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What is a Corporate Social Responsibility Report and How Should You Share it?

What is a Corporate Social Responsibility Report and How Should You Share it?

What is a Corporate Social Responsibility Report and How Should You Share it?

As consumer demand for corporate transparency and responsibility continues to rise, companies have responded with a variety of reporting strategies to share their impact with customers, employees and investors. One way for companies to communicate this information is through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting, sometimes also referred to as Corporate Sustainability Reporting.

CSR reports are documents that outline the social and environmental impact of a business, often organized into four main categories—environmental, ethical, philanthropic and economic. These documents serve as a framework to measure and report company performance against long- and short-term goals in a digestible format for internal and external stakeholders.

In some countries CSR reporting is mandatory and follows a standard outline. Although there are currently no standards or regulations for CSR reports in the US, 92% of S&P 500 companies published one in 2020.

How to create a Corporate Social Responsibility report

Since there are no set rules for CSR reporting in the US, companies have the flexibility to report what makes the most sense for their business. Typically, corporations use their ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) or GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) models to generate the outline and expand as they see fit. No matter which sustainability framework your company aligns with, the main body of the document serves to inform the audience of company goals related to societal and environmental impact, and report on progress.

For example, a CSR report outline may look something like this:

  • Letter from the CEO
  • Company values & messaging
  • Company statistics, locations & leadership
  • Summary of your CSR approach
  • How it aligns with ESG guidelines
  • Key goals and performance metrics
  • Outlook for the future

How to share your CSR report

Once you’ve gathered your data and crafted an easy-to-read report, it’s time to share your hard work with stakeholders. Some companies choose to print them, some go fully digital and others choose a combination of the two. Your audience will likely have different preferences for reading the report, so we recommend producing both a digital-native version and a tangible printed copy. As full reports can get quite lengthy (some over 100 pages), it can also be helpful to provide a summary version, which sums up the highlights of your report into a skimmable booklet.

CSR sharing options:

  • Publish a CSR section as part of your annual report or company newsletter
  • Print a postcard or brochure with your CSR highlights, include instructions for how to access the full report online
  • Use transpromo marketing in your transactional mail to highlight CSR initiatives with a QR code or custom link leading to the digital report
  • Announce your CSR report with a direct mail campaign, use a QR code to lead recipients to a landing page with a summary of results and the full digital report download

How can Preferred Direct help

Whether you choose to publish your Corporate Social Responsibility results in an annual report, company newsletter, or a direct mail campaign, you can trust us as your premium print partner to get the job done. Contact the Preferred Direct team to learn more about our design, print and distribution capabilities and get started with your CSR report today!

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Elevate Your Postcard Campaign with Specialty Print Effects

Elevate Your Postcard Campaign with Specialty Print Effects

Elevate Your Postcard Campaign with Specialty Print Effects

Postcards can be a powerful, direct marketing tool, but standing out in a crowded mailbox requires more than just great design. Adding specialty print effects to your postcards can transform your direct mail campaign into a high-end, tactile experience that converts.

Preferred Direct offers a variety of specialty print finishes that can add a premium feel to your direct mail postcard campaigns. Let’s take a look at some of the options available to enhance your next print campaign.

Metallic Inks – The Budget-Friendly Option to Foiling

Metallic inks contain reflective particles that mimic the look of foil without the need for expensive substrates or foil stamping methods.

These shimmering inks can enhance your premium postcard campaigns, providing an upscale, polished look. We suggest pairing metallic inks with rich, jewel-toned colors like navy, burgundy or black. It helps the metallic effect POP off the background and creates a more luxury feel.

Design inspiration:

  • High-end product promotions (jewelry, luxury fashion, automotive)
  • Elegant event invitations or VIP offers
  • Exclusive club memberships and premium service announcements

 

Fluorescent Inks – A Bright Way to Catch Attention

Fluorescent inks are formulated with specialized pigments, which absorb and emit UV light to provide a glowing, neon effect.

We suggest using these inks sparingly to draw the viewers’ eyes to important information or call-to-actions (CTA’s). These bright colors are especially useful for sales advertisements or limited time offers and can give the appearance of a personalized, hand-written postcard.

Design inspiration:

  • Limited-edition or limited time offers for dealerships and realtors
  • High-end fitness or beauty brands with a vibrant, energetic brand voice
  • Informational finance and legal postcards for clients

 

Tactile Coatings – A Touch of Luxury

Tactile coatings provide a textured finish to a print surface, such as soft touch coatings, grit coatings, matte varnish, embossing, and more. The most popular option is soft-touch, which creates a velvety feel across the postcard.

Add this as a flood coating to stand out immediately when recipients handle their mail pieces or add as a spot coating to draw attention to details like car leather.

special effects printing

Design inspiration:

  • Luxury fashion, cosmetics, and high-end electronics
  • Premium real estate listings
  • Special event invitations

 

 

Specialty Coatings – Add Contrast and Shine

Specialty coatings are used to give visual interest to printed pieces. Popular choices include high-gloss and matte, used alone or together to create visual depth in high contrast designs.

Our favorite approach to specialty coating is giving rich, vibrant images a boost with gloss coatings and create a striking contrast with a super matte coating in non-image areas. This will add a sheen over key visuals to grab attention, while leaving the key text areas easy to read.

Design inspiration:

  • Premium travel and hospitality promotions
  • Upscale real estate and interior design showcases
  • Gourmet food and beverage branding

 

A successful direct mail campaign starts with reaching your audience, but the real success lies in capturing their attention and inspiring action. Specialty print effects are a great way to add memorable details that elevate your postcards and improve your campaign ROI. Preferred Direct is proud to have recently installed a new HP Digital Press capable of running high-end, specialty printing inks and coatings for your next luxury campaign. Contact our team today for expert advice on your next campaign and explore our specialty print and postcard options.

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How to Increase Billing ROI with Transpromo Marketing

How to Increase Billing ROI with Transpromo Marketing

What is Transpromo Marketing?

Transpromo marketing, short for “transactional-promotional” marketing, is the practice of merging transactional documents (like bills, invoices, or account statements) with promotional content. These documents are already being sent to customers as part of regular businesstranspromo marketing example operations, making them a cost-effective channel for adding marketing messages. When done strategically, using billing documents as a dual-purpose tool to both inform customers and drive revenue has massive potential to increase ROI.

Transform Billing into a Revenue Driver

By combining billing with carefully crafted promotional content, businesses can transform routine mailings into a powerful marketing tool. For example, a billing statement could include a promotion for a new referral program, or a utility bill might highlight discounts for energy-efficient lighting and power cords.

By integrating advertisements, cross-sell offers, or informative content into billing documents, you leverage the high open and read rates of transactional mail. Viewers are more likely to open a bill, than they are to open unknown promotional mail.

The key lies in personalizing these promotions. Using customer data and variable data printing (VDP), businesses can tailor the message, piece by piece, to align with the recipient’s known needs, demographics or habits.

transpromo bill printing

Why Does Transpromo Work?

Transactional documents boast some of the highest engagement rates in the direct mail space. Customers are known to likely to open, review, and retain them. Incorporating promotional content into these documents helps your message reach a highly attentive audience.

Additionally, this approach eliminates the need to send separate promotional mailers, reducing marketing costs while maximizing impact. This dual-purpose format is especially effective for financial institutions, business and home services, universities, utilities, healthcare providers, and subscription-based services.


 

How Preferred Direct Marketing Maximizes Transpromo Potential

Preferred Direct Marketing specializes in creating customized financial documents that seamlessly combine essential transactional information with eye-catching promotional content. With expertise in secure data management, advanced printing techniques, and integrated direct mail strategies, PDM ensures that every piece of transpromo material delivers measurable results.

Leveraging financial documents as a marketing channel is a low-cost, high-impact way for businesses to reach their customers. Utilizing personalization techniques such as variable data printing can help boost billing ROI by connecting essential customer information with promotional messages that resonate with their needs.

Contact PDM today to get started with your own transpromo marketing campaign and see the ROI for yourself!

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Color Psychology in Marketing: Choosing the Right Palette for Your Brand

Color Psychology in Marketing: Choosing the Right Palette for Your Brand

Color Psychology in Marketing: Choosing the Right Palette for Your Brand

Selecting the best color palette for a brand or print marketing campaign is more than a visual choice—it’s a strategic decision. Consumer studies have shown that color can increase brand recognition by up to 80% and over 90% of people make purchasing decisions based on your brand visuals. Colors have the power to evoke emotions, shape perceptions, and influence behavior. As a leading commercial printer, we know that understanding color psychology can help you connect with your audience and achieve your marketing goals.

Let’s explore the emotional and psychological impact of different colors and how they can be used effectively in your marketing efforts.

For a visual illustration, check out our color psychology chart.


 

Blue

Fun Fact: Blue is the most popular color worldwide–57% of men and 35% of women citing it as their favorite.

  • Positive Emotions: Trustworthy, loyal, secure, serene, professional
  • Negative Emotions: Cold, emotionless, appetite-suppressing, sad
  • Associations: Sky, water, calmness

Blue is often used by social media platforms, healthcare organizations and insurance companies to convey trust and reliability. Different shades of blue can convey different messages such as soft blues for wellness, bold blues for innovation, and dark blues for professionalism. Blue’s versatility and trustworthiness makes it a great color to place throughout any branded print and marketing pieces.


 

Purple

Fun Fact: Purple’s rarity in nature has historically linked it with royalty and luxury. From Roman emperors to Queen Elizabeth, it has been a color of choice for the elite.

  • Positive Emotions: Regal, wise, sophisticated, imaginative
  • Negative Emotions: Excessive, moody, indulgent
  • Associations: Royalty, religion, chocolates

Purple is less common in brand logos, which helps it stand out. Hallmark leverages purple to appeal to its predominantly female audience, whereas Yahoo! uses purple to stand out from the standard blue often used by tech companies. Purple’s sophistication and uniqueness can be used to call attention to specific messages or to set your branding apart.


 

Orange

Fun Fact: Orange is one of the least favorite colors globally, with 29% of people listing it as their least favorite.

  • Positive Emotions: Confident, creative, courageous, enthusiastic
  • Negative Emotions: Immature, frustrating, ignorant, warning
  • Associations: Affordable products, innovation, traffic & construction.

Nickelodeon embraces orange’s playful and creative qualities to resonate with children and families. Orange is a highly visible color, often used for traffic cones, construction signs and work wear. You can use orange’s visibility and playfulness to call attention to important messages in your marketing.


 

Red

Fun Fact: Red has physiological effects, including increasing heart rate and stimulating appetite.

  • Positive Emotions: Passionate, energetic, adventurous, strong
  • Negative Emotions: Angry, aggressive, dangerous
  • Associations: Urgency, hunger, action

As one of the most eye-catching colors in the visible spectrum, red is widely used in food branding to stimulate appetite and calls-to-action , like sale signs and stop signs, to drive engagement. Be careful, too much red can be overwhelming and can lose the color’s impact. Use red as a contrast to neutral colors and it will bring attention directly where you need it.


 

Green

Fun Fact: Green is another fan favorite, chosen by 14% of people across all demographics.

  • Positive Emotions: Healthy, fresh, hopeful, harmonious
  • Negative Emotions: Envious, toxic, disgust, wicked
  • Associations: Nature, health, wellness, growth

Grocery stores and wellness brands often use green to promote health and freshness, emphasizing their connection to natural products. The color promotes focus, concentration and productivity and can even reduce stress levels. In Western cultures, green is also associated with money. Lately, green has been the iconic color and name of the sustainability movement, promoting a “green” economy.


 

Yellow

Fun Fact: Yellow’s eye-catching nature makes it a popular choice for warning signs and marketing elements designed to create urgency.

  • Positive Emotions: Optimistic, happy, warm, extroverted
  • Negative Emotions: Impulsive, irrational, anxiety-inducing
  • Associations: Sunshine, warmth, caution

Brands use yellow sparingly to draw attention and encourage quick decision-making. Yellow can bring a happy pop of color to your print marketing or highlight important details that the viewers must see.


 

Pink

Fun Fact: Certain shades of pink have been shown to have calming effects, even reducing aggression.

  • Positive Emotions: Imaginative, creative, quirky, soft
  • Negative Emotions: Childish, excessive, moody
  • Associations: Femininity, love

T-Mobile and Barbie use pink effectively to stand out and appeal to specific audiences. It is often a very feminine color, though can help your brand or print pieces stand out when implemented strategically.


 

Black

Fun Fact: Nearly 28% of the most recognizable brands incorporate black or gray in their logos.

  • Positive Emotions: Sophisticated, sleek, powerful, elegant
  • Negative Emotions: Oppressive, cold, mourning, dark
  • Associations: Luxury, high-end products, mystery

Black is a bold color, often used in fashion and luxury industries. The dark emotions associated with black make it less suitable for healthcare, wellness, childcare, and care-related branding.


 

White

Fun Fact: White symbolizes purity in Western cultures but is linked to mourning in many Eastern traditions.

  • Positive Emotions: Clean, pure, innocent, simple
  • Negative Emotions: Sterile, plain, distant
  • Associations: Simplicity, new beginnings

Technology companies use white to convey a clean, modern aesthetic. White space is extremely important to incorporate into your print marketing to ensure your designs are clean, organized and readable. A lack of white space in your print could create a jumbled message that your audience struggles to read.


 

Fluorescents and Metallics

Fluorescent Colors: These vibrant shades amplify the characteristics of their base colors, adding energy and urgency. Use them sparingly to highlight key elements without overwhelming your design.

Metallic Colors:

  • Gold: Power, wealth, prestige
  • Silver: Elegance, balance, sophistication
  • Bronze: Maturity, earthiness, stability

Metallics can add a sense of luxury and value to your branding when used thoughtfully.

Preferred Direct Marketing offers specialty printing options, including fluorescent inks and metallic finishes, to make your designs unforgettable.


 

Partner with Preferred Direct Marketing

Whether you aim to build trust, evoke excitement, or convey luxury, understanding color psychology will ensure your design decisions support your goals. Choosing the right colors is just the beginning of an effective marketing campaign. Preferred Direct Marketing combines innovative design expertise with high-quality full-color printing services to help you bring your vision to life.

Ready to transform your ideas into impactful marketing materials? Let us help you create a visually compelling marketing campaign that connects with your audience. Contact Preferred Direct Marketing today to get started!

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5 Pro Tips for Your Annual Company Newsletter

5 Pro Tips for Your Annual Company Newsletter

5 Pro Tips for Your Annual Company Newsletter

In the world of business, annual company newsletters are the best source of distributing a company’s journey over the past year. These annual reports have become far more than just a measure of successes in numbers. Companies have used these newsletters to showcase achievements and company growth, highlight employees, share customer stories and testimonies, as well as future company goals and aspirations.

Are you new to the world of business marketing? Here’s a few tips from the Print & Mail Pros at Preferred Direct to ensure your next company newsletter captivates your shareholders, customers, employees and beyond.

#1 Use Engaging Visuals! saddle stitch printing booklet

Nothing will lose a team’s attention faster than looking at a company report of words and bullet points. Incorporating strong visuals such as photos, charts, graphs, and infographics make data and content more digestible. If possible, try to use real photos of your headquarters, team members and customers. A stock photo can be easy to spot and makes it less relatable. It’s important to incorporate your company colors throughout your report to always reinforce your brand message and look. Annual reports don’t need to be boring! Contact Preferred Direct for a design consultation and we’ll help you ideate your next  company newsletter for top ROI.

#2 Make Your Company Newsletter Personal

An important aspect when it comes to your company newsletter is to be open and honest about your company health. Take this as an opportunity to showcase your successes and achievements, environmental/social initiatives, key milestones, and noteworthy events. This is also a good place to provide an overview of financial achievements such as profits and revenue. Alternatively, incorporating lessons learned and other shortcomings can show company transparency, inspiring loyalty and helping prevent larger loss in the future. By sharing future plans and strategies, along with potential challenges, you can add a personal touch to your company newsletter that help empower and inform your greatest assets – your employees and supporters.

#3 Keep it Clean & Organized

To ensure your message is received accurately, the content must be clean and structured to be easy to read. Not everyone reading your company newsletter is an executive or even a tenured team member, make sure to use easy-to

Company newsletter pagination services-understand verbiage and visuals so readers of all professional levels can follow along.  Using easy-to-read typography, incorporating sections and titles, and having a clear strategy to your newsletter is imperative. Contact the Preferred Direct team for pagination services.

#4 Make it Professional

We’ve all gone to events where you end up with a handful of brochures you never even look at. Make your annual reports stand out with professional bindery and finishing options from Preferred Direct! We offer spiral bound, perfect bound, and saddle stitch binding, along with the printing and mailing of your newsletter. Your board members, shareholders, employees, customers, and donors deserve a professional polished print they can take pride in.

#5 Embrace Digital!

Embracing the digital world allows viewers to access  your annual newsletter more readily and at their own pace.  With the increase of individuals using their phones to view professional documents, having a digital copy of your annualcompany newsletter binging and finishing report can help spread your message even further. Using Preferred Direct’s email marketing service, you can share the digital newsletter, as well as grow your direct mail newsletter list annually. You can also combine print and digital mediums by using QR codes in your printed company newsletters that link to special landing pages. Contact our team to learn more.

Now that you understand your newsletter is more than just a transfer of information down the chain of command – it’s a strategic communication tool for multiple audiences. Let’s get started!

preferred directAt Preferred Direct we offer a wide range of services that will set your annual reports apart from the rest. Our skilled designers and state-of-the-art equipment provide what you need to achieve a professional look and the consistent branding your company deserves. From pagination to distribution, we can design, print, and mail your next annual company newsletter, from start to finish. Contact us to get started today.

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Print-on-Demand: A Game-Changer for Economical Print

Print-on-Demand: A Game-Changer for Economical Print

Print-on-Demand: A Game-Changer for Economical Print

 

Businesses and entrepreneurs alike are constantly seeking ways to streamline their processes and reduce costs. More and more companies are moving away from traditional mass printing methods with large print runs, substantial overhead expenses, and the risk of unsold inventory. With the emergence of the Print-on-Demand (POD) through digital printing technology, customers now have a more economic and efficient solution for their mass printing needs. Preferred Direct, an industry-leading print, direct mail, and digital communications partner, is proud to offer Print on Demand services to customers throughout North America. In this blog, we will explore this lean printing technique, how it works and its advantages and applications for businesses today.

What is Print on Demand (POD)?

Print on demand (POD) is a business model and printing technology that allows companies to print products in small quantities. The key concept behind the growing success of print on demand is that products are printed or manufactured only when they are ordered, reducing the need for large, upfront inventory and associated costs. Here are some of its unique advantages:

Reduce Costs & Waste

print on demand

Traditional printing often entails substantial upfront costs for mass orders and the risk and burden of storing inventory. With Print-on-Demand, customers can eliminate these overhead costs by printing copies in smaller batches over their contract lifetime. While the per-unit cost of Print-on-Demand books may be slightly higher than bulk offset printing, the overall cost savings come from avoiding warehousing and waste costs.

Companies and entrepreneurs can maintain a manageable inventory of print collateral at a time and order more (or less) throughout their contract, reducing the financial risk of unpredictable sales or fails. Talk to your print partner to understand lead times, order minimums, payment terms and more. Preferred Direct’s digital printing and finishing services ensure your books, catalogs, documents and more remain available without the need for extensive storage space or the risk of obsolete inventory.

Economic Self-Publishing

Print-on-Demand is an economic and accessible option for independent authors and small publishers. With the rise of entrepreneurs selling print products direct on platforms like Amazon and Facebook, Print-on-Demand can help the average author get to official publisher level. While traditional offset printing may not be cost-effective for those with limited resources or those who don’t need large print runs, currently. This democratization of mass printing has expanded the range of voices and content available to consumers, and Preferred Direct is here to support entrepreneurs on this exciting journey!

Rapid Turnaround

Time is of the essence in the world of business. Print-on-Demand technology allows for quick turnaround times, enabling orders to be anticipated, printed, and shipped to customers within days. This rapid response reduces lead times and allows for faster printing and delivery. With Print-on-Demand, the printer and customer must have a relationship based on communication to strategically print as needed.

Customization and Personalization

Considering you are printing in small batches, clients can make updates and revisions to each run with Preferred Direct’s variable data and digital printing technology. This feature is particularly useful for educational materials, corporate publications, and political or niche markets, giving you the flexibility to tailor your content as things change.

Eco-Friendly

print on demand

Print-on-Demand takes a lean approach to publications and is more environmentally friendly than traditional printing. Bulk printing can result in significant paper, energy, transportation, and resource waste when books go unsold. POD reduces waste by printing only when there is a confirmed demand, contributing to environmental sustainability.

Print and Digital Integration

In this digital age, many companies now offer a combination of print and digital formats for their titles. POD can be seamlessly integrated with e-book distribution and other digital channels, providing readers with multiple options for accessing content.

Preferred Direct for POD

Preferred Direct offers Print-on-Demand solutions among our various print and finishing capabilities. We understand the quality, urgency, and logistics needed to successfully carry out a Print-on-Demand program for your print campaign. Whether you are a business, an entrepreneur, an author, or a publisher, Preferred Direct has the experience to print and deliver your products, on time and on budget. Contact Preferred Direct today to discover how our Print-on-Demand technology can transform your operations to be efficient, cost-effective, and eco-friendly.

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