How to choose a full service agency, and why you’ll be better off

Many companies, agencies, and nonprofits create direct mail campaigns to communicate with their customers. Direct mail still performs well—in fact, many businesses who rely mostly on digital are now turning to direct mail to stand out from their competitors, since there is so much noise online. You know the old saying, “cut through the clutter.” That’s exactly what direct mail is doing nowadays.

There are a lot of reasons to choose direct mail (it offers high return on your investment, your messages sticks with people better, millennials even like it). And once you’ve chosen it, there’s another choice to make. One that involves producing it and getting it into the mail.

Unless you have production resources in house, you’re going to have to outsource this work. And there’s two ways you can do that. You can do it yourself, and that means you’ll need to find your printers and lettershop, negotiate prices, coordinate schedules and deliveries, prep your data, and figure out postal logistics.

Kind of a big “side” project to take on. If you’re busy with clients and other projects, this might not be how you want to dedicate a large chunk of your time.

Another choice you can make is partnering with a production agency. This will make your life much easier, since the production agency will take the project and manage it through the print and mail process for you.

Your agency will narrow down the right printers for your job (not every job is right for every printer’s capabilities) and negotiate the best price. They’ll prep your data and work closely with the lettershop on personalization and finally logistics.

All the while, your agency is continually negotiating, coordinating, and scheduling the moving pieces of your job to make sure your direct mail package goes out right and on time.

There are obviously a lot of benefits to using a production agency. Plus, there’s a lot less room for mistakes when you’ve got a team of experts on your side.

EdgeMark has been managing complex print/mail projects for almost thirty years. Give us a call!