Want to Green Your Print Marketing? Go Digital
Tuesday, 30 August 2011 00:00
By Heidi Tolliver-Nigro
Want to green your print marketing? Go digital . . . digital print production, that is.
Although many companies think about digital print technologies as a way to save money by going print on demand or boost ROI on their marketing by targeting and personalizing, one aspect of the technology I think is overlooked is the “green-ness” of process.
How is digital printing “green”?
1. The technology itself is environmentally responsible.
Digital presses use no process chemicals. They use no film or plates. Start-up waste is minimal—10 sheets or less, compared to 100 or more sheets for most offset presses.
2. By their very nature, the applications produced on digital presses produces less waste.
By printing in smaller volumes more frequently, this minimizes print obsolescence. While we normally think of this as a production benefit, it’s a green benefit, too. It means fewer trees cut. Less ink wasted. Less fuel used for transportation. Less energy used to store and manage documents in a warehouse. This means a “greener” print workflow.
3. It reduces overall print volume.
Marketers who switch to digital production generally switch more than printing process. They switch document management models, too. They print in smaller batches, reducing print waste from obsolescence. They switch to smaller, more personalized booklets, minimizing the number of pages printed. They begin targeting and segmenting, focusing on the most likely respondents. This reduces the number of documents that get printed, mailed, and delivered.
4. It reduces postal waste.
One-third of all printed mailers are said to be undeliverable as addressed. That’s serious waste. The nature of digital print mailings means they generally use more qualified databases and more up-to-date lists. Thus, the UAA percentage for digital press applications is lower than for “junk” mail. And we all know how good junk mail is for the environment.
All of this is great news for marketers who want to green their print marketing. It just happens to be that the production process that opens up their marketing options is more environmentally responsible by default.
Isn’t it nice when things work out like that?
Heidi Tolliver-Nigro is an industry analyst specializing in digital, 1:1, personalized URLs, QR codes, and other marketing technologies as they apply to print. You can contact her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
