THINK BIG!!!  GET YOUR BRAND OR BUSINESS NOTICED!!!

Big ideas, big dreams, big plans? Then you need big printing. Large, glossy, full-color wide format is increasingly a smart marketing choice for making a bold, clear statement. Think about the visual impact you could make in your business with banners, adhesive wall clings, car wraps, event signage, posters, window graphics, floor graphics. High quality design and signage is now affordable for every budget and versatile for every structure or medium. It is also easy to change up to reflect new information and stay fresh in the public eye.

Take a moment to look around at any of your large blank walls, windows or spaces in any public area of your business and you begin to realize how that visual canvas is not being utilized to represent your brand, your message, your mission. It is being seen… it should be getting noticed and remembered! And not all wall coverings need to be advertising copy or photography. Perhaps you can simply use shape and color to “brand” your walls or windows for visual interest, keeping them in accordance with your brand’s palette.

Consider what might very well be your most valuable advertising real estate: storefront windows, waiting room and lobby walls, even shop floors. They are encountered by every customer or client, and even others just passing by – you should be using that marketing opportunity to relay your message and reinforce your brand. When you start looking around you will discover many creative ways to use large-format printing:

• banners
• removable vinyl wall graphics & murals
• car wraps
• event signage
• posters
• floor graphics
• window clings
• mounted trade show displays
• sale announcements or information
• directional signage
• product exhibits
• decorative designs and murals to compliment your brand

Thinking big will grow your business and sales in the new year, and wide format printing is a versatile, affordable and smart component of that winning marketing strategy. It allows you to see your business with an artist’s or architect’s eye. Enjoy being creative with your marketing.

DIRECT MAIL IS KING AGAIN!!!

Direct mail continuously proves that it is king. DMA states the response rate of direct mail is more than 30 times higher than that of email, with an average response rate of 4.4% compared with the 0.12% of email. When consumers are exposed to nearly 3,000 messages a day, but only notice about 50 and remember just four, earning a spot in the “final four” is the goal. Marketers need to focus on personalization and relevancy to cut through the clutter.

The key to successful direct marketing has always been personalization. The data that drives a personalized approach is more accessible and useful than ever. A print production and media provider that truly understands data is your best strategic partner for driving sales forward.  An effective direct marketing campaign is like composing a great song and direct mail is the king in lead generation.

 

Creating A Brochure: Design Importance

Substance might be more important than style in many things but every good marketer knows that brochure design is just as critical as the brochure’s content, if not more so. Many a novice advertiser has made the mistake of scrimping on a brochure design, opting to stuff the brochure with information instead. With the kind of money that you spend on advertising materials, that’s one mistake you literally can’t afford to make.

Getting a Sneak Peak with your Brochure Design

First impressions last; so says a well-known adage. Customers often get their first look and their very first impression of your company from the printed material that you provide, which is why it is so important for you to invest in your brochure. Design elements from the smallest change in colors to the biggest product images could even make or break your company’s advertising campaign.

Visual and tactile quality should be one of your highest priorities when it comes to planning and designing your brochure. The final product should look and feel well-made and polished. Your brochure is practically your company’s calling card; it should represent what your company is all about and send a positive message to the customer.

Getting it Right with Brochure Design

Your target market is usually a good thing to consider when planning your brochure design. That, however, isn’t enough. You also have to consider where your brochures will be distributed and the kind of visual stimuli that can be found there.

For example, if you intend to place your brochures in a typical brightly colored fast food restaurant, using similarly loud colors will be a losing battle for you. People passing by can easily mistake your brochures as part of the décor, and the brochures won’t attract the attention they were supposed to. Opt instead for paper colors and brochure designs that are a stark contrast and will really stand out against the given background.

Sell It!

Brochures are your opportunity to introduce your company and your product to a likely customer, but it shouldn’t stop there. Your company’s brochure should also sell your product to the reader. Don’t just let the reader know about your product; make him or her want to buy it.

Although specifications and technical data are definitely helpful, photos and product comparisons are more powerful when it comes to persuading customers to buy. Give them an idea of how the item will look when they’ve purchased it. Give them an idea of how it looks like when used. Give them an idea of the advantages of your product over others. Emphasize those points in your brochure design and be as explicit about them as possible.
You can improve the selling power of your brochure design by adding images. If pictures are indeed worth a thousand words, they have the value of a thousand sales pitches when used in a brochure. Provide prominent, detailed and attractive photographs of whatever you’re selling. Dazzle the customer with all the colors and variants available. Make your product look like something that the customer would and should buy.

Never, ever forget to give the customer a way to contact you or buy the product – a phone number or email address would suffice. Relying on the customer to seek out your store – especially if you’re a yet unknown brand – will defeat the purpose of using brochures in the first place. Remember, the point of brochures is to make customers buy. You may as well make it easier for your customers to do so.

Source:  Print Marketing Inc.

Top 5 Trends in Direct Marketing

1. Hyper-local and hyper-targeted marketing The use of Smartphones and Tablets has redefined direct marketing. Now you can target ads to the consumers most likely to respond to the offer based on their age and proximity to your location. Not only does SMS (short messaging service, or text messaging) offer hyper-targeting, it also enables you to create time-sensitive offers and announcements – giving you the best possible response and ROI.

2. Direct mail Old school tools re-emerge with better direct marking applications. With the price of digital printing rapidly declining, postal drops return as an inexpensive way to reach customers and encourage them to interact with your brand. Using a tie in to your website or Facebook page can energize your campaign and engage both potential and existing customers. Putting something in someone’s hands can be extremely powerful, and the use of clever creative coupled with dimensional mailers are still powerful tools.

3. Targeted digital couponing As with hyper-local and hyper-targeted marketing, brands are able to target coupons directly to consumers most likely to redeem them – as quickly as real time. Direct marketers are able to target shoppers with new products in the store, offers over and above shelf tag discounts, or when they are at the point of purchase to encourage them to spend more.

4. Big Data It seems to be on every direct marketing professional’s lips – Big Data, and when you think big, you should think FAST, too. With all the hyper-personalization of information being received, the direct marketing trend is to make sense of it quickly and segment it into groups. With information being collected from online and brick and mortar transactions, social media, and mobile devices, providers are in a hurry to package the data and get it to direct marketers to use it ASAP.

5. Retargeted Ads What better way to hit your target than to advertise to someone who has already visited your site? With retargeted ads, when someone visits your site and then leaves, they get a retargeted ad the next time they surf the web. By using retargeted ads, your message can be a subtle, “hey, come back and see us sometime” to a hard-hitting, “act today and you’ll get the best deal available”. Either way it encourages others to interact with your brand and revisit your site!

Hey! Where’s Direct Mail in This Survey List?

By Heidi Tolliver-Walker on July 13th, 2013

I was browsing email subject lines and one about Millennials using print caught my eye. Every now and then, you see data showing that direct mail and other print media carry weight — and influence — among this coveted and digital-media-heavy demographic.
I clicked through, and the data from was Experian (Digital Marketing Report 2013).  It did show Millennials using print, but it was newspapers and magazines. In a seven-day span (“seven-day platform reach”), the chart indicated, approximately 70% of 18-24-year olds were reading newspapers and magazines.  Nice to know, but . . .

Television, mobile phone, radio, newspaper, home computer, magazine, work computer, game console, MP3 player, tablet, e-Reader. Those were the categories included, leaving magazines and newspapers the print representatives.

Where was direct mail? Despite the power that print continues to show in influencing consumer decisions and as part of consumers’ preferences, somehow it was not included in the media mix being studied.  How did direct mail get overlooked?

Yes, postal volumes are dropping, but direct mail is still a powerhouse in terms of marketing influence. Every time media influences are studied, direct mail shows tremendous power influencing buyer decisions. Response rates to personalized mail are consistently high. Studies show that especially for certain products (high-end, financial, health, and other categories deemed to be more personal) consumers overwhelmingly prefer marketing by print rather than email. The list goes on. So how did direct mail get overlooked here? If it was intentional, it was a really unfortunate (and inaccurate) message to send.

Hey researchers, let’s not forget about one of the most powerful tools marketers have!

Interactive Storefront Let's You Redefine Window Shopping

Window shopping has just been redefined by Adidas with the rollout of its new interactive storefront window. The window is a fully functional touchscreen that lets you drag life-size products directly to your smartphone, which acts as a shopping cart. With the security of a one-time PIN, each shopping session is linked in real time to the display window. As with most online shopping carts, you can save products for later, edit product details, and even share your purchase with friends over social media or email.

This isn't the first time Adidas has looked to virtual wall technology for shoppers, but this interactive storefront also lets you play dress-up with a life-size mannequin, complete with product details and action poses. But before you run out to your local Adidas store to play Barbie with its virtual mannequins, note that this service is currently only available in the City of Hamburg, Germany as a six-week pilot test.

Trade Show Planning:  Plan B

It’s likely that we all agree that trade shows are extremely visual events. They are unique events, where hundreds—even thousands—of brand representatives cram into a convention center, hotel lobby, or expo hall to compete for the attention of new potential buyers or clients. As we outlined in past posts, it’s essential that you differentiate yourself at these events and deliver a message that is persuasive, memorable, and consistent. But you already know this, you’re a polished professional, and you’ve meticulously prepared your material and created the perfect trade show display. That’s fantastic, and you’re an inspiration to us all—but what happens when something goes wrong?

When the unexpected occurs at your trade show, you need to implement “plan b.” Hopefully you’ve got one. It’s critical to have a contingency plan for any of the unexpected pitfalls that can occur at your event. Of course there are several things that can derail your plans, here are just a few:

• Your spiffy display wasn’t delivered to the venue or assembled
• Your technology isn’t working properly or you’re missing essential components
• You have less room than you expected
• Your partner unexpectedly ditches you
• You forgot to bring the sales guy basics

There’s no doubt that events like these things can make your life difficult. But don’t despair, because you’ve planned ahead.

Arriving to the venue and finding out that the crazy awesome display that you requested your team to send hasn’t shipped is disheartening to say the least. In fact, that situation might cause an emotional breakdown for lesser professionals, but not you. That’s right, you’re okay because you planned ahead and brought along your pop-up banner stand. Oh yeah, you also have the extra banners that you packed in your carry-on bag — just in case. What’s more, you have that spare table drape with your company logo printed on it packed in your bag at the hotel.

Getting midway through display set-up in Cleveland and realizing that the thumb-drive containing your amazing presentation is sitting on your desk back in St. Paul might cause an acute anxiety attack in many people. But again, you’re more prepared than most because you planned ahead and uploaded your game-changing presentation to the cloud. And for good measure, you also packed printed collateral and product catalogs (just in case Murphy and his dreaded law decided to make an appearance).

Here’s the point, it’s important to plan for worst-case scenarios. Bringing extra materials such as banners, display stands, and product literature is a great way to make certain that you can market yourself, maintain a professional appearance, and maintain a positive attitude.

A few weeks before the show, take some time and create a checklist. Analyze, identify, and develop a back-up plan for potential areas where things could go wrong. Then put together a resource kit and include things like pens, notebooks, table drapes, banners, cell phone chargers, USB cords, power strips, and printed collateral. Make sure to save copies of any presentations in multiple locations, or better yet make them accessible to people using mobile devices like cell phones and tablets. This ensures that even if your planned technology fails, you can share your message through different platforms.