If you’re a marketer or a business looking for creative marketing collateral, you may want to consider personalization through variable data printing. Last week we shared in an infographic about the value of digital printing, and variable data, so I thought it might be helpful to supplement that post with an example of how we at Alexander’s improved our marketing with variable data printing.

Back in January we created some custom designed journals for a trade show using our HP Indigo digital printers. The journals featured Alexander’s logo and colors, and we applied a velvet matte finish to each journal. The journals turned out to be quite the crowd pleaser, and a great way for us to get our name out there at the convention. We decided to print more and distribute them to existing clients and sales prospects. Once again, we received positive feedback: everyone loved the Alexander’s journals.

With digital print technology, the HP Indigo can handle any amount of variable data. This means that elements like text, graphics, and images can be changed from one item to the next without slowing down the printing process. We use the Indigo digital printers for lots of newsletters and mailers, but we can also personalize marketing collateral. We decided for our Alexander’s customer celebration luncheon that we would personalize a journal for each attendee using a list of the names of people who registered to attend. Our customers were impressed with their personalized journals and numerous people have been asking about using variable data for their own projects.

You may not want a personalized journal for your marketing, but variable data printing allows you to personalize almost anything. And if it’s not personalized gifts, newsletters and mailers are definitely more effective when tailored to individual targets. Studies show that direct mail using variable data has a 36% increased response rate.

Consider printing on a digital, on-demand press for your next project. Not only is it often more economical, it allows you to personalize your marketing products or collateral to your target audience.