Trish Witkowski, Chief Folding Fanatic at Foldfactory, joins Deborah Corn to discuss her 14-year run of Fold of the Week and why it’s ending, preparing content for her new direct mail course, and what will happen to her extensive library of folding templates and videos. (Transcript and PDF download below)
Mentioned in This Episode:
Trish Witkowski: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trishwitkowski/
Foldfactory: https://foldfactory.com/
Fold of the Week: https://foldfactory.com/fold-of-the-week/
Join Fold Club: https://foldfactory.com/fold-club/
Print Production Folding Course: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/print-production-folding
Deborah Corn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahcorn/
Print Media Centr: https://printmediacentr.com
Project Peacock: https://ProjectPeacock.TV
Girls Who Print: https://girlswhoprint.net
[INTRODUCTION]
[0:00:05.0] DC: It takes the right skills and the right innovation to design and manage meaningful print marketing solutions. Welcome to Podcast From the Printerverse, where we explore all facets of print and marketing that create stellar communications and sales opportunities for business success. I’m your host Deborah Corn, the Intergalactic Ambassador to the Printerverse. Thanks for tuning in. Listen long and prosper.
[INTERVIEW]
[0:00:34.1] DC: Hey everybody, welcome to the Podcast From the Printerverse. This is Deborah Corn, your Intergalactic Ambassador, and I am here with one of my BFFs, Trish Witkowski, the folding fanatic from Foldfactory. Hello Trish.
[0:00:50.0] TW: Hi, it’s great to be here.
[0:00:53.3] DC: I am always happy to see you, and now, I am happy to have you as a guest on the podcast, whenever you have news, I always reach out and say “Hey, it’s time to share the news with the Printerverse,” and you have some really big news recently. In the fact that you are ending your 14-year run of Fold of the Week.
[0:01:21.1] TW: Yup. We’ll be 15 in 2024.
[0:01:24.7] DC: Yes, which you started in 2009 and I only know this because we exactly started, Print Media Centr opened up in 2009. So, we’re like, we’re in that moment of content creation explosion and you are taking everything, all of that breath and wealth of knowledge over 665 episodes of Fold of the Week and you are creating a new course for direct mail out of it.
That is the overview, obviously, but first, let’s focus on this incredible library of resources that you have created and make sure that we let everybody know that’s not going anywhere, nobody should freak out.
[0:02:12.6] TW: Right. No, I appreciate that. I appreciate that. Yes, that was one of the first questions actually when I announced kind of a shift in priorities to focus on some new things. It was, “Will Fold of the Week still be on YouTube? Will Foldfactory still exist?” Everything’s still going to be there, absolutely everything is staying and yeah, I’m wrapping up 15 great years and shifting priorities into a new course and I’m ending the series in a really fun way.
I am doing a 10-episode special series called “Best of Fold of the Week.” And what I’m doing is, I’m going back through all of the episodes and evaluating fan favorites, based on views, likes, things like that. Fan favorites and also my personal picks for the top five most exciting solutions or smartest or you know, solutions, and then I’m taking them and I’m putting them into an episode. and so there’s 10 of them and there is all different categories.
You know, best of interactive, best of accordions, best of gate folds, best of dimensional solutions, best of – so, it goes through a whole bunch of different categories as well and so it’s a really fun way to end the series, and I’m spacing them out because they do take – it’s a lot of effort to go through the whole catalog and you know, go through everything. So, they’re spaced out every two weeks. So, I think in March is when the final episode will be released but I’m actually producing one right now. The first one goes out tomorrow so –
[0:03:38.4] DC: Excellent. Well, before we move forward. I just want to really focus on, like I said, the incredible library of content that you have created. Let’s really have an ode to Fold of the Week right now. So, why did you originally create the series, and then that leads us into why you’re creating something else now.
[0:03:59.1] TW: Yeah, yeah, and I love that question because it really came out of I did a bunch of research on creative formats for folding. I mean, if you go way back, it was my thesis at RIT for my master’s degree and then I realized there were just so many different ways to fold a brochure and I did all of this research but nobody wanted to look at all my math diagrams on folding compensation mathematics and you know, illustrations in black and white.
Like, nobody was interested until I started sharing real examples of real-world solutions that other people were doing and the thing about mail is, mail is very specific to wherever it’s going to. So, there are things, millions and billions of pieces of mail that nobody ever knows go out or that you’ll never get to see. You’re not the right audience or it’s not for you or whatever it is but learning from other people’s solutions is where, you know, great ideas come from and it’s really also led to a lot of evolution of different formats throughout the 15-year period.
I always kind of internally call it the Fold of the Week effect because I would share something on the show and then like six months later, somebody would send me a modification or an improvement on that format for their concept or their solution and so you know, by seeing and experiencing other people’s ideas, it’s where we learn and you know, you and I know, right? 15 years ago, that was when it was really when people were starting to use video for B2B, not just recreational types of things, and so it was just kind of a Wild West.
It was like, “I’ll do this and see if anybody watches, you know?” And it just turned out that people were watching and it grew and then the sponsors came and they’ve been wonderful and you know, there was just a lot of support for the show, which kept me going as well and then, of course, don’t create the folds on the show, those are provided, audience provide it. So, you know that community element of people sending ideas and wanting to fold it forward as though as, you know, really important too, and what kept a lot of the momentum is who is going to be on the show and then of course, there’s the shirts, so.
[0:06:09.4] DC: Yeah, I mean, when we started, there was no video on Twitter, there was not video on LinkedIn, there was no video on Facebook, there was only video on YouTube and the goal was to get everybody on YouTube or I guess, you could embed it on your website.
[0:06:25.1] TW: Well, that works a lot more to it, it wasn’t as easy, you know?
[0:06:28.2] DC: No.
[0:06:28.2] TW: And, and.
[0:06:28.8] DC: Now you can do it from your phone if you really have to.
[0:06:31.4] TW: Yeah, and here’s the crazy part too. I mean, I don’t know what year your 15 years ago video camera was like, I look back at my first hundred episodes or so.
[0:06:41.8] DC: I think it’s in like five closets, I think that’s how big it was.
[0:06:44.5] TW: Yeah.
[0:06:45.4] DC: And it’s like grainy.
[0:06:47.0] TW: Now I’ve got, you know, professional lighting, professional everything, and you just – everything’s improved over the years and it’s gotten easier to shoot and produce video, you know. It’s certainly become more of an art form and –
[0:07:01.4] DC: Yeah, and I mean, you’re in it to win it. I mean, I’ve been to your studio, I know the investment that you’ve made in all of that equipment and especially when your magic hands came into play. That was such a transformation of your studio.
[0:07:16.7] TW: Yeah, yeah.
[0:07:18.7] DC: So, something that people might not be aware of, and now is a great time to make them aware of it is that you know, you mentioned that the samples that you discussed on Fold of the Week were sent in by people but you also created this series in order to distribute templates that you created for direct mail as well and I’ve actually had a few people ask me if I knew if you were taking those down. I don’t believe you are, correct?
[0:07:49.0] TW: Yeah, no-no-no. The templates are staying and really, the templates are driven by kind of demand from the audience or particularly popular formats. I would have the dieline made and have it available for download and then also a lot of those live over it, smart press in my designer folds collection as well. So, you know, there’s like 30 of them over there and then there’s also free ones at Foldfactory.
If you just join Fold Club, it’s free, it takes two seconds and then you can download like, I think I have 20 or so, at least. It might be more than that over there too, free for download as well. Yeah, the templates are important because they really help you get where you’re going. A lot of these come down to math and if you don’t get the math right, it’s just a problem. So – and it’s another part of it though.
You know, I was telling you that a lot of my research was the mathematics behind folding compensation and you know, to get things to fold right and to do it the right way, it just assumes so much on the user side that like, I would know how to place my files right and I would hear from so many printers about how we fix so many files over and over and over again and these days, with the production times compressed, you know, no one’s has time to spend a week putting in their you know, production team to try to figure it out.
[0:09:09.2] DC: Right.
[0:09:10.1] TW: It’s like if you can start with a template, it gets you 85, 90, 95% there. I find that most people modify them. I mean, you know, the question gets asked to me a lot like, “Why don’t you have a template for every single fold you’ve ever shared?” Like, yeah. You know, I love the idea of that but what I found like a thousand times over and I mean this, is that everybody wants the template that I show.
But then they go, “Well, I want that one. Except, we need it to be five by five and with that one folded panel shorter, and then we’re going to put back here, can you do that?” And it’s kind of like, everybody – and I love this because it’s creative but from a kind of investment standpoint on my part, right? That production has to happen to create that template and then it’s, “Well, it’s actually not quite right, I want to change it, I want to change the cycle.”
[0:10:00.2] DC: Right.
[0:10:00.8] TW: So, it’s like, it’s very hard to please kind of everybody in every scenario. So –
[0:10:05.4] DC: Yeah.
[0:10:05.9] TW: You know, there’s a lot of things that are great start and then it’s like, “Okay if you take the cross-fold template dieline” whatever, and you know, okay, you’re 85% there, modify your panel, change your scale but you’ve got your basic, you know, mathematics there. So, it’s kind of –
[0:10:23.3] DC: Yeah.
[0:10:23.6] TW: I also did a lot of that kind of, how could I get people close, and then they can push themselves over the finish line. So, you know, that’s the challenge on some of it but I love that they’re asking, I love that they want to do new things, I love that people are – I mean, that’s the challenge that a lot of times gets in the way of creativity is you don‘t have a lot of time, you might have the budget to do it, maybe you don’t and you got to do something creative on a budget.
But if you have the budget and you’re like, “By the time I try to make this thing over here, I’m out of time, so I’ll just go back to the thing I know” right? And so, it’s how do you get people to try new things, even if they don’t always pull the trigger on them, they might try it though maybe another time.
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[INTERVIEW CONTINUED]
[0:11:54.4] DC: Yeah, and you know, first of all, somebody who has not made one side 130 seconds of an inch shorter than the other panel, believe me, I’ve been there. I’ve also made things five by seven to go in a five by seven envelope. You do that once until someone’s like, “McFly, it needs to be smaller than five by seven to fit into a…” but yes, and by the way, that 132ndth of an inch doesn’t fold if it’s not cut off. I mean, math matters is, I guess, what I’m saying.
[0:12:28.7] TW: Yeah. No, it does and it’s kind of – I hate the idea, and part of what drives me is I hate the idea of people being all in on creating something, putting the money in, the resources, the time, the creativity, you know, and then to kind of shoot yourself in the foot over something that is you know, either outside of your knowledge base or is just preventable or you know, just feel like if you can take away the barriers and these are some of the barriers, you know?
[0:13:02.2] DC: Yeah, for sure.
[0:13:02.7] TW: Barriers to creativity, barriers to production, barriers to you know?
[0:13:06.2] DC: I just want to throw out a lifeline out there to some designers and creatives out there, paper merchants can make folding dummies on the stock you actually want to use. So, they’re usually great partners too, so you can see if your template is correct and make all of the adjustments before you send it to a printer.
I have also worked with printers that I’ve shown them things and said, “Because it has to go on your equipment, because I need it, I need to get as many up on possible, you create this template for me and if it needs to be a quarter of an inch smaller –” or to your point, I just want to put it out there to people that you’re not at a dead end if you don’t have a template.
There are people out there who will collaborate with you to help you make sure that you don’t find out like me unfortunately, that the thing does not fold correctly and you have to – by the way, sending it back to get that small amount trimmed is a nightmare. People, you know, you get disclaimers all over the place and some of it worked and some of it didn’t. We ended up having to reprint but at least we, you know, we trimmed enough for the immediate need and then we went back, and then moving forward, we never did it again.
Okay, I want to change focus to the next iteration of Trish Witkowski which is a direct mail course that you are producing. As you say in your press release, you are not a stranger to online course correction. You have three online courses on LinkedIn Learning. Two of them are currently available, print production folding class. We’ve had more than 65,000 learners, you’re calling them.
[0:14:51.5] TW: Yeah.
[0:14:52.9] DC: I mean, how amazing?
[0:14:54.9] TW: it’s exciting, you know, I don’t know what I thought would happen, you know? But I’m really thrilled that so many people have taken it and just loved the course. So, because you know how it is, I mean, it’s kind of – I mean, it’s you know, 500 hours of work, you know? A course is hundreds of hours work and you put that effort in and you just hope that the people want to watch it and love it and get a lot out of it, you know?
[0:15:18.0] DC: So, I mean, I don’t produce courses but I produce 10-hour online conferences like a couple of visit.
[0:15:23.6] TW: Yes, and you know what goes into –
[0:15:25.5] DC: Yes, months of preparation, months. Months, and hours and hours and hours.
[0:15:30.8] TW: And with a course, you know, you do all the research, you script, you have to figure out your graphics, you have to time everything. You know, this one, I’m doing because I’ve done so much video production on my own, I’m doing this on my own. So, when I worked for LinkedIn, which was linda.com at the time before they got bought by LinkedIn, you know, I had producers, I had camera people.
You do a whole different thing over there, you still create the content but then they design it and format it for you, you go, you fly there, you do the video work and stuff. It’s different, you know? You kind of walk away from it and they kind of go, “Tada, it’s done.” And this is, you know, grassroots. I mean, it’s fun for me because this is the part of it that I enjoy and I want to have the control over the visuals on the content and everything.
But it’s a big undertaking but I’m excited about it because there is I think kind of a gap in you know, what’s out there in the direct mail category. Also, so much has happened in mail from a technology standpoint, what’s out there, artificial intelligence, machine learning. Like, all these different things that are helping us to create better, smarter, more relevant print marketing for customers and prospects and things.
So, my goal is to set the foundation and provide the resources and the message and to kind of pull together all of these parts and pieces that I’ve mentioned across years of the show. You know I’ll mention about this, I’ll mention about an engagement strategy, a special effect, you know, personalization, this, that, and you kind of – as separate pieces, they’re ideas but when you pull them all together, there’s a cohesive learning concept there that is really important that I want everyone to have.
And so, that’s really where the drive on this class comes from and it’s been on my to-do list for years and I just was like, “I’ve got to do this.” I’ve just – it’s time, so.
[0:17:28.4] DC: So, it seems to me that there’s a dual focus of audience here. We have the audience that you and I love to speak to, the creative audience, the marketing people, the people who come up with ideas and it seems that the printers can come along too for sparking ideas and for you know, saying to a customer after learning, maybe it lifted a response rate or maybe it got more people to register an event.
And the techniques and the strategies that were behind that and then they could then implement that into their talk tracks when they’re speaking with potential mailers, correct, yeah?
[0:18:06.1] TW: Exactly. Yeah, it’s time and a two-sided thing, right? I mean, if designers learn it but the print salespeople and the printers don’t know what they’re talking about, I don’t mean they don’t understand it, I mean, like if these things they’re coming up with that they learned in the course, they’re saying some stuff and it’s like, “I don’t quite know what she’s talking about. We know a lot about mail and we know a lot about production but we don’t know about this special thing” or you know, whatever it is they’re asking for.
So, it’s also about trying to kind of cover the concept for both sides so that everybody can speak the same language and get kind of up to date and you know, it’s also about just kind of stitching it all together for everybody because the thing about mail is although it’s what you receive seems simple, there is a lot of timing and strategy and messaging and imagery and different things that deal with human behavior.
And there’s also a lot of online types of strategies that also can work in print and it’s kind of if you start to look for these things, you realize that they kind of pull through in not only the online version but the print version and the email blast and the social media and it’s like how do all these things work and when and how do you use print marketing. It’s not an either/or, it’s an and.
[0:19:28.4] DC: Yeah, I agree.
[0:19:29.6] TW: It’s really about that balance.
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[INTERVIEW CONTINUED]
[0:20:27.3] DC: Yeah. So, you know going back to maybe the assumption that printers know everything that’s going on in every category or segment of the printing industry or possibilities for applications, in the United States, the United States Post Office has these marketing programs for direct mailing.
[0:20:45.9] TW: Right and incentives.
[0:20:47.3] DC: I come across printers sometimes who don’t even know that that is out there and to your most excellent point, you need to apply for those discounts. You need to have that mail in –
[0:21:00.3] TW: To qualify, yeah.
[0:21:01.5] DC: Yeah, in the advance. So, in order to really help your customers with a comprehensive direct mail plan, these things do come into place. Now, I mentioned that specifically because you and I happen to be in the United States. Do you think that this course is US-centric or is it for everybody out there?
[0:21:23.7] TW: So, in general, it’s for everybody. There will certainly be some things that touch on kind of US-related postal rules but it’s not – I did a course for LinkedIn learning that’s you know, print production direct mail and it’s about like it’s basically taking the DM basically, you know the USPS guide of all the specifications for mail. It’s huge, it’s hundreds of pages, and making that as interesting and clear as you could possibly make it.
This is not that type of a course, this isn’t a, “You know in the US, we size things this way and it has to be this size by this size.” Like, I’m not going to get into kind of the weeds on those types of things. What I’m going to be doing is talking about how and when we use print to engage, how we can get people, to you know, how do we get it open, what are the tools we use to do that. There’s written word.
There’s also you know, everything from paper to effects to engagement techniques and opening mechanisms and you name it, what forms do mail take, like how many forms are there, you know what I’m saying? There’s booklet mail, there’s folding stuff mailers, there’s catalogs, there you know – like there’s all different forms it can take as well and then how do we use technology to create communications that get opened, that are more and more relevant.
And a lot of these technologies aren’t break-the-bank technologies but you have to be organized. You have to kind of have a plan for what you’re doing and so it’s really about painting that kind of picture of the house, the whys, the whats, and less about kind of, “Here’s how you size this and here’s how you qualify for that.” It’s more, “There are incentive programs touching on these different categories and you need to inquire.” Not like, “This one, the requirements are this, this, this, this, and this.”
[0:23:20.7] DC: It’s Canada Post, what they have, as the mail system in the UK what they’re doing.
[0:23:25.1] TW: Exactly, it’s more about awareness and how to get people and how to go, “Well, I’m going to ask about that” rather than, “You know, do you qualify for this specific thing?” That’s up for you to figure out but I am telling you all that and then you go and talk to your printer or your mail house or you know, your team and say, “What can we, you know?” because a lot of the things are you just have to know they exist.
[0:23:45.6] DC: Yeah, or your lawyers because they have different rules about privacy and who you can mail to in Europe and all of that other stuff. So, that’s not what you do, what you do is say it’s kind of like what I say to manufacturers sometimes, I’m like, “My job is not to sell your press for you, my job is to let people know that this press is out there and if it’s right for them, they should figure it out with them, their internal company and then figure it out with you.”
“But if they don’t know it exists, then they can even consider the possibility of applying it to their world” and that’s how I – I don’t want to talk to you but that’s sort of how I see us. It’s like, “Here’s something really cool or really valuable” and you dive deep into all of the whys around everything and I once actually went to a session at an event, and don’t even ask me why but it was designing for digital documents.
And at first, I thought I wasn’t going to make it through this session, like why am I sitting in this? However, after five minutes, I could not believe the amount of psychology and strategy that goes into making people finish filling out forms. It is a thing.
[0:25:05.5] TW: And so much of this, like a lot of mail that same type of like you know, guide the eye, where do you put like there’s a lot of that stuff that you’re like, “I never knew that.”
[0:25:17.0] DC: I actually saw you present at an event. I believe it was with Zappy and there was a book that accommodated it.
[0:25:24.7] TW: Yeah, I did a whole thing, a program and a publication called Act Now with Zappy you know, a few years back, and yeah, it was all about kind of the everything from the process of kind of creating mail, strategy, messaging, the different copy drivers, the emotional drivers and copy, things like that. So, there’s a lot of foundation stuff in helping people understand how to create and test and track and get the best results that they can get, so yeah.
[0:25:58.2] DC: I found that session super informative, super creative, and it really made me think more even though I didn’t apply it to direct mail, I started applying it to my emails and my social media posts and it really did help me.
[0:26:13.3] TW: These things weave together, like the emotional messaging, things like that, those still apply through email and you know, social media, and you know everything else. So, it’s all kind of interrelated as well, so there’s a lot to cover. I’m excited about it, you know, yeah, I’m very excited to do something new and I’ve gotten just really great response about it, which I’m excited about.
[0:26:40.8] DC: Yeah. Well, I mean, everybody at this point should expect quality content from you, topical relevant content from you that will help them in their lives, in their marketing life, in their design life, in their –
[0:26:55.6] TW: If I achieve that, that makes me happy.
[0:26:57.9] DC: Well, I think you’ll achieve that and then some.
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[INTERVIEW CONTINUED]
[0:27:37.9] DC: Now, I know that from the press release that you’re looking at launching this in spring 2024 and I’m sure there’ll be plenty of announcements. There will be plenty of announcements around that time but if you possibly are willing to share maybe a 30,000-foot overview of how the course will work.
[0:27:58.7] TW: Sure. So, it’s basically going to be in different mods and so the mods will then break down into shorter videos so that people can really watch this –
[0:28:08.1] DC: That’s modules for everybody who’s not cool like Trish.
[0:28:12.8] TW: Yeah, and so those different modules will address different key topics, everything from where print meets digital to designing for mail to getting it opened, a bit on mail production, measuring success, planning your campaign, there’s a lot of different categories and technology in there, technology with mail, and then each of those main kind of categories will have different shorter videos under them and by short, I mean anywhere from three to eight minutes per video.
And basically, what it takes to cover the topic, and then people can watch them as they want. I’m working on – I mean, I’m pulling together the framework now but we’re working to figure out the best platform for it, an educational platform because some of the platforms give you the ability to have quizzes and interaction and other things after you do different segments. So, I’m looking at some options there for some quizzes and things to, you know, after you get through a section.
So you know, I’m working some of those details out but I love that type of stuff. I mean, I used to teach so I love the kind of quizzes and the visuals and all of that and then of course, there’ll be some downloads and other things that support the content as well that I’m pulling together a framework onto. The thing about pulling together a course is you can’t just kind of leave people hanging, right?
You get everybody interested and then you can’t just go like, “You know, go get them.” It’s like, “Okay, what are the resources? What are next steps?” Links, things that people can go, “Okay, I just told you about you know direct mail automation.” Okay, where do you for that type of stuff, you know? I just told you about direct mail retargeting. Okay, where do you go for that, you know? Same thing, you know, list hygiene, you name it.
It’s where can I go to start implementing these things that I – or researching or further learning about these things that I just learned about. So you know, it’s a big part of it. For me, it’s making sure that there’s a robust kind of resource as well for everybody.
[0:30:18.3] DC: Right. So, just to recap, it’s more of like a do-it-yourself course. It’s not like, “Okay, every quarter on this day, you have to show up here and watch me online.”
[0:30:28.7] TW: No-no-no. Yep, it’s going to be definitely on-demand, thanks for asking. Yeah, it’s not going to be a live course, it’s going to be an on-demand course that people can watch and learn from anytime and the reason for that is –
[0:30:40.9] DC: The way the world works right now.
[0:30:43.6] TW: The way the world works, you know international audiences, different time zones.
[0:30:47.5] DC: People could stop, you talk a little fast, Trish, so unless you got to slow it down for these videos, people can stop it and watch them again. It’s not like a one-and-done, yeah?
[0:30:57.4] TW: But also, like I want you know, learning program students like you know classes and those are uncertain times and different times of day. Like I just want anybody to be able to watch and learn on their own time when they want to do it, so that’s really what led to the on-demand so that you know, I’m not inconveniencing anybody in their day, their schedule, their time zone, so and that’s also just where my experience is in.
I mean, I definitely have experience in like the live types of courses but my LinkedIn learning like we’ve recorded, people can watch it whenever they want. You know, everybody is different. Some people want to do it all, sit through it, and do a marathon. Some people want to –
[0:31:37.8] DC: Well, then they can in their own houses without involving other people in that, yeah.
[0:31:42.9] TW: Right, right, so it’s all about ease and you know, making it so that more people can.
[0:31:48.1] DC: Yeah and it’s device-agnostic as well, you know?
[0:31:51.6] TW: Yes.
[0:31:52.5] DC: So, I’m assuming that when it’s ready for people to sign up that there will be big announcements but should people still keep you know, signing up for your Fold of the Week list? Are you going to pull from that, yeah?
[0:32:08.3] TW: Yeah. I mean, you know I’ll do press releases and things but my subscribers always are the first to know in everything and also, I want everybody to catch those ten episodes of Best of Folds of the Week as well. So, if you don’t already subscribe, you know join my list. I don’t spam, I don’t anything, I’m very specific about what I send out and I’m pretty much a you know, one email a week girl, and for best of, it will be every two weeks and you know I just don’t inundate people with lots of extra stuff.
[0:32:36.1] DC: No, I’m actually a one-a-month girl, so every once in a while, I’ll send one of those events, online events.
[0:32:42.9] TW: Yeah, me too. I have something but like otherwise, I’m really particular about that, you know?
[0:32:48.3] DC: You do. I can’t even tell you how many times people are like, “We want to send an e-blast to your link.” So I’m like, “Not here, you’re not doing that on my site.” My agreement is with them not to annoy them with your stuff. So, that’s not going to be happening. Well, Trish, I mean, I want to just thank you for you know, continuing to elevate the conversation, continuing to elevate the possibilities of print, and continue to keep direct mail topical. I don’t want to say relevant because it’s always relevant to me.
[0:33:21.0] TW: It’s always relevant, right?
[0:33:22.1] DC: It makes me so annoyed when people say, “You’re keeping it relevant.” I’m like, “No, you’re not. It’s already relevant, you know?” Now, you can add to it. All right, Trish, I want to end this podcast by you sending a message out to the world about why they should love to direct mail.
[0:33:41.0] TW: What a nice way to end this. I really, really like the question. I love direct mail because it has such purpose and I love print. I’ve always been a print lover, I love it in all of its forms. However, direct mail is a sales team. Direct mail has a purpose and I love the strategy behind it, I love the opportunity with it, you know where our mailboxes are not as full as they used to be and our email inboxes and everywhere else, our social feeds are full with a competing saturated market.
And you’ve got this opportunity to get kind of isolated one-to-one attention once a day and I just, I love what it kind of brings to the table and also just huge changes in technology, effects, digital print, all of these different things that when I started years back, 15 years ago, 20 if you look at my research, a little more than that before I got into video, you know a lot of these things were extras.
They were really expensive, hard, difficult, things to do and now, you can get variable foil and you know, textures and personalization and all sorts of technology worked in there and it’s accessible and so that’s what also made I think my work more rewarding is just that I feel like I’m bringing people ideas that I can actually apply. I remember in the beginning of the series, I was more about kind of wow factor and you know trying to wow people of something they have never seen and there was a lot of that and I love that stuff.
But over time, I started to really love accessibility and to find ideas that were great but also you know, accessible to people instead of just window shopping all the time, you know? People just window shop and go, “Oh, that’s so cool. I wish someday maybe you know, I could do that” versus, “That idea, I can use. Like that is something cool that I could do.” And so that’s really been the evolution of it and you know the equipment has come up to speed.
It’s amazing what’s going on in finishing equipment, amazing what’s going on in finishes techniques technology and so bringing that to the forefront and letting people know what’s available to them and how they can leverage that with human behavior and a lot of things that we know is I think where the opportunity is and where the fun is for me, so.
[0:36:08.6] DC: Excellent. Well, thank you so much for everything you do. For everybody out there, until next time.
[0:36:16.1] TW: Thanks for giving me an opportunity to share my story and to you know?
[0:36:19.8] DC: Trish, of course.
[0:36:20.3] TW: Get out there, I just appreciate it, so.
[0:36:22.0] DC: Of course. I mean, there is nobody I respect more when it comes to what you have done over these last 14 years and going on 15 and the impact that you’ve had in the industry and individuals. I mean, there’s never a time where I mentioned you and I mention you often because something topical comes up. I’m like, “Well, you should ask Trish Witkowski that” or “You should go to her site” that people don’t react with a smile or “I didn’t know about that, how did I not know about that?” and now they do, so.
[0:36:56.8] TW: Well, thanks. That means a lot, I appreciate it.
[0:36:59.1] DC: Okay, everybody, in honor of Trish, until next time, fold long and prosper.
[END OF INTERVIEW]
[0:37:09.3] DC: Thanks for listening to Podcast From the Printerverse. Please subscribe, click some stars, and leave us a review. Connect with us through printmediacentr.com, we’d love to hear your feedback on our shows and topics that are of interest for future broadcasts. Until next time, thanks for joining us, print long, and prosper.
[END]