With digital printing increasing in popularity, options, and new features, it can seem appealing to choose digital printing over offset printing. However, it is important to know exactly which type of printing will be effective for the particular marketing campaign you are creating. Offset printing, or offset lithography, is the most common high volume commercial printing technology. Offset printing creates high-quality images, and can work on a wide variety of surfaces (chipboard, plastic). Offset printing works best for high volume print runs because unit cost goes down as quantity printed goes up. With offset printing there are fixed costs associated pre-press ...

Myth: Printed catalogs have been replaced by the internet. Fact: Catalog positively impact purchasing behavior. A printed catalog motivates online customers to visit retail web site more often, stay longer and spend more money. In fact, households receiving catalogs are twice as likely to make an online purchase (Source: comScore case study - USPS). A perfect example of this is Zappos.com, the online seller of shoes (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/business/media/07zappos.html) sends out printed catalogs to their customers. Aaron Magness, director for brand marketing and business development at Zappos.com in Henderson, Nev. states that lapsed customers have responded very well to the catalogs. Credits: MakingPaperFun.com and ...

Myth:  You can't recycle catalogs, magazines and direct mail. Fact: Most recycling programs accept a variety of materials. Most domestic curbside and drop-off recycling programs accept a variety of materials, including catalogs, magazines, and direct mail.  Over the past 10 years, the recovery rate for standard mail and magazines has doubled to approximately 40% (Source: Municipal Sold Waste Generation. Recycling and Disposal in the United States). Credits: MakingPaperFun.com and Printing Impressions (Dec. 2009).

Myth: Using paper destroys forests. Fact: When people uses more paper, suppliers plant more trees. Paper comes from trees. But that doesn't mean that printer who use paper  are helping destroy forests. In fact, the amount of forestland in the United States has been stable for the past 100 years (Source: The State of America's Forests - Society of American Foresters). It is simple: When you use paper made by responsible paper companies, more trees are planted to meet future needs. These companies properly manage forests to provide a balance between protecting the environment and producing valuable products that we all ...

As I write this, I'm looking at a postcard on my desk telling me to stop in and check out the latest women's designer jeans and handbags at a local high-end boutique. You might be wondering what's wrong with that. Unfortunately, this advertisement fell on deaf ears since I'm not the audience they most likely intended to reach. On the other hand, if they had sent out a postcard for a discount on men's suiting it would've caught my eyes. Let's be honest…how many trees do you kill a day as you're going through your paper mail? We are constantly bombarded ...