Planning for the Fall

As summer comes to a close, the direct mail industry will begin to ramp up for the busy fall season. Production Solutions would like to provide some helpful tips and suggestions to keep your mailing on track and to help avoid the common pitfalls that can quickly steer a project off course.

1. Schedule Your Mailings; Be proactive and share your fiscal year mail plan with your Account Manager. This will enable us to plan and schedule machine time accordingly, which can quickly book up during the busy season, and avoid any rush charges or costs to bump another job off press.
2. Edits to Proofs; Notify your Account Manager if you plan on releasing art that will require changes during the proof stage to allow for scheduling enough time for AA edit rounds.
3. Priority for Personalized; Focus on the personalized components first if you are experiencing delays in releasing/approving final artwork. They require more production time during the mailshop stage and typically are printed prior to generic components.
4. Lead Time; Make sure to account for those special items in your direct mail that take a longer time to produce;
   1. Paper Stock (colored & high post consumer waste)
   2. Foil & Label Dies
   3. Custom Envelope Window Dies
   4. Embossing & Debossing (can add up to 2-3 weeks!)
5. Estimated Quantities; Release the artwork for production even if you do not have final quantities – they just need to be confirmed during the proofing stage.
6. Special Data Processing; Plan on an additional 1-2 days of data processing work should any special processes be required (i.e., appends, NCOA, special segmentation, etc.)
7. More Info = More Flexibility; Keep communication open and notify your production manager as soon as possible if a deadline will be missed. The more time available to create contingency plans, the more likely the consequences will be manageable.