It’s important for businesses across all industries to seek out innovative ways of advertising and reaching out to customers. While the digital age is gaining momentum, physical product – such as direct mail – still has its place in the corporate world. Ensuring that the right equipment is in place, to help create professional documents and booklets, is crucial.

For example, laminating equipment can provide durability, so documents or post cards can be sent through the mail. Additionally, paper folding machines will create a uniform crease, guaranteeing that each piece of direct mail has an expert design.

One industry that is taking advantage of such products is real estate, as QuantumDigital Inc., a direct marketing company, announced in a press release that its latest whitepaper underlines the benefits of physical mail. The statement explained that several real estate professionals have seen the benefits of these campaigns and they can lead to more home listings.

Furthermore, as reported by the blog Dead Tree Edition, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is planning to sell magazine subscriptions on its website and promote them at post offices. The idea originally surfaced at the Mailers’ Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC) meeting – a joint USPS-mailers groups – earlier this year, and is being pushed by USPS publishers.

“The USPS is moving forward on a plan to offer magazine subscriptions for sale on usps.com,” Idealliance’s summary of the recent MTAC meeting, said. “Also, the USPS and mailers are developing a plan to have posters in retail sites with QR codes and other ways of linking to magazine subscriptions.”

One idea is for the magazines to be sold in post office lobbies as retail stores like Best Buy often offer similar items in their checkout lanes.

The blog added that while the USPS claims that its Periodicals class is its least profitable type of mail, magazine subscriptions could still lead to more revenue, through things like invoices and renewal notices.