Smooth operations are key to creating an efficient and effective print and direct mail marketing campaign.

Whether your print or mailing project is complex and intricate or simple, it's worthwhile not only for your budget but also for your time to find a provider who offers fulfillment services. These services will help your company execute timely, cost-effective, quality campaigns.

What is Print and Mailing Fulfillment?

Print fulfillment is a service provided by commercial printers. They take care of the entire process of printing materials, such as marketing pieces, promotional items, signage, and direct mailers. Printing fulfillment services include preparing, kitting, warehousing, and shipping.

Direct mail fulfillment is a service in which your provider takes care of the process of gathering data, addressing and preparing materials, and delivering direct mail to the intended audience.

Print and mailing fulfillment combines the above two services, so whether you need to box up inventoried branded apparel and brochures and ship them to a prospect or print catalogs and mail them to a new targeted audience, the process is seamless and handled for you by one provider.

Types of Print and Mailing Fulfillment Services

If you've ever had to package and ship your print collateral, lug your direct mail materials to the post office, or navigate around boxes of extra promo items in your office that you won't need for another few months, you know the struggle this process has on your time and budget.

Often, what's needed for a print or direct mail project is even more complex, and it could save you a lot of time and money to have a print and direct mail provider fulfill everything you need, including storing regularly ordered materials, personalizing designs, packaging, automating, and more.

Below are some of the most common and helpful print and mailing fulfillment services provided by print and direct mail providers.

Kit Assembly (Kitting)

Kit Assembly, or Kitting, is the process of combining items for shipping. These items are typically separate but related marketing materials and could include a branded pen, business card, brochure, and T-shirt in a single package. For example, if you want to mail your "branded kit" to several customers, each customer will receive the package containing the items.

Not only does your provider assemble your items together, they also ship them to their destination. This saves on shipping costs while also saving you time.

Kitting can involve simple assembly, such as inserting business cards into each of your branded pocket folders or attaching brochures to your catalogs and then inserting them into a mailing envelope, or it can involve much more complex projects, such as sorting, assembling, and packing several items together.

Warehousing and Inventory Management

The quickest way to get your marketing and promotional items where they need to go is to have them already printed, assembled, and ready to ship. Choosing a printer that offers warehousing and inventory management services means you can save money by printing regularly ordered items in bulk. They'll then store your already prepared materials so they are ready when you need them and can begin transit with just a click of a button, expediting printing turnaround time.

In addition, your printer will send automated inventory level notifications so when your materials are getting low, you can quickly reorder them if needed.

Direct Mail Fulfillment

Whether you're looking to create a customized mailing list, send out a bulk or short-run direct mail campaign, or utilize an advanced direct mail direct mail fulfillment services handle everything from start to finish.

With direct mail fulfillment, you only need to provide your marketing project specification, including the type of printed material, quantity, size, and type of audience. Your printer can then handle everything, including producing your materials, building your mail list, incorporating variable data information, for personalized designs, addressing each mailer, mailing, and even helping with tracking responses.

When a printer offers direct mail fulfillment, this often means that they have an in-house mail center. Not only does this help them offer you the best ways to deliver your materials, but it also means they can eliminate any hassle that comes along with mailing, offering:

• Mail list building and data gathering
• Mail list cleansing and de-duping
• Presorting, CASS certification, and Intelligent Mail Barcoding
• NCOA processing
• Addressing capabilities
• Envelope insertion

Online Print Fulfillment Storefronts

One of the most innovative and helpful fulfillment services printers offer is a Web-to-Print Portal or Ordering Portal. These custom-built online print fulfillment storefronts allow you to customize, host, and manage your company's branded digital assets, print materials, direct mailers, promotional items, and signage.

Suppose your company regularly uses branded assets such as business cards, apparel, event tents, flyers, or other materials. In that case, a Web-to-Print Portal makes placing orders, tracking materials, accessing your inventoried items, and customizing designs to include personalization easier than ever. Everything from Kit Assembly to inventory management and direct mail fulfillment can be processed, tracked, and managed through your custom-built portal.

Portals also allow your employees or franchisees to easily order materials on their own. They can even personalize certain materials, like business cards, while ensuring consistent branding. You can manage who has access to what materials, set rules for how many items users can order, and so much more.

Direct Mail Automation Services

Another print and direct mail fulfillment service many printers offer is Direct Mail Automation or CRM Direct Mail Integration. This solution allows you to utilize your customer data within your marketing automation software or CRM and send direct mailers, like postcards, as easily as emailing.

Even better, Direct Mail Automation takes the ease provided by fulfillment services a step further. It allows you to set up triggers within your marketing platform and have event-driven direct mail automatically sent to individuals based on emails sent, actions the contact took on your website, and more. A notification is automatically sent to your printer when a contact triggers a specific event. They then print and mail your mailer to the individual without you having to take any action.

Saving Time and Money with Print and Mailing Fulfillment

Ultimately, print and mailing fulfillment offers several flexible services that help make the entire print and mailing process seamless. Fulfillment reduces your workload, saves time, reduces costs, eliminates any manual labor on your end, and allows you to manage inventory and fulfill orders on-demand, just to name a few benefits.

Essentially, whether you need to warehouse a regularly used marketing material, insert letters into envelopes, package and ship several items in the same box, create and launch an entire direct mail campaign, or streamline the managing and ordering of your branded assets, print and mailing fulfillment can handle the simplest to the most complex needs you may have.

At Kingston Printing, we provide complete fulfillment for every solution, service, and product we offer for your convenience and budget. Just provide us with the details on what you want to accomplish, and we will create a custom fulfillment plan for your goals and budget. Click below to learn more about our print and mailing fulfillment services. If you have questions or want to discuss options, contact one of our experts today.