Behind The Press: Planet Direct Mail

Welcome to Behind The Press today I have

Christiana with me from Planet Direct Mail how is it that you’ve seen the print industry evolve over the last few

years uh for me the biggest conduit of change that I’ve seen is covid I think

um seeing how the industry has navigated uh paper shortages staffing issues uh just the

overall crisis that that created um the resilience that I have seen come out of

the end of that has been a much more collaborative environment so to me

seeing a much more collaborative environment with people I work with internally uh with my clients with our

different um with our different partners that we work with I feel like it’s become a very um results driven uh sort

of sort of path because you know before I felt like everybody was you know get

it done get it done get it done and now it’s like we’re taking a step back to say what is the best way to get this

done what is the best way to fill this need for our clients for our partners

for the organizations that we represent um and I really feel like that came

because the industry just got completely turned upside down um during the co process like many Industries really so I

think that was the biggest change overall can you give an example of something that maybe you guys changed internally with your business as a

result of Co that maybe you still continue with today yes well actually

for us we one of our biggest biggest things that we did during covid was we actually built our building that we’re

in now so we actually uh took advantage of the time and it was not an easy time

to go into that but we decided to expand our footprint to 115,000 Square ft and

move everything back in under one roof because it’s just it was much easier we we’ve been going back and forth between

two different facilities and we took the opportunity to go ahead and grow and

expand and that definitely um could have could have come ACR could have been more of a risk but uh for us it’s definitely

been a major major win and the fact we were able to go through that during Peak

covid broke ground moved whole nine yards during a lot of those shutdowns

was really really I I I feel like it attests to the strength of our organization I love that

high risk high reward yeah exactly exactly so what role do you think that

print plays in today’s marketing landscape especially with the rise of you know digital media me why I think I

think we’re getting inundated with digital media to the point that we’re almost numb to it um I know just

speaking for myself I I do look at marketing pieces a little differently I think than than than than the average um

consumer um coming from a marketing perspective but for me I think that the

biggest change has been um mail stands out now like you know

everyone seems to have been cutting their mailing budgets back but I mean even we’re looking at some of the

results from the previous election where Direct Mail had cut back in in some

areas and in some in some different uh directions so I’m seeing now the

validity of direct mail I think it’s coming back I think printing is starting to have a little bit more of a

Resurgence but I also think that it’s due to um higher personalization so I

think you know the digital printing aspect um is allowing uh companies to

have a more robust marketing plan and focus more on the content and not necessarily the quantity so they’re

heavily doing heavy personalization heavy um color personalization color VAR

a a lot there’s a lot more um options available with those types of

capabilities for marketing to be more diverse and go to a location that is

actually not getting a lot of of love these days but everybody’s looking at their mailbox and I think you have a

better chance of responding to different things based on what you’re looking at your mail so I agree you know as

somebody that is a big believer in Technologies being you know complimentary to direct mail you do have

to to look at you know how there’s less real estate of course in the mailbox you got there’s average of you know 10

pieces that message is you know really sticking there so I know you mentioned personalization what do you guys do

specifically to um in regards to personalization to increase the engagement and response rates for your

clients Direct Mail we like to make suggestions you know we have we have four color uh digital web printing

we also have uh standard digital printing as well with that is uh black uh black and that sort of so um for us

we’re using those capabilities to give our clients more options to do more VAR

do more variables do more packaging do more testing overall so we’re because

we’re strictly on the mail shop side really what we do on the printed mail side is help our clients find better

ways to do their mail so we’re not trying to redo strategy we’re just trying to complement the strategy and

enhance the strategy that they’re already working through for themselves so are you seeing an increase

in demand for sustainable packaging or printing materials particularly with direct Mo yes yes I think um that has

always been a major a major important piece of environmental fundraising and

also um animal awareness that sort um Animal Welfare those types of organizations have always had a very

strong pull for sustainability but even now the post office has added incentives

that help um encourage sustainability and they’re actually giving discounts through some incentive add-ons for

sustainability and for using certified materials that can you know that are better for the environment and better

for production that kind of thing do you have any specific examples of what those discounts are or different options there

for anybody that maybe is curious yes yes absolutely the incentive programs have have been are actually really

robust for 2025 uh with the USPS and um in this case the sustainability piece is

a 1% um incentive on top of one of the other so the the mailing has to already

be approved for either um integrated marketing or uh tactile there are

several different uh versions that it has to be a part of already and approved

for but if it is using certain um inks or stock it can get that additional 1%

off the initial 3 or 4% depending on what um incentive uh program they’re

participating in so having the sustainable packaging will give a better incentive on top of an incentive that

they’ve already applied for yes and it always helps we love to stack those together absolutely so how has

automation impacted the workflow and cost efficiency of direct mail production for you guys I think for H

for us specifically we’ve built a lot of proprietary automations to help us stay in front of our clients help us

stay um quickly responsive if there is a project that’s running a lot of the

automations we’ve put in place have made it so that our personnel do not have to leave their desk they can see how much a

job is running how well it’s running um if there are any issues with the job it’s able to be corrected in real time

and not on the back end it literally can be correct while it is running so if there’s any sort of like jams things like that a lot

of our automations are prepared to actually catch those sort of things to um to actually do that so a lot of our

internal automations that we’ve created um have made us a much more efficient

mailer for our clients and for our uh company as a whole so just peky backing

on that I am curious your thoughts on how you think that artificial intelligence is going to play a role in

direct mail I know it’s you know emerging pretty heavily here so do you guys have any plans to use AI towards

you know direct mail or production or just if you don’t have any plans in place I am curious just where you see it

you know kind of being a fit within the print industry I see it as a fit um I

mean obviously I’ve already seen certain organizations starting to utilize it for their marketing copy so indirectly it

does affect us indirectly it is something that is passing through our doors all the time um I think overall

automation and um different production tools that can be created and improved by AI I I do

see us going more in that direction though because I’ve I’m seeing how those AI automations are helping me with my

marketing initiatives my development initiatives different sales activities that sort of thing um but overall I

think it’s with Direct Mail specifically I think it’s more coming across in the

copy and automation side so we’re ready for it we’re already seeing it and um it’s more of a you have to embrace to

understand in my opinion so I feel in this case it’s it’s just a matter of us learning and continuing to stay current

with the different trends that we’re seeing and also you know trying to be ahead of some of them as well and utilize some things through our

automations to um hopefully keep us at the Forefront of the game yeah absolutely to ever changing environment

you definitely want to you know stay with the Innovations for sure I consider it more of an opportunity to be honest

um the challenges tend to be more in in the realm of

um you know obviously with actual production but those are things we have

camera matching systems on all of our inserting equipment we also have camera uh quality checks on our binder

equipment so for us those uh different if it’s something that is high match um

High touch that kind of thing we’ve already got we we’ve got equipment and capabilities in place to catch and track

as it goes through the production Stream So for us it’s more of a if it is a

multi match if it’s you know a package that’s got four plus different matches

within it that’s something that we’re we excel at because we’ve got all the different automations in addition to

actual person um an actual individual QC team as well okay and I know you

mentioned obviously it’s important for you know customers to be able to track and everything like that how do you

currently track the return on investment of a direct mail campaign what should clients be focused on uh for us it’s not

something uh we we track internally with our clients I mean for us what we see if if we see a package that continues to

come back to us um and continue testing and they continue using it like a a solid control package uh that’s kind of

our own metric of okay this package is clearly doing well and we’ll file file that away something that works um but

overall tracking is not necessarily a service we we provide our clients Beyond

tracking the actual mail piece but um if if you’re not tracking obviously um

you’re you’re only as good as you’re tracking as far as the actual marketing campaign is make sure it gets there exactly our goal is get it there get it

there correctly if a client were new to direct mail you know is there any kind of advice or any suggestions that you

would make to them to be able to navigate that kind of process like if someone is not currently mailing but they’re looking to add that as their

marketing strategy do you have any kind of thoughts or Insight them that you would maybe give them to guide them to

start in that space I personally love those I I love I love getting someone that is that is new to the space um uh I

I’ve worked with quite a few people from a from different organizations ac across

you know my my whole career and I think some of the best ways to plug in is get involved in some of the um organizations

that are uh different associations like I’m I’m involved with the direct marketing Association at Washington uh

direct marketing fundraisers Association U finding associations that kind of can align with your values and provide

training and networking and in some cases mentorship so for me one of the first things I would do it’s one of the

first things I did in my career almost 20 years ago was you know align myself with some different uh individuals

within the industry um even if they weren’t necessarily doing exactly what I was doing I started to understand the

client I started to understand how how the overall process works and I was able

to take that and and grow from there but I I definitely would would encourage an involvement in in one of the

organizations like that that are on the larger scale so you can actually take some other their classes and network

with some of the different mentors that are in leadership there how long have you been in the printing

industry um I said almost 20 but I think it’s over 20 now so that you started at

or did you start in something else funny story I actually started um making cold

calls uh for a mail shop uh 20 years ago and uh F job yeah it was it was

literally cold calls to set appointments for um potential clients for a mail shop and I ended up working

for that mail shop directly and then it kind of went from there and I yeah I

it’s not like it was an intention it was literally I I kind of had the joke that I tripped and fell and landed in direct

mail and here and 20 years later I’m like oh wow I tripped and fell into a career this is great but um but yeah

over over time I enjoy uh production I enjoy marketing I love working for causes that I that I personally value so

this gives me an opportunity to to help and support some of those causes in a

more corporate environment but I still feel like I’ve got a hand in that sort of marketing and I I to me that

definitely is why I’ve been in it this long is is the overall you know it’s an impact it’s an impact organization it’s

an impact uh uh industry and that’s that’s my opinion absolutely you know I

am curious to we are of course in a primarily male dominated industry what

do you feel are you know challenges benefits to that of being a female in

that environment and do you have any kind of insights you know just your

personal opinion do you think that that’s going to shift you know obviously the the landscape of the print industry

is you know Ever Changing do you think that that Dynamic is going to change or kind of how do you see that um I’m

seeing it shift uh when I started I it was it was very he heavily

male-dominated at that point and I feel like the only the the major there were women in leadership and that type of

thing in in these organizations but for the most part I feel like a lot of the women were on the side of um production

or or client services and things like that and I think through that and as

we’ve all kind of evolved in our careers we’re we’re starting we’re in the phase now where we’re in getting leadership

roles and we’re asking for those roles and I think this is the time for you

know women to ask like yes it’s a it it’s a male dominating industry but I see it flipping and I not necessarily

flipping but I see it becoming more of a collaborative industry and I feel like it is a more collaborative industry now

than it was when I started 20 years ago and i’ I really um I like that I like

it’s it’s definitely I I kind of caught myself the other day saying oh yeah it’s it can feel like a boys club sometimes

well yeah but also you know be the change you know you know um I I love

opportunities to Mentor other young women and and other women that are not even necessarily young but women that are in the like starting in this

industry and wanting something different and you know doing career shifts things like that and um there’s there’s plenty

of room at the table we just need to see we just need to know where the table is you know or build a table not too you

you know and just kind of going off on that too you know I speak with several print providers that say sometimes it’s

challenging for them to you know find new employees or people that are younger and you know myself being a bit younger

you know I didn’t really have any knowledge to the print industry um you know I have a technology background and

then kind of fell into it a little bit too and it’s you know it’s such an expansive industry and it’s very

interesting to me um but you know when you go to school programs and things it’s not really so widely prominent that

you know it’s even available as an option so you know as a print company if

you’re wanting to attract you know the younger generation to you know kind of take on those roles and be able to

understand you know why print is so valuable and how it does make that impact do you have any kind of advice or

do you guys do anything internally to attract you know a younger audience and try to um you know educate them on the

industry and the options that they do have available to them as careers I I think honestly in the

interview process when we when we’re looking for different roles in that um we we have a wide range of of Ages and

demographics that that do apply for these roles and um one of my my

co-workers here the colleagues that we’ve worked closely together for many years uh we we try our best to

communicate the options like this is this really can be a career this you

know we’re you know we’re 20 plus years in and you know this is this has been a

consistent way that we’ve you know supported our families there’s been Room to Grow there’s there’s opportunities I

think because there is you know the industry is kind of shaking itself out a

little in a little bit of a weird way right now there are more opportunities there’s and there’s so much technology

leverage now that you really you really can move around like if let’s say you’re

in customer service but you you’re starting to really get into the data side and you want to learn more about

that there are excellent educational tracks you can take to learn these other

sides of the industry and at the end of it you become a very diverse in individual with several different skills

that are marketable um in this industry and and I mean even others but um our

goal is to really show the benefit of the growth and what we’ve seen in this industry because there is the the

overall the over arching term of oh print is dead and I hate saying that like I I hate saying that or you know I

hate that too I hate that and I you know I hate saying that and I also you know hearing the like I don’t even like

calling um Direct Mail junk mail because to me it pay it pays my bills so like I’m not gonna call something that

supports my family junk so for me I’m it’s marketing and I love the Dynamics

there of of being a part of marketing structure and marketing planning and I think walking that talk um and just ex

like even when we get someone in here that doesn’t necessarily have a background and is showing that it’s a

career and not just a job and really walking that you know they they see myself that like not I’m not young but

I’m not exactly um in the Twilight of My Career either but for me you know being

able to show somebody that is been in this industry for for a decent amount of time that started and has a growth

trajectory and can actually show how I have grown and how I’ve developed within the industry and within different

organizations up till now um I’m an example of it so I I feel how you

mentioned about you know being mentor and things like that yeah exactly and there’s such a value to the mentors the

mentorship piece and I feel like even if you’re not a direct Mentor having that attitude of mentoring um respectfully

mentoring those around you and and bringing people with you you know be excited

and it’s not even like a faking a thing either it’s like I’m genu I genuinely like what I do for a living I love what I do I love that I feel like having that

attitude and that can also help you know if someone sees that when they’re coming in I think that’s that’s also important

yeah of course all right so what do you feel are the biggest challenges that

you’re facing today as a printer in the current state of the market um I uh for for us really the

market is shifting a lot so I feel like prices are are driving down and Staffing

costs are rising up so it’s you know there’s there is the balance there are those balances that that we’re

encountering you know um in a lot of cases it’s you’ve got to be the best

across the board but you got to have the best price to be at the table and um so for us it’s it’s navigating that

navigating you know the the shifts in the market and know weathering that you

know it’s it’s you know we’re coming off an election season that was very strange and um I feel like a lot of a lot of

other organizations that are in our same industry can say that it’s been a weird

year um can’t say good can’t say bad but it’s been a very weird year that is not

exactly like we’ve seen before so it’s really navigating the differences and

modifying your plan moving forward saying okay this was weird what’s working what’s not working let’s keep

let’s keep moving let’s keep trying let’s keep going after some of the newer Innovations newer capabilities you know

let’s really tune in and take the time to hear or to listen to what our clients are looking for and to listen to what

the industry is doing as a whole so we’re ready with those changes now I know it’s kind of a controversial topic

but I do want to ask about um you know USPS we obviously know they are in a uh

deficit um but you know there are also several conversations about different innovations that they’re talking about

you know putting in place things like you know electric vehicles or not having um you know delivery drivers when

they’re dropping off mail you know not taking an empty truck back that should save lots of money things like that um

so I’m just kind of curious how you see that and um you know there different initiatives and the different changes

that are taking place um I know obviously we have some postal discounts that can maybe offset some of that but I

am curious how you see that going or you don’t know but you know your thoughts on that um personally my thoughts are I

think I think some decisions were made

that resulted in more discomfort than the post office or the USPS was

expecting and as a result um mail volumes are down and you know they’re

they’ve continued to you know try and find other ways to bolster package

shipping and everything that I feel like the the marketing mail

has fallen by the wayside unfortunately and I feel like they need the while the incentives are

fantastic um I I think more thought should have been I personally think more

thought should have been put into the strategy of raising the price twice a

year every year for 10 years um we’re halfway through that and we you know we

got the the good news that prices were not going to increase in January for the main sects of mail that uh we support

but what’s going to happen in July you know what what’s going to happen um when the next schedule the next schedule

increase happens and um for me I

just I have been disappointed by some of the things I have seen and I think that that has pushed a lot of people to

mail um less than than they were which you know I I understand that it’s

putting more focus on digital capabilities so I feel like the Silver Lining is we’re learning to Pivot and

we’re learning to Pivot for our our clients and for our organizations that

need some different options and that sort of thing to move forward

so it’s complicated I I can’t say that I’m happy with decisions that were made

and I cannot say that I am surprised and I cannot say that I am upset I literally am neutral and trying to remain

optimistic to an extent I hear you and just take that you know next step there with mail volumes

you know seeing a decline because of the price increases obviously we know that

Direct Mail is extremely impactful and still a very important marketing channel um if not one of those strongest um so

how do you kind of convey that to customers or um um you know push back on

that you know how do you overcome their objection to their cost going up knowing that typically Direct Mail is still

making a very lasting impact and a stronger impact than like you said you know ads you know being inundated with

that um how do you combat that price increase to make them still know that you know Direct Mail is going to bring

back that high return on investment for them with their you know marketing I think it’s important to have access to

the numbers and there are some excellent report reporting um there’s been some

excellent reporting on this for a while now that I think um I’ve been able to

have handy if I’ve had some push back on some different programs or different different things oh we don’t really

think it’s it’s a valid point we’re focusing on email right now it’s like okay well I understand that let me send you some more information these are some

of the metrics that we’re seeing across the board regarding return on investment that kind of thing for for direct email

so I feel having the numbers um and having different reports available is very important uh even basic Pew

research data has has quite a few uh different metrics on it that that’s positive in the direct mail sense so I

feel like having your answers ready having your um having your metrics ready to present to your clients is is very

important now and you mentioned um meeting to Pivot and it gives you the opportunity to you know provide

different services to your clients how do you feel that technology is playing a role in the printing space and you know

what do you think about that digital advertising in complimentary to the direct mail I think I think it’s like a

I think it’s a family the whole thing works when it’s working together so for me I think it is it is a very it is just

as valid of a piece it just needs to collaborate you know it needs to it needs to be cohesive it needs to be

memorable and I don’t think you should have just one channel like obviously I’m a direct mail Champion I I’m all yeah

direct male but I also have to acknowledge the value of having an a successful Omni Channel and

uh Omni Channel campaign and the importance of having the digital side as well as the direct mail side so for me

it’s it’s definitely having the pieces cohesive and working together and you we don’t we do not provide any of the

services in that in that space with the digital space however you know we work

closely with organizations that that use it in everything so for us it’s just as

important to make sure those pieces and those collaborative pieces are matching for them are coordinated properly have

proper PMS color all the the whole whole nine years making sure everything is a cohesive package for for them because

it’s it’s even a lot of times when I’ll even get a direct mail piece I will have been already seeing emails come through

I’ve been getting ads for it for different things um online banner ads

that kind of thing and it’s really to me I think it’s really cool when I get get something in the mailbox I’m like oh this works this is cool look it matches

like it’s you know I think it’s I think it’s fascinating the way they they work together yeah and that’s you know something that I feel is especially

important because you know when you get that mail piece and you’ve seen those advertisements you know that brand starts to be viewed as a trusted source

and you you know recognize it AB the mailbox so it all cohesive together it is you know very helpful for

sure so how do you guys plan to stay ahead of competition in the industry for

2025 do any big exciting plans uh for us we’re just going to continue doing what we do and we’re

going to continue uh you know working through uh like I said we’ve we’ve significantly increased our digital

capabilities and we’re we’ve gotten that off the ground and we are going full speed ahead to be a significant digital

printing resource for our clients uh in their different mail programs so for us it’s it’s working with the capabilities

that we’ve put in over the past year and really growing and bolstering those um those you

mentioned yes exactly so um with that being said do you have any exciting

projects that you have coming up or that you’ve worked on this year that you’re you know proud of that you guys have

accomplished uh for us we’ve really um increased our automations and our

different processes in that and have made efficiencies has efficiencies have

been just the biggest I think the biggest win for us so it’s not something that you necessarily see in the mailbox

but we feel it and with with you know seeing these different efficiencies and seeing how much better and how much

stronger we’re working uh through different projects uh it’s allowing us to to really grow I me one of the the

biggest things that we’ve really taken off with this past year uh was membership card to fixing and um and

also personalization as well inline personalization and being able to add that and add that resource for our for

our client base has been huge so like we’ve we’ve double our capacity in that area and that’s one that we’re

continuing to grow and we’re continuing to even work with people um different

organizations to add a member card program and to add different pieces to this element so it’s one that I think

had kind of Fallen by the wayside a little bit uh with the supply shortages and supply chain issues and that sort of

thing um H with that having a Resurgence and with our response to it by having

more available equipment and more capabilities in that area to provide it as a um affordable and a competitively

priced uh resource for our clients has been has been fantastic so I’m really I’m excited to see our membership card

uh side continue to grow over the next year because I’m really proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish in that area great is there really anything else

that you’d like to share about the direction of printing or direct mail that you think that business is you

know be open-minded and don’t be afraid to ask ask for for the weird ask for the

ask for the weird thing because I I feel like um what’s the weird thing I just if

if it’s something that doesn’t quite make sense to mail or to to produce or print ask just ask you just never know a

lot of times I’ll see some different um you know different stamping denominations I still get questions

about that um different things that are available and If you know don’t be afraid to ask like what is something

that you that you’ve seen is really cool that we can we can add to our package you know asking questions like that’s

really cool because you can rely on a mailer it’s it’s like yeah this is something we’ve done this this works

really well and uh if you want to give it a shot here’s you know here’s the cost for it whatever so a ask for the

ask for the the funky packages ask for the hand the the weird handwriting fonts that are still readable you know uh

don’t be afraid to go back to the basics too you know there’s there’s a reason the core Direct Mail pieces and

structure still works and is still valid there but there are always ways that you can make it stick out more just based on

the developing technology so for me just ask like I like asking is kind of my

biggest thing if you you get pushed back ask why are you guys doing anything full

with um you know obviously there’s different you know inks and different things you can use like that but augmented reality are you guys doing any

of those kind kind of Innovations onto your printing uh we have the functionality that we can do you know

the QR codes that can do you know the casting that kind of things so um we’ve got the programming that that allows for

for that uh we haven’t I think we’ve only done a couple packages over the last year that have included it but it

really is all comes down to programming we’re we’re set up to do it uh ju I don’t think as many people have been

taking as advantage of it until I I think we’re going to see a huge push

with the way the discounts are going next year so I think the the way that that’s one of the only ways to get some

of those incentives I think that we’re going to see a huge push in that so we’re we’re ready for it you know we’re

we’re ready to do the the coding that needs to be done for it that kind of thing but I guess finally with all these

changes that are going on in the industry do you see Direct Mail you know making that growth still with everything

that uh you know is going on I see you know so many different innovations that there’s a lot of opportunity do you see it in that same way I do I do I I see I

see a lot especially with the digital capabilities um I see a lot of

possibility I see a lot of of a lot more creativity I think I think there are a

lot more options available now for someone to be creative but on a budget

so I feel like having um affordable options within these creative

capabilities are allowing us to remain relevant and and not only

you know continue our our current trajectory but to continue growing the industry as always happy to answer

questions or or chat with people always you know looking to show people our PL that’s shiny and new and love love that

so I’m always happy to connect exactly exactly thank you again for the opportunity it’s been great chatting

with you thank you