Today’s consumers are inundated with emails and digital marketing every day. This makes it harder than ever for franchise brands to capture the attention of both prospective customers and those who have purchased from them in the past.
Technology is making direct mail campaigns faster, easier, and more viable to produce as part of a brand’s overall communication strategy. The trust consumers place in print media often puts direct mailers at the heart of multi-touchpoint marketing campaigns designed to connect with target audiences across a variety of channels.
The stability of the paper supply chain will likely be tested during the first part of this year. The reasons for this include a decrease in the demand for uncoated paper at the tail end of 2024, along with the potential for economic tariffs on paper manufactured outside the U.S. and shipped to the states. If implemented, it’s a virtual certainty that these tariffs will challenge the paper supply chain — at least in the short-term — and result in increased prices.
This kind of volatility is problematic for brands that lean on print for their sales and marketing initiatives, but the good news is that print automation can help companies leverage the kind of print flexibility and speed that can overcome supply challenges. Let’s take a quick look at the role I believe print automation can play in faster, more flexible print.
Casino and gaming success is built on numbers, and the numbers show that in 2023 the commercial gaming revenue in the U.S. hit an annual record of $66.5 billion, and the online gaming and betting market is estimated to grow to an astounding $144.4 billion by 2028.
According to the American Gaming Association’s (AGA) Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker, the U.S. commercial gaming revenue hit an annual record of $66.5 billion in 2023. And as of February 2024, commercial gaming revenue totaled $11.46 billion — almost 7% greater than at the same time last year.
A recent study found that 80% of print material like direct mailers are engaged with by consumers, and the same study found that 79% of consumers act on direct mail marketing immediately. These two insights about the effectiveness of print sales and marketing collateral make direct mail marketing a potentially powerful method of outreach as nonprofits look for ways to increase the response rate and ROI of their fundraising campaigns.
Long before QR codes, digital carts, and direct-to-consumer (DTC) had an acronym, consumers would spend hours not on their phones, but flipping through store catalogs, painstakingly circling items to add to their purchasing wish lists. Today shoppers can order anything from cookies to couches in a matter of seconds, with DTC e-commerce sales predicted to reach $213 billion in 2024.
The total revenue generated by the U.S. gaming industry in 2023 topped $101 billion, a large percentage of which was driven by casino gaming. This figure is expected to grow in the coming years, and this growth likely means more competition that top casino brands will have to navigate in order to maintain or even expand their market share.
A recent survey of millennials found that 3 out of 4 participants indicated that they find value in and look forward to receiving print mail. Given the importance of this demographic in a variety of industries, it’s no surprise that more marketers are incorporating direct mail campaigns into their overall marketing and communication strategy.
Even with the growth of paperless or digital banking services, print communications still have a large part to play in how financial service providers engage with current customers and attract new customers. In fact, more than 50% of banks and credit unions expect their print volumes to remain the same in the near future.
