Tips for When You Need the “Wow” Factor

Not every print piece needs a “wow” factor, but what happens when it does? Maybe you are launching a new line of high-end clothing or cosmetics or have an audience for luxury goods you want to impress. That’s where print embellishments come in. Print embellishments are visual or tactile add-ons that create a higher level of engagement than even the best 2D designs can do.

 

When you need that extra “wow” factor, consider one of the following options:

1.   Embossing: This technique uses a punch against the back of the sheet to create a raised image or pattern on the front. When even a simple design is embossed, people can’t help but reach out and engage with it. 

2.   Debossing: This technique is embossing in reverse. Instead of elevating the image, you’re depressing it into the sheet. This creates a debossed image instead.

3.   High-gloss coatings: Not only are high-gloss coatings beautiful to look at, but they provide a layer of durability and protection, as well.

4.   Matte coatings: There is something luxurious about matte coatings. They are soft to the fingertips and just feel like luxury.

5.   Spot coatings: Combining high-gloss and matte coatings in the same design adds contrast, creating pop and visual interest. Layer a glossy highlight over a matte finish, or do the reverse. Draw the eye by designing a matte finish within areas of high gloss.

6.   Die-cutting: Cut your project into fun and interesting shapes or create cutouts like peek-a-boo windows within the page. Send your invitation to the opening of your retail shop in the shape of a house.

7.   Foil stamping: Nothing says “luxury” like beautiful gold, silver, or colored foil.

These are some of the most common print embellishment techniques, but they are not the only ones. Call and ask for recommendations if you’re looking for something unique and these aren’t the perfect match. We can suggest other ways of turning your print design from fun and creative to a true showstopper. 

 

Using Social Media to Amplify Your Direct Mail

Are you looking to boost your marketing results by going multichannel? Businesses looking to amplify their direct mail efforts often pair direct mail with email. That's a great strategy. But you know what else is a great strategy? Pairing direct mail with social media.

What makes direct mail and social media so complementary? Customers love direct mail and social media and use and respond to each channel differently. Print's tangibility leaves a deeper footprint in consumers' brains, resulting in more accurate recall and higher buying intent. At the same time, social media is proven for ongoing, spontaneous communications that keep your customers entertained and engaged. With both channels providing different benefits, why not pair the two?

Let's look at five ways to use direct mail and social media together:

1. Engage with the social media sites your target audience will most likely use. For example, 73% of people aged 30–49 use Facebook, twice those who use Instagram or Twitter. If your target audience is Gen Z, however, they will most likely use TikTok. Create strong content and add links in your posts to drive people to your purchase pages.

2. Focus on deep, relevant content. Regardless of channel, use your social media posts to tell stories. Invite customers to post their user-generated content, and encourage them to share your posts with friends and family. Storytelling is a robust engagement and marketing tool.

3. Use online tools to gather your social media followers' email and postal addresses. Use that data for future cross-channel marketing.

4. Use social media to announce when upcoming mail offers are on their way. Social media can be a great way to build anticipation and excitement around your promotions and deals.

5. Cross-pollinate your content between social media and direct mail. For example, use quotes from online reviews or social media posts in your direct mailers to give credibility (a practice called "social proof").

Want to further explore the connection between direct mail and social media? Let's talk!

Do Your Brochures Need a Facelift?

When was the last time you updated your product brochures? Are you still selling all of the same products? Are there new products you need to add? How about your customer base? Has it evolved? Does the messaging need to be updated to reflect who your customers are now? It might be time if you haven’t updated your brochures in a while. Here are six tips to get you started.

1. Hit the highlights.

A brochure isn’t a catalog. Hit the highlights, including key features and benefits. Save the details for another time.

2. Target key markets.

Increase the power of your marketing by segmenting your brochures for specific purposes. Instead of printing 10,000 of one brochure, for example, try breaking the run into four versions of 2,500 each. Use segmentation to promote individual product categories or target key audiences.

3. Limit your font choices.

Don’t over-clutter your space or create visual confusion with too many fonts. A good rule of thumb is to use no more than three fonts in any piece.

4. Incorporate white space.

Brochures are designed as door openers, not sales closers. Be selective. Use white space to create breathing room and keep the design clean and inviting.

5. Use high-quality stock.

People associate the quality of your paper stock with the quality of your products. Don’t skimp!

6. Include a call to action.

Even though you might not want to give a hard sell, you still want a call to action. Otherwise, your audience may read the brochure and set it aside. CTAs are critical to getting your audience to take the next step.

Need more great ideas? Give us a call and let one of our designers guide you through the process.

Pantone Color of the Year 2025: Mocha Mousse

There is little more comforting for many than a cup of silky, creamy chocolate mousse. Even looking at a picture of this delightful treat can make you hungry. Perhaps it is not surprising that Pantone’s Color of the Year 2025 is Mocha Mousse 17-1230, a creamy, velvety brown that looks like it belongs swirled in a dessert glass.

What is the Color of the Year? It’s Pantone’s choice to represent the emotions and themes of the upcoming year. The company has been inspiring others with its selections since 2000. Since then, designers in every industry, from print to fashion to interior design, have looked to Pantone for inspiration.

How can you use Mocha Mousse?

·       Select it as a primary background color to evoke a warm and inviting atmosphere.

·       Try it as an accent color to add depth and sophistication.

·       Combine Mocha Mousse with warm complementary colors, such as Cannoli Cream and Safari, to create an ambiance of warmth and comfort.

·       Combine it with soft, feminine colors like Cornflower Blue, Viola, and Rose Tan for a soft, floral feel.

When you use Mocha Mousse in your color palette, you join leading-edge designers from Motorola, Joybird, Ispsy, Spoonflower, and Libratone, all of which incorporate this color into their product and marketing designs this year. The warmth of velvety chocolate is everywhere, from phone cases and earbuds to upholstered furniture and wallcoverings.

What are designers saying? “Pantone Color of the Year 2025 evokes grounding, calm, and emotional healing,” notes Natalie Benmayor, designer and founder of Capsule Eleven, making sustainable jewelry. “[It dissolves] fear and stress while nurturing inner strength and reassurance.”

Emma Gage, designer and founder of Melke, which produces sustainable eclectic fashion, concurs. She refers to Mocha Mousse as the “vibrant synergy of creativity and connection.”

Ahhhh that sounds wonderful, right?

How could you use Mocha Mousse to create connection and warmth in your designs this coming year?

 

Why the Call to Action Can Make or Break You

Whether it's a postcard, an email, or a webpage, your call to action (CTA) motivates your target audience to respond to your offer. Simple changes can often make a big difference, so testing your CTAs to see if they can be improved is essential. Let's look at three real-life examples to see why.

Case Study #1: The Power of Exclusivity

Visit Santa Barbara (VSB), an organization that promotes tourism to Santa Barbara, CA, uses influencer programs to promote this beautiful, sunny California destination. To engage influencers, VSB has typically reached out to previous participants in its program, complimenting them on the value of their partnership and inviting them to return. But could the approach be better? The marketing team decided to find out.

Instead of asking for the influencer's partnership, VSB framed the program as an exclusive team with limited opportunities to join. Influencers, VSB indicated, would participate in luxury adventures and private sailing excursions. It followed with the CTA: "Santa Barbara is searching for three influencers to embark on our biggest partnership yet!"

Visit Santa Barbara received more than 500 applications for just three spots.

Case Study #2: From Bland to Grand

When encouraging prospects to contact the company for pricing information, Funeral Funds, a company helping families pre-plan for funeral costs, used the CTA "Get Quote Now!" Studies show that consumers respond to commands rather than suggestions, which is not a bad approach. But, Funeral Funds wondered, does the CTA reflect what its prospects are looking for—the lowest rates? So Funeral Funds changed the wording to "Get The Best Rate Now." The result? A 17% increase in leads.

Case Study #3: What They Want

A software company encouraging website visitors to seek product pricing used the simple call to action: "Learn More." The CTA had a 2% click-through rate and 10% of those who viewed the pricing converted into paying customers. But "learn more" is very general. Could visitors looking for pricing interpret the CTA as "learn more about the software," and if so, not be motivated to click through? So, the company changed the wording to "View Pricing." The click-through rate rose from 2% to 5%. The conversion rate rose to 20%.

The takeaway is clear. Use the most straightforward, compelling CTA for each campaign and target audience if you want better results. If you're going to do A/B tests, use the power of digital printing to see which approach really shines.

 

Examples are drawn from "The Call to Action: 5 before-and-after examples of effective CTAs (with the results to prove it)" (Marketing Sherpa).

Creating an Emotional Connection with Your Customers

Any type of relationship starts with emotional intimacy. Business relationships are no exception. This is why many companies are investing in customer intimacy strategies.

Is customer intimacy just a fancier way of referring to customer engagement? Nope. Customer engagement is designed to create online and offline interaction with customers using tools such as surveys, social media activity, clickable links, interactive print, and so on. Customer intimacy is different. By definition, it is based on a relationship, not just a response or activity. By their very nature, relationships create a bond of loyalty and advocacy that, in a business environment, directly impacts the bottom line. Relationships are sticky. Thus, customer intimacy is deeper and less fickle than other measures, and it’s worth your time to figure it out.

How can you use the tools in your marketing toolbox—print, digital, mobile, and social—to deepen customer intimacy?

Enhance personalization: Whether it’s print or email, enhance your understanding of your customers with data that is relevant, current, and continually kept up to date. When communications are genuinely relevant, trust is built. Trust builds intimacy.

Customer surveys: When you ask someone’s opinion, you show that you care. It starts a two-way conversation that makes customers feel valued. Use direct mail, email, web and social media polls, and even text messaging to solicit feedback.

Monitor your Net Promoter Score (NPS): A Net Promoter Score is a single survey question that asks, on a scale of 1 to 10, how likely customers are to recommend your product, company, or service. Over time, monitoring your NPS by customer segment tells you where you are doing well and where you need some work; when customers see that you value and respond to their opinions, that creates intimacy.

Updates and “report cards”: What are your company goals this year? Communicate them to your customers and provide updates. Transparency helps customers feel more connected with you. In a B2B environment, offer annual reviews of your customers’ performance metrics, too. This is one way you can give back and deepen the relationship.

Send gifts and cards: Take note of key dates in your customer relationship, including birthdays and customer anniversaries. Sending a card or gift sends a powerful message: We care. Do this by mail, not digitally. Printed pieces create a far more significant emotional impact.

There are many other ways to create customer intimacy, so get creative. Whatever tools you use, the message should be the same: We know what you value. We care about what you value. By engaging with you about these things, we care about you. That’s a message that resonates—and sticks.

The Power of Paper: How Your Choice Sets the Tone

Paper is more than just a surface for printing. It has its own character. It can evoke warmth or coolness, brightness or subtlety, and feel earthy or extravagant. Let’s explore some essential elements that give each paper its own personality.

1. Brightness Levels: Brightness indicates how much light reflects off the paper, rated on a scale from 1 to 100. A higher brightness (closer to 100) means your colors will stand out more vividly. Papers with lower brightness, particularly uncoated ones, tend to soften colors.

2. Color Tones: Papers are available in a range of shades. A blue tint makes the colors seem cooler, while yellow undertones lend a warmer feel. Consider using a cooler-toned choice for your annual report and warmer tones when announcing your new summer collection.

3. Textural Influence: The texture of paper can trigger strong emotional responses. Linen suggests sophistication, while cotton represents quality and formality. Recycled paper, mainly when it contains intentional imperfections, appeals to environmentally conscious clients. Smooth, glossy papers convey a corporate vibe.

4. Finish Matters: Different finishes—glossy, matte, satin, and uncoated—affect how ink interacts with the paper. Uncoated sheets absorb ink for a more understated appearance, while high-gloss sheets make colors pop.

5. Paper Weight: Papers are categorized by weight, with heavier sheets imparting a sense of importance. Opt for a heavier stock if you aim to project a premium or elite image. The thicker paper also suggests durability and longevity.

Selecting the right paper is akin to a striking smile or a warm gaze that establishes the mood for your message. Reach out to us for samples demonstrating how various paper styles can influence the conversations you want.