Green printing tip no. 35: Is Direct Mail Dead?

We are back today with a new tip on our weekly series of green printing tips, where we bring you information on green printing in collaboration with Greg Barber, an experienced eco-friendly printer.

Today Greg is presenting us with a column he found while researching research the internet for new Green Tips. This column is dealing with direct mail and how to make it more efficient and successful, and it's written by Leslie Tane. Now, if you're asking what's so green about making direct mail more efficient, the answer is that greater efficiency will reduce the waste involved in it.

If after reading Tane's tips, you're still looking for further green guidance on direct mail, you're welcome to check out our tip no. 26 about this issue, as well as Jennifer Kaplan's excellent column "9 Ways to Eliminate Direct Mail Waste". We hope all of these resources will get you a better idea on how to make your next direct mail campaign more eco-friendly.

Is Direct Mail Dead?

Tip #35

It's the age of the Internet - e-mail marketing, social networking and blogs. So why would you do printed, direct mail marketing? No one reads that stuff...do they?

Well, you might be surprised. According to the USPS, advertising mail represented 63% of all mail received by households in 2008. Of that, 79% of households either read or scan advertising mail sent to their household and 11% respond and take action.

Compare this to e-mail marketing: Mail Chimp's research indicates the average open-rate for marketing e-mail is about 25% and the click-through/take-action rate is only 4.28%. I'm not a numbers person (is there a graphic designer who is?), but it's pretty clear that direct mail is
far from finished.

There are some things to keep in mind when designing direct mail to increase the chances of your potential customer following through:

1. Take advantage of variable data printing. When I started out, there was one main option for printing in color: offset printing. How times have changed. Not only is it affordable to digitally print short-runs of your printing projects, it's possible to customize your projects using variable data printing (VDP).

For example, say you're designing for an organization's annual fundraiser. If the organization has a database of past donors, including their names, and the years and amounts they've previously donated, it's easy to print that information right in the body of your piece. It personalizes the experience and can make a call for cash less of an intrusion and more of an appeal.

2. Have a clear call to action. A few years ago, I got a letter asking me to support the Fourth of July fireworks display in my town. I take my kids to that event every year and was ready, pen in hand, to write a check. I scoured the letter only to find that there was no return address, no phone number and no way to easily send the money. Sure, I could have looked up the number and contacted them, but expecting your recipients to do that is expecting too much. I never sent the check.

Make sure you provide a clear way to respond to your direct mail. Is there a number to call? A Web site to visit? Make it obvious.

3. Speaking of Web sites, use yours to track the results of your direct mail campaign. Personalized URLs or Web addresses that incorporate the recipient's name are becoming more and more widely used. At the very least, each direct mail piece that goes out should have a dedicated phone extension or Web landing page, so that you can track your results.

4. Design something different. I often save a few weeks worth of direct mail I receive, so that I can have a base of real-world samples. I'll spread them out on my desk to look at them. Then, I'll design something that looks different. If I'm seeing a lot of close crops of faces, I'll pick and image with a person far away, or, even more likely, avoid a picture of a face at all.

Lots of primary colors? I'll go for an off-shade of green. Not many large fields of color? Maybe, that would work for my design. You can't steer clear of all existing designs, but you want to make your direct mailing stand out. The best way to get a feel for what's out there is to look at some of it with a critical eye.

One of the best things about direct mail is that even on a smaller budget, you can get great results.

For additional information on greening your next direct mail campaign, please call Greg Barber at (973) 224-1132, or email greg@gregbarberco.com.

Also, if you have any questions you would like us to address in future tips please email us to info@ecolibris.net .

Latest tips:

Green Printing Tip #34 - What should we look for in buying copier paper?

Green Printing Tip #33 - Do I have a Green Marketing Give Away for Trade Shows?

Green Printing Tip #32 - Is Tree Free Hemp Paper still available?

You can find links to all the tips we published so far on our green printing tips page, which is part of our green printing tools & resources.

You can also find further valuable information on Greg Barber Company's website - http://www.gregbarberco.com.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting green printing!

Looking for an affordable and special green birthday gift?

What's the connection between Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, Princess Stephanie of Monaco, Lisa Marie Presley and Lauren Conrad?

They were all born on February 24! If you're also celebrating your birthday today - happy birthday to you too!

We love birthdays and therefore we're happy to remind you of the option to celebrate a birthday of friends, family members, colleagues and anyone you care about with Eco-Libris!

Eco-Libris is offering you now to plant trees to balance out the books of your loved ones who celebrate their birthday. Not only that new trees will be planted to balance out their books, but they will also receive our stickers with a beautiful birthday card made of recycled paper. And we also try to keep it affordable - the added charge for the birthday card is only $1.5.

All you need to do is to choose how many of the birthday person's books you want to balance out on our special birthday gift page (http://www.ecolibris.net/birthday.asp), change the shipping address on the payment page to the address of the gift receiver and we will take care of the rest!

This is also a great green add-on if you're buying a book as a gift for the birthday person, especially if you're buying her or him a green book.

The birthday cards we send are made by Doodle Greetings (see picture above of one of their cards). Not only these cards come with a beautiful design, but they are also eco-friendly - printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper and are made chlorine-free and acid free. Sounds like a good fit with Eco-Libris stickers!

And of course, if it's your birthday and you want to give yourself a green gift - get yourself a nice green book and plant a tree for it with us!

Happy Birthday!
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!

New audiobook: My Footprint by Jeff Garlin (and there's a giveaway as well!)

Jeff Garlin is a funny guy. Well, he's a comedian. But he's also a serious guy and in August 2008 he decided to set up an impressive goal: Reducing both his physical and carbon footprint. His journey is documented in a new audiobook released today by Simon & Simon Audio: My Footprint: Carrying the Weight of the World.

Garlin is a comedian and actor and is probably best known for his work on the great series 'Curb Your Enthusiasm', where co-stars with "Seinfeld" creator Larry David. Garlin also spent three seasons on NBC's Mad About You in the role of Marvin, and has a variety of television and film appearances to his credit including Dr. Katz, Arrested Development, Everybody Loves Raymond, The Late Show with David Letterman, Tom Goes to the Mayor, The Daily Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Daddy Day Care, and WALL-E. He has also had his own HBO half-hour comedy special.

Garlin's journey is not an easy one. Each of these tasks is challenging in itself, so getting them together looks sometime like mission impossible. But Garlin is doing his best and is sharing every bit of this huge effort in this audiobook. His struggle is sometimes painful, but almost always funny. This is not only because Garlin is a talented comedian, but mainly because he, as he describes himself, 'takes his work seriously, but not himself'.

Garlin hopes that being healthy and green becomes a big part of who he is —if not now, he says, when? He is working at the same on both of these goals, but mainly focused on the physical footprint. I guess it makes sense for him as its an ongoing issue he's dealing with for a long time, and it also became a real threat to his health. Nevertheless, he's also taking the green task seriously, getting advice from Ed Begley Jr., fighting with his wife to change the windows to ones with better isolation and even making an heroic effort to take the bus (we're talking about Los Angeles..).

Now this is the time to say something about the audiobook format. I believe 'My Footprint' is one of the cases where the advantages of hearing a story in this format are so obvious. Garlin is telling the story (he's reading it to Leonard Nimoy by the way) and as a comedian he knows to tell a story. Listening to this audiobook, I found myself laughing again and again, and I had this magical feeling I'm attending one of Garlin's comedy sets at the Comedy Store in West Hollywood. Not to mention the fact I found myself shouting at him 'No, don't touch this bagel', or ' Leave that pizza alone'.

Hear an excerpt from the audiobook:

Disclosure: We received a copy of this audiobook from the publisher (Simon and Simon Audio).

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!

We're giving away a copy of this audiobook, courtesy of the publisher, Simon & Simon audio!

How you can win? Very simple. All you have to do is to retweet this post on twitter with the hashtag #myfootprint at the end of your tweet. We will have a raffle on Friday, February 26, 4:00PM EST between all the readers that will retweet by then. The winner will be announced the following day.

And if you're looking for another chance to win a free copy of this audiobook, we invite you to join our mailing list. Next week, we'll have a raffle of four copies of 'My Footprint' that will be exclusive to our mailing list. If you're not a subscriber yet, you're welcome to join our mailing list by adding your email on the 'Join Our Email List' box on the right column of the blog. More details will be sent on our March newsletter next week.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Mobile Phone Recycling in the UK

Today we have another guest column, this time from our friends at Recycle Mobile Phones who present their important work, facilitating mobile phone recycling.

If you are thinking about upgrading or buying a new phone, did you consider what you would do with your existing handset? In the UK, over ninety million mobile phones are hidden away in desk drawers and lie idle on desks. As a result, many new phone recycling programs have been launched to create awareness and to try to increase the number of mobile phones being recycled in the United Kingdom.

If you have just bought or upgraded your phone and want to help the environment, then the best way is to look at the many recycling companies, who will incentivise you by giving you money for your old handset. It doesn’t matter if the phone works or not, although you’ll be offered less money for it if it doesn’t work.

Note: The worst thing you can do, is to throw your old mobile phone in the bin. Mobile phones contain several toxins such as cadmium, lead, mercury and arsenic along with others, we do not need to contaminate our landfills or pollute the soil, air and water supplies by doing this.

Many times, these old mobile phones are in good working order so you just need to go onto a mobile phone recycling comparison site, which helps you to save time and earn money by searching for your make and model of phone. You will then see the prices that the recycling companies will offer and if you are happy with the price quoted, you can then complete the simple online form and then post your old phone to the recycling company, such as envirofone and then wait for your payment.

The recycled phones, which are in working condition, can simply be used by others , such as people who are less fortunate or indeed they can be sent to other countries to help developing worlds. The nonworking phones can be fixed or used to fix other phones, which can then be used for others. Reusing all the usable components and recycling the metals in the handset, lowers the need for new raw materials, as well as lowering the impact on mining for metals on the environment and wildlife.

For more information on recycling mobile phones and for our manufacturer list, please visit, http://www.recyclemobilephones.co.uk

Green book review of the week: Who Turned Out the Lights? by Scott Bittle & Jean Johnson

Today we are happy to present a guest book review of Dr. Patrick Meyer on our weekly series of green book reviews. Dr. Meyer who is an an expert in alternative energy and fuel technology policy analysis reviewed for our blog one of the most interesting book that were published lately about alternative energy.

Who Turned Out the Lights? Your Guided Tour to the Energy Crisis by Scott Bittle & Jean Johnson

Reviewed by: Dr. Patrick E. Meyer, Principal at Meyer Energy Research Consulting

Despite the tremendous level of discussion among politicians, writers, analysts, and the media regarding alternative energy, climate change, and sustainability, the majority of Americans do not fully understand the issues at hand. Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, in their new book Who Turned Out the Lights?: Your Guided Tour to the Energy Crisis (Retail $16.99, Harper Collins Publishers, October 2009, paperback, 368 pages, ISBN: 978-0-06-171564-8), attempt to explain to the masses energy and environmental issues, such as peak oil, clean coal, smart grid and the safety of nuclear power, whose discussion has now become commonplace, but may be misunderstood by the general populace.

Bittle and Johnson, also authors of Where Does the Money Go?: Your Guided Tour to the Federal Budget Crisis, are not energy experts. Due to their lack of specialized expertise in energy and environment, the authors’ presentation method is not technical—in fact, far from it. Bittle and Johnson splice their work with references to pop culture, rock music, primetime cartoons, and blockbuster movies. Offering these references allow Bittle and Johnson to provide a piece of work which should easily cater to the masses, allowing those not yet versed in the realm of energy and climate change to catch up to speed on these critical issues.

Immediately Bittle and Johnson identify the goals of their book: the authors seek to explain the basics and present options but not make recommendations. Further, the purpose of their book is to shed light on the overall readiness of the US to act on energy and environmental issues, to show how decisions today can have huge implications down the road, and to demonstrate the time-sensitiveness of these issues (that is, that these issues change all the time). Bittle and Johnson do this by focusing on broad public questions rather than individual ones. They warn that they do not seek to refight the climate change debate—that fight has been carried out elsewhere. As the authors state: “the purpose of Who Turned Out the Lights? is to stop, take a deep breath, back up a bit, and go back to the basics” (p. xvi).

Bittle and Johnson write on the subject of energy and environment because they know that many Americans are still confused about these issues, despite that everyone from John McCain and President Obama to Sheryl Crow and Paris Hilton have spoken publicly about the need for an energy revolution. To convey their message, the authors write from the point of view of a non-academic, non-industry specialist, non-governmental bystander.

The authors’ thesis is primarily that energy and environmental issues are not necessarily as complex as some would lead you to believe. Through exposition the authors explain tough subject areas and analyze the status of industries, technologies, and social movements to present the subject in a clarifying manner. The authors present the facts about the energy and environmental debate clearly and impartially.

Who Turned Out the Lights? fits wonderfully into the general field of energy and environmental debate. While politicians and the media have carried on relatively high-level discourse on issues such as biofuel development, nuclear power expansion, and constructing an advanced 21^st century electricity grid, many Americans’ understanding of these issues has been left behind.

As Al Gore did in 2006 with An Inconvenient Truth, Bittle and Johnson similarly show that these issues are not as complex as some would have you believe. Yet where Gore scared us all a little with his excellently conceived discussion of the devastating impact humanity has had on Earth, Bittle and Johnson remain neutral, providing the facts only and leaving the debate open for discussion.

Even a reader who is scientifically knowledgeable in the energy and environmental field will surely take away valuable information from this book. But technically-trained readers may criticize Bittle and Johnson’s colloquial writing style.

The bottom line, as shown by the authors, is that most Americans admit to caring about the environment but at the same time most Americans don’t want to spend money to help the environment. While they do not bluntly admit so, it seems as if the authors are a least a little frustrated by the notion that most Americans won’t support anything that costs them any extra money, even if it means polluting less and encouraging renewable energy development.

Who Turned Out the Lights? is recommended for those knowledgeable in energy and environmental issues, or those who know absolutely nothing in the subject area. For readers that are newcomers to the field, Bittle and Johnson provide a refreshing and grounded approach spliced with references to pop culture and things we all encounter in daily life. For those who have prior knowledge of alternative energy, fossil energy, climate change, and the politics of the energy arena, Bittle and Johnson provide a recap of these issues from a perspective not often found in academia, industry, or politics—that is, unbiased, bipartisan, and real.

Author Bio

Dr. Patrick E. Meyer is Principal at Meyer Energy Research Consulting, Newark, Delaware and Research Associate at Energy and Environmental Research Associates, LLC., Pittsford, New York. Holding a Ph.D. in Energy and Environmental Policy from the University of Delaware, Meyer specializes in alternative energy, electricity, and fuel technology policy analysis; global sustainable energy systems; and energy and environmental systems modeling and analysis. Meyer has authored more than 25 editorial articles for IEEE-USA’s Today’s Engineer and serves as the publication’s Energy, Environment & Sustainability Editor.

* A full version of the review can be found at http://www.ecolibris.net/lights.asp

Watch our new video: What happens when your marketing manager doesn't like your campain's slogan!

Last week we started our green gift campaign (http://www.ecolibris.net/gifts.asp), where we give great gifts that promote green reading! From free green books to gift cards for Strand Bookstore and BookSwim, the Netflix for books, Eco-Libris is now rewarding readers who balance out 25 books or more by planting trees.

As we mentioned earlier, my beautiful baby Shira was chosen to lead the campaign, and she is starring in a couple of funny videos that we hope you will enjoy. Here's the latest one that was published yesterday:



The videos can be found at the following links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf3yljv4PV8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pznPJjygtP8

We also invite you to share them with other book lovers, along with the information about the campaign (http://www.ecolibris.net/gifts.asp).

Best,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Rewarding green readers!

The number of eco-friendly papers has more than doubled in the past 18 months!

Wonderful news from Canopy! This great environmental non-profit organization that works to improve the environmental performance of paper and wood companies, reported earlier this month that the number of eco-friendly papers available in North America has more than doubled from 97 to 228 in the past 18 months!

According to Canopy (and thanks also to our friends at the Green Press Initiative for bringing this release to our attention), "the sharp increase in eco-paper options is the result of large paper buyers demanding more papers with ecological attributes, a growing trend despite recent troubles in the North American paper industry and global economy."

This is a very interesting trend and its importance is even greater, given the troubled economy and its influence on many paper buyers. Is it possible that more publishers see further business opportunities in purchasing greener papers? Possibly. Is it also a matter of pricing? Definitely. I believe that as we'll see premiums going down, it will be easier to present eco paper options as a business opportunity, or a win-win solution.

If you want to learn more about the eco paper options available, please go to Canopy's comprehensive Ecopaper database. There you'll find more than 350 of the best eco papers available in the North American marketplace.

Best,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!