Catalogs Shouldn't Take 6 Months

Catalogs work. Postcards work.

(Direct mail works.)

The problem is that many teams have to run them like two totally different businesses that just happen to share your logo.

If you’re trying to grow a brand and your direct mail setup looks like a tangled pile of vendor emails, spreadsheets, paper samples, and “FINAL_final_final_v17.pdf”… you’re not alone.

You’re also not stuck with it.

In this piece, we'll cover what usually goes wrong...

And we'll provide a glimpse of a better future: what it looks like when catalogs, postcards, and everything else live in one place.

The problems (why your catalog dreams become a nightmare)

1) Your catalog process is a mess. A very, very, very slow mess.

Virtually all catalog programs still run like this:

• Source and buy paper—this particularly sucks if you're not doing a prospecting drop with a specific quantity because you're just going to be guessing how much paper you'll end up needing
• Work with a data broker to get a list together
• Coordinate with a catalog agency
• End up using internal design resources, which causes other marketing delays
• Jump between approvals, revisions, proofing, postage, production timelines
• Repeat until you forget what sunlight feels like

And the timeline?

It’s not unusual for a catalog's lead time to stretch six months or more from idea to mailbox.

That means:

• You have to plan everything incredibly far in advance
• There's little flexibility to change elements of the plan
• You're going to be emailing or Slacking a crazy number of people
• You're at the mercy of your supply chain over this timeframe
• Your prospecting audience list may already be outdated (people moving, lives changing, etc.)
• Other projects and initiatives will inevitably be shifted around

Oh, and the data comes 4–6 weeks later! In spreadsheets! For the love of all that is good in the world... WHY?

But you may know this.

2) Your postcards live somewhere else… so the chaos doubles

Even if your catalog program is “handled,” postcards and other formats often sit in a totally separate world, on some kind of legacy direct mail platform:

• Another platform for postcards and other mailers
• Additional design resources needed
• Another workflow for creative, approvals, list pulls, timing, reporting

So now you’re essentially running two direct mail operations:

• One slow, expensive, vendor-heavy system for catalogs
• One separate system for postcards and/or trifolds

And when everything is split up:

• Campaign timing gets weird
• Testing becomes harder
• Reporting becomes “best guesses” and disparate data
• Everyone hates everything

3) The other cost: dozens of hours a month

This is the part no one budgets for.

When catalogs and postcards are managed separately, your team becomes the integration layer:

• Project managing vendors
• Rebuilding lists and segments
• Chasing creative edits
• Syncing launches with promos
• Hunting down results across tools
• Explaining timelines to leadership (again)
• Checking proofs (again)

It can easily eat dozens of hours per month across your team.

And if you’re designing everything in-house?

That’s even tougher. And more time-consuming.

The fix: put catalogs, postcards, and the whole mail program in one place

The real solution isn’t “work harder" or "work more efficiently."

It’s consolidating.

When direct mail runs through one system, you stop spending time stitching together:

• data + creative + production + mailing + measurement

Instead, you get one place where you can plan, build, send, and improve your catalog and postcard programs together. Without reinventing the process every time.

That’s the whole point: one platform for catalogs and postcards, with a workflow that doesn’t require a minor in vendor management.

What this looks like with PostPilot

PostPilot is built to take the old-school direct mail process and turn it into something your team can actually run—fast.

Our founders are 25-year-apiece DTC/retail veterans who spent decades suffering through slow, outdated processes. That's why they founded PostPilot.

Here’s what changes when catalogs and postcards are managed in the same place. And when everything is optimized to the gills.

No “traditional direct mail” circus

You shouldn’t need a paper safari, a broker handshake, and three weekly status calls to mail something.

With PostPilot, the goal is simple:

• get campaigns out the door quickly
• keep quality high
• make iteration normal (not a quarterly miracle)

A dedicated, proactive account manager who GETS IT

Most vendors wait for you to ask for help.

The better way? Someone who:

• knows your program intimately
• proactively spots what’s working and what’s stalling
• brings solutions before things become problems

Because if the only time your mail program moves forward is when you personally push it… you don’t have a program.

You have a $hitty second job.

In-house design that can handle the heavy lifting

Direct mail can be incredibly effective, but it's often incredibly annoying to produce. 

Especially catalogs.

PostPilot’s in-house design team is built for the reality that most teams:

• don’t want to hire more designers just to mail more pieces
• don’t want their current designers buried in production requests
• do want creative that fits the brand and actually converts

So, instead of coordinating multiple creative resources (or stretching yours too thin), you can have the design work handled end-to-end.

The designer that designs or helps to design your catalogs will also design your postcards.

Plus, they're literally the most experienced direct mail designers on the planet, and they KNOW what works.

They've designed high-ROAS mailers for thousands (yes, thousands) of DTC and omnichannel brands.

Check out some of their work: gorgeous, high-ROAS direct mail examples.

In-house printing (fewer handoffs, fewer headaches)

We own all the print facilities we use.

And when printing is part of the same operation, you remove a big chunk of the “wait… who owns this?” problem.

Fewer handoffs usually means:

• faster production
• fewer surprises
• fewer “we’re blocked until…” moments

And that’s how you go from “catalogs take forever” to “catalogs are just another thing we do.”

Why “one platform” matters beyond convenience

This isn’t only about making life easier (though that alone is a strong argument).

Having catalogs and postcards together changes how you can run the program:

1) You can coordinate messaging instead of guessing

Catalogs are great for deeper storytelling and larger product sets. Postcards are great for tight offers, reminders, and quick hits.

When they live together, you can build a mail flow that actually makes sense:

• catalog drop to reactivate customers
• postcard follow-up to reinforce a hero offer
• timed reminder for shoppers who didn’t convert
• seasonal creative that stays consistent across formats

Same brand voice. Same timing plan.

Less “why did we mail that right after this?”

2) Testing gets easier (and faster), especially with real-time data

If every test requires a new vendor thread and a calendar negotiation, you won’t test much.

A unified platform makes it realistic to test:

• offers
• segments
• creative angles
• timing windows

That’s how direct mail becomes a true performance marketing channel.

Because PostPilot natively integrates with Shopify, you can see all your performance data in one place, in real-time: ROAS, CVR, mailers sent, AOV, and more.

3) Your team gets time back—and your best people do actual best-people work

When the program isn’t held together by sixteen versions of “only Bob knows how to do that part,” you reduce the operational load.

• fewer internal bottlenecks
• fewer mistakes from manual handoffs
• less burnout
• more room for strategy, creative thinking, and improvement on the rest of your marketing

The result: save time, save money, and build a stronger brand presence

When catalogs and postcards run through PostPilot in one system, everything gets infinitely easier.

You get:

• a faster path from idea → mailbox
• one place to run the program
• support that doesn’t require babysitting
• design help that removes a major bottleneck
• printing handled without extra coordination

And most importantly: you can show up in the mailbox consistently.

Without your team having to sacrifice their evenings to the gods of proofing and postage.

And their sanity.

If your direct mail program is held together by spreadsheets and hope…

It might be time to stop managing two separate operations and start running one direct mail program that includes everything: catalogs, postcards, and the rest of your mail mix—together.

Because “we should really send more mail” is a great idea right up until you remember the process.

PostPilot helps you skip that part. Learn more here.

‍