In a world seemingly dominated by digital media—at least according to digital media practitioners— print marketing continues to carve out a significant and evolving role, particularly in how it integrates with digital strategies to create compelling customer experiences. Today, we’re joined by Stefanie Cortes, Director of Strategic Analysis for the Direct Marketing Division at RRD, who will share insights from RRD’s latest Print Impact Report.
Stefanie Cortes is the Director of Strategic Analysis for the Direct Marketing division of RRD where she is responsible for positioning the company’s leading solutions in the one-to-one marketing space. Key to her role is identifying market trends and shifts, and ensuring the company’s service offerings are in sync with evolving client needs. Stefanie draws from 17 years of experience in various areas of marketing strategy and execution.
RESOURCES
RRD Print Impact Report: https://www.rrd.com/resources/research-report/print-impact-report-2024
RRD website: https://www.rrd.com
Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom
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Transcript
Greg Kihlstrom:
In a world seemingly dominated by digital media, at least according to digital media practitioners, print marketing continues to carve out a significant and evolving role, particularly in how it integrates with digital strategies to create compelling customer experiences. Today, we’re joined by Stefanie Cortes, Director of Strategic Analysis for the Direct Marketing Division at RRD, who will share insights from RRD’s latest print impact report. Stefanie, welcome to the show.
Stefanie Cortes: Thanks so much, Greg.
Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, looking forward to talking about this with you. Why don’t we get started with you giving us a little background on your role at RRD?
Stefanie Cortes: Absolutely. So I’ve been with RRD for a little over 15 years now. Um, in my current role, I’m the director of strategic analysis with the direct marketing division. In that role, I work alongside the president of our division, um, and the other sales leaders, you know, we’re really focused on strategic thought leadership, um, analyzing the industry and competitive trends. Um, and I also provide a lot of oversight to project management and, you know, that’ll help us identify and grow new business opportunities.
Greg Kihlstrom: the RRD Print Impact Report later in the show, definitely dive into a few aspects of that. But as an introduction, could you give us a little background on what is the report and a little more background there?
Stefanie Cortes: Sure. So the Print Impact Report is our latest annual printing industry report. The goal there is to understand the landscape of the industries our clients work in and to ensure bringing them the best possible solutions. We’ve been conducting these surveys for about four years now across all of our business lines, which include print, supply chain, marketing, packaging, and labels as well. We’ve been really finding that these surveys provide us with really, really strong insight and really help us maintain a pulse on the industry in a very data-driven way.
Greg Kihlstrom: Great, great. So let’s dive into the first of a few topics we’re going to be talking through. And this first is the resurgence of personalized print marketing. So digital gets a lot of talk about personalization and marketing, but As digital environments become increasingly saturated, personalized print communications are gaining more attention for their ability to connect deeply with their audiences. So one of the things the Print Impact Report highlights is that over two-thirds of organizations are personalizing their print communications. What trends are driving this resurgence in personalized print marketing?
Stefanie Cortes: Yeah, I think as you just mentioned, I mean, it’s really just the oversaturation of the digital climate right now. And also with Google moving away from third party cookies, this is definitely motivating marketers to seek other methods of marketing channels and print being the predominant one that we’re seeing right now, especially as it relates to direct marketing. It’s really just, you know, even though it’s probably one of the oldest techniques in direct marketing. It’s becoming more of a trendy channel to incorporate into the more digital first strategies we’re finding.
Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, yeah. And so given that Marketers are working more in a multi-channel or omni-channel world and consumers certainly are living in that world. How are marketers effectively combining print with digital elements to enhance the personalization of those communications?
Stefanie Cortes: Yeah, a good question. So I think there was a time and I, you know, we’re still kind of seeing it right now. We were just recently at a industry event where we’re still surprisingly seeing some people pushing back a little bit and kind of seeing, you know, the print competing with the digital. But the main thing about effectively Combining print and digital is just to embrace the technology and utilize the tactics that we have now to incorporate and bridge that gap between print and digital. So anything from QR codes, flow codes, automated trigger messaging, web-to-print, obviously artificial intelligence is the huge one right now. So I think it’s really just about embracing the new technology. And I think just from my experience, I’ve kind of always been focused on this digital print integration since the beginning of my career. The main thing is just, you know, just really embracing it because what’s truly keeping print relevant is the technology. So without that, I don’t think that print would be in such a beneficial and positive performance space that it is now, should it not be for the digital channels that we’re working with.
Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah. So another trend that marketers are talking about more and more is the concept of using more first-party data, first-party data strategies. So I want to talk about that in terms of print marketing as well. So with everything from shifting data regulations and just more consumer awareness of data privacy, first-party data has definitely you know, again, have become a lot more top of mind for all marketers. Can you discuss how organizations are prioritizing the acquisition and utilization of first party data for personalized print marketing?
Stefanie Cortes: Sure. So, you know, as you mentioned, it’s, you know, as the digital environment becomes more and more crowded, I think that we’re using it the same way, I believe, in the print applications. It’s just, you know, what works sometimes in one channel doesn’t necessarily work in another. So, It’s really how do I take this really, really rich data that has to do with the individual and understand the creative applications that work best for the direct mail channel versus an email or a social port, because there are different nuances that you have to use from a creative aspect. So I believe from looking for a vendor to work with, a print provider, it’s very beneficial to find someone that really understands that creative strategy and what works best for certain channels.
Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, and so what are the primary sources of this data? And how are marketers working with print vendors to harness this information effectively?
Stefanie Cortes: Yeah, I mean, it’s really all about just these direct interactions. From the print impact report, we found, I think, the top three ways that marketers are using first party data most effectively, and they’re harnessing it from consumer feedback, buyer history, as well as consumer demographics. But, you know, I mean, there’s a ton of others. So surveys, loyalty programs, you name it. So any kind of direct interaction or historical data that you have from a one-to-one interaction with that consumer is really, really becoming the holy grail of marketing right now. Because, you know, back in the day, it was all about segmentation and, you know, different, you know, based on, you know, your region, your age, you know, and that’s all great. But now we’re really, we’ve gotten to a point where print communications are dealing on a one-to-one basis.
Greg Kihlstrom: So to kind of segue there, the platforms, you know, another thing we talk about a lot is AI’s role and increasing role in marketing in general. And so AI isn’t just a trend here. It’s, you know, it’s making significant inroads into not only digital, but print. And so according to the report, 32% of marketers are currently using AI in print marketing with an additional 31% planning to use it. How are you seeing AI being utilized to support print marketing efforts?
Stefanie Cortes: Yeah, well, we’ve seen marketers use print heavily in their channel strategy, using AI for predictive analytics and to streamline operations. AI can also be used for supply chain management, for example, predicting demand for consumables like ink and paper.
Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah. And I’ve certainly seen advantages in the, you know, I would say on the marketing operations side and the creation of content. I’ve seen a lot of it on the digital side because I just work a little bit more in that area. But what are you seeing as far as advantages of AI in creation and execution of print marketing campaigns?
Stefanie Cortes: I’m seeing that marketers that use the channel, the print channel specifically, tend to be leveraging AI mostly for consumer insights. AI allowing us to take large amounts of data and glean insights that make the customer experience more timely, relevant, and targeted. So with that, I think it’s very similar in the ways that digital marketers are utilizing AI, just a different channel.
Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, yeah. And so next thing I wanted to talk about is just, you know, when, when we’re talking about it’s not a, it’s not a print versus digital conversation. It’s, you know, I think as we’ve been talking about, it’s, it’s really how do both work best together because they can, they can really compliment each other. But there is, there digital fatigue, you know, it’s it’s a thing, you know, we’re on our screens all day, we’re being marketed to all day on those screens. And so, you know, there, there is a bit of fatigue there. So, you know, print marketing can actually offer a tangible alternative to, you know, the the pop up ads and the all that stuff that we’re kind of inundated with. And the report mentioned previously indicates 94% of of marketers are using print marketing to combat digital fatigue. What are the top strategies employed in this regard?
Stefanie Cortes: Yeah, I mean, we’ve we’ve been seeing many, many marketers continuing to use the direct mail channel as the sort of the flagship acquisition touchpoint, being that it’s proactive, highly directed and targeted. Some of the top strategies, you know, they include digital. It’s not like you’re saying it’s not getting away from digital or, you know, print versus digital. But the tactics typically include digital being surrounding the mail event with coordinated digital touches that support a campaign theme. bridging direct mail messaging and digital adoption with supportive tactics like QR codes and personalized URLs, and also direct mail retargeting. This has been gaining huge popularity as like a very successful marketing tactic to move customers through the funnel.
Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, yeah. And then so, you know, you’ve kind of touched on this, but, you know, For those wondering how effective these channels or these strategies in personalizing print materials for targeted messaging, how do you look at the effectiveness of the strategies for personalization?
Stefanie Cortes: Yeah, I mean, I believe these strategies are effective because, I mean, while digital excels at immediacy and reach, I think print is trusted. I mean, we’ve seen tons of studies pointing to the fact that print is trusted, impactful, personal and distinctive and unique. So together, I think digital and print just make a very powerful marketing partnership. Print messages will resonate more if they’re reinforced digital messages and vice versa. We’ve experienced it with our own clients, I mean, time and time again, when comparing a solo print campaign or a solo digital campaign versus a coordinated touches that support a campaign theme, meaning coordinated multi or omni-channel campaigns will always almost prove to generate higher returns.
Greg Kihlstrom: Well, it’s been great talking with you, Stefanie. Looking out ahead, what future trends do you see in the realm of print marketing, especially considering the integration of new technologies and data strategies?
Stefanie Cortes: As it relates to print marketing, but more specifically direct mail, a lot of marketers are prioritizing value and performance over the lowest cost per piece we’re seeing lately. Also customer data, we see that will continuing to be leveraged in a more sophisticated ways to drive personalized campaigns. Also, more and more marketers will continue to embrace marketing automation for coordinated channel delivery, as well as campaign measurement. And for all these reasons, another trend I definitely foresee getting stronger is digitally native brands continuing to test the channel into the marketing mix, simply because they’re realizing that it just works.
Greg Kihlstrom: So can you elaborate a little bit on what you mean by value and lowest cost per piece, just for those that maybe a little more familiar with digital versus print?
Stefanie Cortes: Sure, absolutely. So this is something that we’ve at RID been referring to as a fundamental shift in direct marketing. So where marketers used to focus on volume and the masses and the how many people can I reach and what is the cost per piece. They’re now focused on the value and performance and becoming way more targeted and less focused on the cost per piece. And also there’s more of a focus on the customer and their needs, you know, because of all this behavioral access to behavioral data and first party data that we’ve been talking about, you know, becoming way more customer centric versus what’s the marketer’s promotional agenda. So that’s really the biggest shift that we’ve been seeing in terms of how marketers are using the channel.
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