Why You Need To Outsource Direct Mail, Printing And Graphic Design Services
Have you grown tired of all those in-house graphic design, digital printing and direct mail
projects that keep monopolizing your attention? Perhaps the costs and resources you’ve
dedicated to these processes seem to be on an upward trend or cannot afford to invest in
competitive technology to give you the best results from these processes.
Either way, it’s about time you considered outsourcing to professionals- and if you are based in
New Orleans, Portland, Salt Lake City or Colorado Springs, consider this your lucky day!
Direct mailing, graphic design and digital printing are some of the most fundamental processes
that often make the difference between a successful company and a failing one. The adage that
says that a picture is worth a thousand words holds true today more than ever. Business
consumers are placing high value on printed pieces, and still prefer to find valuable and well
printed coupons, sales ads and such pieces in their mailbox or delivered to their front door.
While we’re living in a largely digital world, tangible marketing pieces are still important and
relevant, as long as they correspond with the current market demands and consumer tastes. A
nice custom envelope containing an embossed logo, a colorful advertising postcard or a glossy
brochure that vividly depicts the beauty of a desired tourist destination is still a top choice among
people not only in the U.S., but across the globe.
You don’t have to do it just because you can
Even though many business understand that design and printing processes are quite complicated
in nature, they tend to believe that conducting them in-house is the way to go instead of
outsourcing. However, as most successful businesses will tell you, adding these processes to
your repertoire doesn’t often end well, and in in the long run, it tends to prove a lot more costly
than outsourcing them.
The value of digital printing and graphic design outsourcing
First of all, outsourcing print lets you access expertise that is well beyond what you may have
with in-house printing. Ideally, you outsource to marketing professionals, and that simply means
that you also access critical knowledge regarding the importance of critical factors such as the
psychology of color in the context of marketing and branding. As you can imagine, when print
expertise and marketing are combined, the result is better graphics, better copy and good use of
logos and fonts, as well as stronger messages. Through their experience in executing various
print advertising strategies, you can expect to get a more powerful brand, and proper delivery of
marketing. What’s more, the costs associated with in-house printing services such as labor and
capital expenses are reduced; overall, you get to experience more efficiency in target marketing
as well as mailing costs.
The costs of digital printing
Just to put things into perspective, consider all the expenses generated by both the management
and optimization of all the factors involved in the entire printing processes. Here’re a few
examples:

• Desktop printers, fax devices, photocopiers and high production printers.
• IT support or technical assistance, printing maintenance and logistical costs involved in
replacement and purchasing of new equipment.
• The materials that are sent to fast printing, mailing and distribution.
Research asserts that adopting a printing service helps you save about 30 percent of the overall
cost of printing. What’s more, you save up to 10 percent of the IT team’s time.
Secondly, just like professional printing, graphics design is a special skill that takes a lot of time
to mature. It is a skill that needs dedication of time on your part to ensure your staff can perform
it flawlessly- to comfortably do it in-house. You may not have all the time that’s required, or the
staff that you can rely on fully. What’s more, graphics design is not an activity that’s done all the
time, so you may find yourself paying your staff for work that’s not being done- because they’re
mildly engaged. By outsourcing this critical process, you not only save cash that would
otherwise go into training your staff, but also the money that you would be spending on them.
You essentially pay on the basis of engagement.
Last but not least, it’s important to note that companies easily get trapped in the belief of “we’ve
always done it like this.” This may keep you from opening your mind to other ways you can
have your graphics re-designed. A great creative agency operates on the advantage of not being
caught up in “your traditional way of doing things” cage. It is solely focused on treating every
client differently and coming up with fresh ideas befitting the distinctiveness of each client.
Literally, the agency would give you the opportunity to approach your design from a fresh angle.
The value of direct mail outsourcing
Do you know how much money you can save from utilizing bulk mail?
Ever imagined how much you can generate from consumables savings, process automation, data
quality related savings, mail sortation and property savings (the stock of raw materials and
mailing products)?
How about how much you’d save if you ordered both print and postage services alongside direct
mail?
It seems that there’s a lot of money you’d generate from outsourcing this critical process but
that’s not all. Here’s something else:
Data cleansing
If you’ve handled mail before, you must have encountered the problem of data input and expiry.
Simply put, it’s easy for data to get input corruptly or become outdated. A system that cleanses
data efficiently to prevent duplicates as well as mailings to gone-aways while checking for errors
is essential, and that’s not easy to have or run unless your company is dedicated to or deals with
such processes.
A professional mailing agency also works to enhance data in line with its customers by working

with external sources of data with the aim of boosting mail personalization through methods like
variable data printing.
Experience and equipment
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase that goes, “you cannot buy experience.” Fortunately, you can
always buy experience from a good mailing house. Your company can benefit from the massive
expertise gained by an experienced mail company across its numerous campaigns. That
experience is essential in delivering outstanding campaign results.
Similarly, you get to benefit from the company’s high investment in equipment. Given the fact
that the company is specialized and dedicated to this task, it makes sense to invest in more
expensive equipment than you’d be willing to bring to your premises. By outsourcing, you get to
dodge this capital outlay and enjoy all the fulfillment tasks like closing, folding and packaging.
So, if you can get a company that can handle all these processes (design, printing and mailing),
you’ll save massively and be able to take your focus elsewhere to grow your business while
enjoying expert services. One company that you should consider if you are based in New
Orleans, Portland, Salt Lake City or Colorado Springs is Documart.com. It is an expert in all
these services, so you don’t have to search anywhere else.