A Message To Hold On To……. Literally!!

It can be easy to get caught up in the next big digital marketing tool. But how much of this digital marketing do your customers respond to? Although it is indisputable that digital marketing has changed the way businesses market and advertise, studies have shown that consumers still crave the tangible items that you can provide for them. So go ahead and give your customers a message that they’ll hold on to, literally. Here are some reasons you shouldn’t forget about print marketing.

The Old Timer
There must be a reason that physical marketing pieces have worked for so long. As it turns out, there are internal reasons that we love tangible marketing materials, such as direct mail or newsletters.  A recent study by Millward Brown (millwardbrown.com) showed that these physical materials use up emotional processing. And when it comes to memory and brand associations, more emotional processing is essential.

Physical marketing pieces also generate a great brain response connected to internal feelings. More activity occurs in the parts of your brain that generate vivid memories when you are presented with physical materials. That means your customers should connect on a greater level with your physical marketing tools and also remember your materials better than digital marketing.

Let’s Get Real
When you’re at home, you wouldn’t print out a document until you were finished preparing it. And then, when the information is printed on paper it suddenly becomes much more real. Just like this, a tangible item gives your customers a sense of reality that digital marketing can’t give them. Consumers can often skip over or quickly delete items that they are emailed or that pop up on the side of their computer screens. But when the item is placed in front of them, chances are they will take a closer look before deciding whether or not they want to hold on to the information. And if you have designed your materials creatively and effectively, it will be even more difficult for consumers to discard the information.

Time is Money
Companies that take the time to send tangible marketing pieces show consumers a level of caring that they might not get in the digital world. Isn’t it nice these days when you receive a hand written card in the mail, as opposed to an email? Knowing that somebody took the time to actually prepare something for you shows a much greater sense of personalization than an email that you could have sent in a few seconds without hassle. If you took the time to send customers tangible marketing materials, they’ll know that you’re really there to help them with what they need. They’ll feel cared for and you’ll see that your extra time and money pays off in the long run.

NJC Printing provides quality digital and offset printing to businesses in St. Louis, Missouri and throughout the Midwest. Please visit our website at www.NJCPrint.com to learn more about us or to Request An Estimate.

User Generated Content….Your Customer..Their Voice….

Recently Google shared that 70% of brand content is created by consumers. And that’s a good thing if you have loyal customers, because Google tells us that 90% of consumers trust recommendations from people they know. So maybe it’s time to show the people who trust your company just how much you trust them. Put some of the marketing responsibilities in their hands. That may seem like you’re giving up control, but through the use of User Generated Content (UGC), you can involve your customers to have them help do some marketing work for you. Here are some ways that you can use UGC to boost your credibility and business.

Get Their Feedback
One of the easiest ways to use UGC is to simply ask customers how you’re doing. You can set up a place for feedback on your website or you can even ask customers to fill out a short response card in person. Either way, you’re gathering UGC that will help you better understand what they want. Surveys are another great way to check up on your customers. Make sure to specifically target what you’re trying to find out before you send out the survey. By asking concise and direct questions, you’re sure to get helpful answers. Then, you can use the information you gather to show prospects what other customers thought of your company.

Be the Buzz
In order to market yourself using UGC, you need your customers to talk about your company. Social media is a great way to utilize this aspect of UGC. If you’re not already using social media, maybe it’s time to add it to your marketing plan. Social media puts you where your customers are playing. Once you have your social media in place, pose questions where your followers can reply. Make sure the questions spark discussion for the best responses. On certain sites, followers will be able to tag you in a post where all of their friends will see that your customers are talking about your company. Another great way to get them talking is to post articles in a blog that you can share on your website and in social media. Leave a section for comments so customers can react to your posts.

Monitor the Conversation
Once you provide opportunities for UGC, you need to remain involved in the conversation. If you’re asking questions, conducting surveys or allowing for comments on your blog posts, you need to monitor and reply back to your customers. If you’re not involved in the conversation, they will stop leaving comments because they feel that it is not worth their time.

And don’t forget, even if you’re not actively involved in a UGC plan for your business, customers are still talking about you online. An easy way to check out what’s being said is to set up Google Alerts. With this service, you’ll receive an email when the keywords you’ve selected, such as your name our your company’s name, are mentioned on the web.

NJC Printing provides quality digital and offset printing to businesses in St. Louis, Missouri and throughout the Midwest. Please visit our website at www.NJCPrint.com to learn more about us or to Request An Estimate.

Mobile Technology…Time to Evolve

According to World Telecommunication Service 87 percent  of the world’s population (5.9 billion) has a mobile subscription. As a business owner you may choose to ignore it, but the fact is that mobile is taking over the online world and it is projected that in 2014 more people will be using handheld devices instead of desktop computers to go online.

Small businesses should be taking this epidemic into account as it affects more and more digital users’ experiences, as well as marketing. With the significant increase in the use of mobile and mobile technology, here are some areas of focus where mobile technology will be this year.

Social Networking
Mobile users have been increasingly been using social media to communicate via their phones.  Sharing information has become easier.

Text Messaging Marketing
Text messages receive a 98 percent open rate according to Frost Sullivan.  According to Nick Harrison of Dashal, a local Chicago restaurant – Wow Bao sends a text message once a week about a special or deal to try to get him to come in, and it works!

QR Codes
A report by QRstuff.com web searches for QR codes is up 124%   Brands and businesses are starting to finally “get it” and are using them for things like signing up for newsletters, mobile websites, menus, and exclusive offers.

Mobile Traffic
People using their mobile phones to send and receive emails increased by 34% from August to September 2011 alone.  This is extremely important for businesses. If you are marketing via email, or people are telling others about your product or service via email, reading about your company, looking up info about you, it should come as no surprise to you that all is being accomplished by using their SmartPhone.  Businesses are finally realizing that customers can be found anywhere: on their couch watching TV, on a train, or walking across the street.

Mobile technology is here and its use is increasing at break-neck speed. It is no longer good enough to just have a normal website.

NJC Printing provides quality digital and offset printing to businesses in St. Louis, Missouri and throughout the Midwest. Please visit our website at www.NJCPrint.com to learn more about us or to Request An Estimate.

Simply Put It….How To Become There Favorite “Pin”!

 

By now you know that thanks to technology, companies have been able to reach consumers on a large scale. Maybe you’ve been using social media sites like Facebook to reach your customers or even tweeting to your followers on Twitter.

Now there may be another site to add to your online marketing efforts. Pinterest is a website that allows users to bookmark and organize their favorite things. Simply put, Pinterest allows you to “pin” your favorite posts onto virtual pin boards filled with your specific interests. And as a marketing professional, wouldn’t you want to be on your customers’ lists of the things they love?

For example, if you see a recipe you like on the site, you can organize it onto your recipe board. Then later, you go back and look it up on that board when you’re ready to cook. Although people use the site for craft ideas, wedding inspiration and a variety of other recreational uses, don’t underestimate the value of the site. Get started by logging on to www.pinterest.com and playing around with the site.

Here are some ways that you can use Pinterest for marketing to connect with your customers on a whole new level.

Your Logo
The minute you make it onto somebody’s pin board, the more recognition you get. Immediately all of that person’s followers will see it on their newsfeed. Pinterest uses a photo, and then users click on it and are taken to a website. If you can get your customers to add your logo to their pin board and link it to your website, you automatically have new people looking at your logo and seeing that your current customers like you. It’s a great option because people place trust in businesses that their friends say they like, simply because people tend to trust their friends.

Products
One of the unique features of Pinterest is that it separates everything into topics. One of the more interesting genres to marketing professionals is the “products” genre. This is where users can make pins showcasing their favorite products. If you have a quality product that your customers love, you can get them to make a pin about it. Your company could even use its page to make a pin board called “our products.” Then let your customers know that you have a Pinterest account and tell them to follow you just like you would with a different social media site. The more customers you have repinning your products, the more eyes you have on your company.

Web Site Content
You or your customers could pin anything that you would normally post about on Facebook or Twitter. Make sure you use an interesting photo and caption, because that is all users see upon first glance. If it is interesting enough content, users will click and be taken to your website. Did you write a particularly interesting blog post? Maybe you have an article that deserves some recognition.Don’t go overboard with posts, since Pinterest is used to bookmark favorites. That means your company needs to pick their favorites to post about on Pinterest, so customers won’t have their feed bogged down with posts from your business and become annoyed.

While Pinterest may not suit every company’s marketing strategy, it may be worth a look to see if you can pin down some new customers.

NJC Printing provides quality digital and offset printing to businesses in St. Louis, Missouri and throughout the Midwest. Please visit our website at www.NJCPrint.com to learn more about us or to Request An Estimate.

Old Faithful…Personalized Direct Mail Campaigns

If you’re looking for a revenue-generating powerhouse for your business, you’re looking for direct mail campaigns…businesses count on them because they’re dependable and promise a consistent ROI.

You can push direct mail’s ROI from consistent to record-breaking with a focus on personalization. Some online marketers mistakenly think their methods are more personal than direct mail. But thanks to Internet cookies, over-sent emails and Google Ad Words, consumers are turned off and tuning out. Direct mail beats digital marketing tactics in the area of personalization because, to the consumer, it feels more human.

The simplest way to personalize direct mail is using variable printing to address your business’s leads by name. But you can go even further than that.

The key to effective personalized direct mail is to get as much useful information as you can from your customers and prospects. Use sales records, surveys and social media to collect good data about your mail leads.

Now it’s time to personalize your direct mail piece. To craft a message that’s relevant to the prospect without being creepy, you’ve got to use your data carefully. Let’s say, for example, that your jewelry store wants to market diamond engagement rings. You’re working form a list of young people who you assume—or hope, for your business’s sake—are single (and you should know that from your data).

It makes sense to write copy that speaks to a buying audience in the mail piece you will send to males. On the other hand, the mail piece sent to females should feature different photos and copy. Although who will buy and who will receive such a gift varies, catering the message of the direct mail according to gender is a subtle method of personalization.

As this examples shows, the best marketers have to interpret the data and use it in a way that tactfully shows consumers that your business is just what they need. But you don’t have to be selling jewelry to personalize direct mail skillfully and in a non-intrusive way.

Think about your audience and how their demographic information may affect their buying habits or business needs.

Work from your recipient data to go beyond names in personalizing your business’s direct mail. When you personalize your direct mail piece with a name, you’re working to catch your prospects’ attention. Go one step further—and one-up online marketers—by letting demographics inform your direct mail piece.

NJC Printing provides quality digital and offset printing to businesses in St. Louis, Missouri and throughout the Midwest. Please visit our website at www.NJCPrint.com to learn more about us or to Request An Estimate.