving them a professional look.

2.     Track Costs

Copy toner and paper can be one of the most important sources of spending in any office. These machines on a daily basis produce countless pages of documents, which is both expensive and bad for the environment.

Your office copy machine makes it easy to track individual, departmental and company-printing patterns to find out exactly how much is being spent on printing. This helps cut costs and measure inefficiencies.

3.     Fold Documents from Your Photocopier

If you’ve ever attempted to make a simple, image-heavy flyer for your business, you know that folding a lot of individual papers gets boring very fast. Much worse, it is difficult to maintain the same quality when folding the pages yourself.

Finishing modules can fold papers in different ways, using repeatable, automated actions to produce flawlessly consistent folds.

4.     Better Document Security

Nowadays, photocopiers can encrypt documents that are scanned and backed up on your network.

Other great security features comprise the use of proximity cards, login photos, and individual PIN codes. These advanced security features restrict access and usage to workflows and documents on the photocopier panel itself.

5.     Create Mail-Ready Envelopes

You don’t need an envelope printer to create lots of mail-ready envelopes. Multifunction copy machines with the capability of printing envelopes can also print images directly onto the envelopes, as well as address info that differs from envelope to envelop.

This saves a lot time out of the process of starting a direct mail campaign, either for institutional or marketing purposes.

6.     You Can’t Duplicate Money on a Modern Color Copier

Rookie money-launderers beware! If you are considering using your office’s MFD to copy money, reconsider. Modern-day photocopiers come equipped with a feature that recognizes an embedded pattern in money.

It then marks all copies rendering them unusable. So, even if you in some way succeed to get your hands on the rare government paper needed, starting your own cash factory during your lunch break is off.

7.     Sitting on Your Copy Machine is a Bad Idea

Twenty percent of all photocopier maintenances are required as a result of damage caused by someone sitting on them and putting far too much pressure on the glass. Always stay out of the photocopier room when the drink starts flowing in your workplace.

8.     Scan Hard Copy Documents to Make Editable Electronic Documents

How many times have you retyped a document to make some adjusts since it is only obtainable in paper format? Well, this can be such a waste of precious time. Worst of all, your PC crashed and the document wasn’t saved, and now it is lost forever, except for the hard copy on your desk.

It is as simple as scanning your hard copy into the office photocopier directly into PDF or Microsoft Word.

9.     Integrate with Cloud, Email and Mobile Services

Office technology is quickly changing to a paperless environment. Part of that change includes taking paper documents and converting them into digital ones. In order to do this, modern-day copiers integrate with networks to receive and send documents through the Internet.

Now, you can scan editable images of docs to mail, and still convert them to editable word documents and PDFs. You can print documents and images from your smartphone, or make physical copies of digital documents located on a cloud-based platform such as Google Docs.

10. Chronic Arthritis Inspired the Invention of the Photocopier

Chester Carlson invented the photocopying machine back in 1938. He was driven to research the process after spending years as a patent attorney and law student, re-writing legal documents manually.

His chronic arthritis made his work as law student and patent attorney unbearable. Additionally, when Carlson first started presenting his invention around the big hardware companies of the day he was turned down. Carlson later shared his idea with the non-profit Battelle Memorial Institute, who helped him research the technology.

11. Copy Machines Were Once a Serious Fire Hazard

Xerox 914, the first popular photocopying machine, took the business world by a storm in the 50s. Crazily enough, if it were released today, it would never get past safety and health.

Not only did over-use of the machine risk overheating, the machine would usually burst into flames after printing too many copies. This was such a huge problem that Xerox had to give out free fire extinguishers with each photocopying machine they sold!

12. Copiers have a Good Memory

More than fifty percent of used photocopiers contain info that has been left by previous owners. So, when you take into account the amount of highly sensitive info circulating in the office on a daily basis, the danger should quickly become clear to you.

Selling your old office photocopier? Remember to wipe out all images and files from its memory.

13. Renting a Copier is More Economical Compared to Buying one Outright

For most startups purchasing invaluable office equipment such as a photocopier may be a scary investment, mostly as a result of the probability of it becoming obsolete and the huge capital outlay. Leasing or renting a copier is the smart option with an abundance of good business-sense advantages.

However, If you make less than seven hundred copies a month, you maybe don’t need to rent photocopiers for your business. You would be better off purchasing small desktop printers.

Conclusion

Copy machines are designed with state-of-the-art technology that sometimes goes completely ignored and unused. Creating the time to learn what your copier is capable of can change the way you do everyday tasks and save you a considerable amount of time.

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Image source Pexels

The product or service your business is offering has passed the test of consumer acceptance.  You’ve found a niche.  The customer base is growing by word-of-mouth and expanding.  Obviously, you are offering something that consumers want and now it’s time to surge, get the word out, and let the outside world know that what you’re offering is worth considering and, ultimately, buying.  You’ve decided to give advertising by Direct Mail a shot.

The first thing you have to learn about with Direct Mail is the 40/40/20 Rule.  This is the concept of breaking down any Direct Mail campaign into three key components: The Target Market, The Offer and The Creative Design of your mailer.

WHAT IS THE TARGET MARKET?

The Target Market is the group of consumers whom you are trying to reach with your particular offer.  Once you identify them, either by income or location or profession or a myriad of other criteria based upon your product offering, you need to go to professional mailing list provider and work with that supplier to find the right list of direct mail recipients for your product or service.  About 40% of the success of your new business campaign will depend upon the efficacy of this list, which is what the first ‘40’ of the 40/40/20 Rule denotes.  That’s why most direct marketers allocate about 40% of their budget to procuring this list.

The list of consumers and their mailing addresses that you end up buying will probably not be a perfect fit for your campaign.  Direct mailing lists rarely are.  As a matter of fact, it might only satisfy a small part of the criteria that you originally desired.  That is not uncommon because, obviously, the world outside your nascent business’ narrow customer base is a huge, diverse, unpredictable zone.  But that’s part of the beauty of a Direct Mail campaign – you are expanding into the unknown.  These are all new customers with different needs and wants and your company’s offer is being placed right smack dab in front of them at their mailbox.  Who knows what might happen?  There could be a gigantic customer base just waiting to be mined somewhere outside your experience or environs that you never even dreamed of finding.

WHAT IS THE OFFER?

The Offer is a request for your potential customers to consider changing what they have been buying, or to try something completely new.  It is a call to action for mail recipients to eschew what they’re used to and to break new ground.  Your offer could be anything from a discount coupon to an invitation to a grand opening to a logo’d t-shirt to a chance to win a new car.  It is the reward a consumer gets for just walking into your store.  But the more exciting The Offer is, the more likely your direct mail solicitation will yield results, which brings us to the second ‘40’ of the 40/40/20 Rule.  You should allocate at least 40% of your campaign budget to The Offer.  It will add to the Return on Investment (ROI) of this Direct Marketing campaign more than any other single component, so you should think long and hard as to exactly what this enticement is going to be.

WHAT IS THE BEST CREATIVE DESIGN?

The actual Direct Mail card or letter that ends up in the consumer’s mailbox is the ‘20’ in the 40/40/20 Rule and, thus, should be around 20% of your marketing budget.  This is the one-time, brief contact a potentially new customer has with your company so it must be dynamic, colorful and attention grabbing.  If your solicitation takes the form of a letter, with coupon and bonus inserts, you’re going to need personalized envelopes with some eye-catching graphics to make sure that envelope gets opened and to keep it from hitting the trash can, unopened.  The rest of the graphics in your mailer should support a single theme and drive it home with forceful, single-minded purpose – get the customer engaged and entice him or her to follow through on your offer.

WHAT SHOULD YOU EXPECT FROM YOUR CAMPAIGN?

The typical response rate to a Direct Mail campaign usually ranges from about 1% to 5%.  There are a lot of factors affecting this rate.  If you have a ‘warm’ list, that is, a list that you’ve direct mailed before, meaning that this solicitation would be the second time a consumer has seen your announcement, you should be in the upper extent of that range.  ‘Cold’ (first time) list will probably be less.  To help you decide how much you should allocate for your first campaign, there are Direct Mail Online Calculators that will demonstrate how much you can expect to gain.

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