Direct Marketing Association Offers Tips for Greener Direct Mail
The need to be environmentally conscious has become a business imperative for the marketing community. Not only is it important to be seen by customers as responsible corporate citizens, it is also simply the right thing to do.
The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has nearly 3600 corporate members and is a leading global trade organization for Direct Marketers, encompassing direct mail and on-line channels. The DMA has lead the way for Direct Marketers by providing resources to improve environmental performance.
The DMA in 2007 issued its Environmental Resolution, which calls on all DMA members worldwide to implement and benchmark 15 eco-friendly business practices. For individual member organizations, and for the direct marketing sector as a whole, DMA recognizes that making environmentally responsible decisions is increasingly important from a social, economic, and ethical perspective.
The 15 eco-friendly business practices fall under the categories of paper procurement and use, list hygiene and data management, mail design and production, packaging and fulfillment, and recycling and pollution reduction.
The DMA offers a toolkit with the information and resources that members need to understand and comply with DMA’s Environmental Resolution. We thought we should share some of their ideas with you.
Paper Procurement and Use – First, understand your investment in paper to be an informed paper and wood products user. Ask your vendors where your paper comes from. Be sure your paper is from recognized forest certification programs. And continue to audit the paper you use in marketing pieces, packaging and internal use – there may be additional opportunities to lessen your company’s environmental impact.
List Hygiene and Data Management – Good practice not only can benefit the environment, but will also improve targeting, resulting in relevant mailings reaching the right people and generating greater ROI for your programs. Three key tenants:
- Follow effective list management principles. If possible, provide your customers the opportunity to stop or modify future mailing. Maintain and use in-house do-not-market lists and promptly honour consumer requests that stop mailing.
- Make mailings more relevant by effectively applying data analysis tools, such as predictive models and/or recency-frequency-monetary segmentation, prior to mailing to identify and suppress likely non-responders
- Maintain accurate, “clean” mailing lists by using files for address standardization, change of address, address element correction, vacant address identification, delivery sequence file and/or address correction requested.
Mail Design and Production – Intriguing direct mail pieces are important to cut through the communications clutter. Impact will always be a marketer’s first consideration. Talk to your printer about production methods that may reduce overruns and waste, and that can increase attention.
Packaging and Fulfillment – Sound packaging and fulfillment practices minimize the amount of packaging materials used and maximizing the amount of recycled materials, while, of course, protecting the merchandise you are shipping.
- Reduce the size of packages and provide a selection of carton sizes so your packers can use the correct size.
- Use recyclable packaging in shipments and imprint recycling information for your customers.
- Inform your vendors of your packaging practices and enforce their compliance
Recycling and Pollution Reduction – remember the 3 Rs – reduce, reuse and recycle.
- Use recycled, post consumer content whenever possible for office papers, packing and packaging materials
- Use clear environmental labeling for consumers to easily identify materials that can be recycled.
- Remember the blue box – recycle used packaging and encourage customers to recycle your packaging.
Being environmentally responsible while executing effective, high ROI direct campaigns is possible. Transcontinental can provide the experience, skills and tools to develop highly targeted direct mail, from list development to Premedia to printing and fulfillment that cuts through the clutter to deliver the results you need in today’s challenging economic environment. Visit us at transcontinental-printing.com.
As part of our ongoing commitment to the environment, Transcontinental has developed a series called EnviroTerms and Trends. Each issue focuses on one specific Environmental issue, term or trend. This month we feature an article on reducing the carbon footprint of print. To visit our environmental page, which includes our paper purchasing policy, go to Transcontinental-printing.com/environment.
