W Who knew? No paper? How’s that happen? But now that it has, some are thinking, hey, no problem, we’ll go all digital, but hey, digital doesn’t work for everything.

It seems as it should be easy to turn our backs on direct mail, print advertising, collateral, and paper issues of magazines. But it’s not quite that simple.

Digital is ideal for retention, but you can’t survive for long just churning out renewals and relying on auto renewal. Eventually, those fatiquing names are going to become new business prospects from sheer neglect. So, we need direct mail, we need print, we need paper.

The challenge is to use less paper, but digital can’t take up the slack… really… it can’t. Direct mail gets you new busieness. It gets you predictable, reliable, consistent orders you can count. Need 5,000 new names on your file? Mail. Need to launch a new title or product? Mail.

Need to communicate a renewal or upsell to your existing base? Digital works well for that. Direct mail can get you orders. Digital can too, but not like direct mail.

So, here we are, how do we deal with the problem? Creatively.

We need to be even more productive with our ideas, strategies, and creative. By being more efficient with lists, with reaching the right people, and saying the right thing to get them to subscribe, purchase, give, and convert. Here are a few ideas.

• TESTING. Remember that word? Test to gain efficiency. Test to fine tune your message. Test to find the best offer. Test to guarantee a better response at rollout.
• LISTS. Mail to less, but make them the best prospects for the offer. This means using less paper, and more brain power to reach the best prospects.
• REDWRITE. REDESIGN. REDO your creative. A new letter written by the best copywriter, can make a tired package into a new control. A strategic redesign can do the same, without starting from scratch.
• FINE TUNE YOUR FUNNEL. Combine print with digital to maximize response. Here’s a clue. Use email to announce direct mail, then use email as a reminder. You’ll boost response to the direct mail, enhance results, and be way more efficient.
• DESIGN TO THE PAPER. If paper is an issue, make it part of the creative solution. Design to what you can get, design to the stock your magazine is printed on. Using paper selection can actually reinforce brand. Don’t believe me? Let me show you.

When you’re ready to tackl the paper problem with creative, call IngramCS. We can help.