Marketing BEEP

Postcard Printing – Direct Mail 101

If your business has never engaged in direct mail advertising through postcard printing, there’s never a better time to begin this marketing method than now.  The return on investment for postcard printing is almost always a net positive, as long as your postcard campaign is well designed.  This article discusses the key benefits of postcard printing and direct mail advertising.

Why postcard printing?
Postcards are an inexpensive yet effective way to quickly communicate with a customer.  Bright pictures and exciting graphics grab the attention of the customer, and before they know it they’ve been exposed to your marketing message.  Whether you are letting them know about the big promotional event, new products and services, or just letting them know that you’re thinking about them – postcards very simply and inexpensively connect with customers.

Why direct mail?
Direct mail advertising allows you to target customers.  When you know specific information about your typical customer – age, gender, geographic location, specific interests, etc – you can carefully target a print campaign to similar customers.  A well-designed mailing list can yield significant response and conversion rates.  If you’re new to these terms, response rates are simply the percentage of individuals that actually call or visit a web site because of your print campaign.  Conversion rates speak to the percentage of respondents who actually make a purchase. 

How can you use postcard printing?
You have a limited amount of space on a postcard, so you have to choose carefully what and how you communicate your message.  Postcards are typically divided into two parts: the front and back.  The front of the postcard is for the full color graphics and pictures.  The front is also where you include a very basic message.  The back of the postcard is where you include details.  This may be sales promotion dates, new product specifications, or coupon details.  The point is that the front of the card draws the customer into your marketing message and the back of the card fills in the details.

Final thoughts
Now that you know a little bit more about direct mail marketing with postcard printing, you can start putting a plan together.  Make sure to work with a professional printing firm to ensure quality printing.  Don’t forget to find a firm that can also handle your direct mailing duties, as this can save you a great deal of time and money.

Interactive Print Marketing

Television and face-to-face marketing presentations work much better than a brochure or poster. Why? Because they’re interactive. They engage people’s attention much easier than a piece of paper can. Interaction generates interest, but it also generates memory. People remember facts easier when they can associate the facts with an event or interaction.

Pop-up mailing items work especially well to engage people to find out more about your product. A UK company, Pop-Up Mailers (maybe they got so creative with their products there wasn’t enough creativity left for their name? Or, of course, they didn’t want to confuse anyone.) creates everything from cubes with marketing info printed on them to dissolving pictures. I’d like to share with you a few of their most ingenious products that you aren’t likely to see here in the United States, which is precisely why you should use them in your marketing materials. I would suggest scoping out printing companies here in the States first, though, to keep our money here while we’re in this slow economy.

Dissolving pictures – looks like a folded brochure, but you pull on a tab at the bottom and the picture changes, or dissolves into another picture. The “picture” can actually be text, or whatever you want to display, but it’s probably best to start out with an eye -catching picture and then when the reader pulls the tab you can give them your marketing message. You can use this to launch a new product, announce a grand opening or to announce a sale. The Web site has videos of how it works: http://www.popupmailers.co.uk/popup_dissolvingpicture.html.

Jumpinjax – this is nothing like I’ve ever seen before. This would especially work with kids. It’s a pop-up box that has a tray that slides out, and on that tray are 4 pop-up cubes that jump out of the tray. You need to see the video to really appreciate it:
http://www.popupmailers.co.uk/popup_jumpinjax.html. The tray can hold some promotional postcard-size info cards and the pop-up boxes can also hold your marketing message.

Fortune Teller – this one’s probably more for the girls than the guys, but I bet the guys will remember these playground, homemade toys! Remember the folded piece of paper that girls used to write fortunes on? You’d pick a color, and then spell out the color while moving the folded paper in and out while it rested on your fingers. Then you’d pick a number and count out the number. Then whatever flap of paper your number landed on was your fortune! Ah, the good ol’ days. Check them out here: http://www.popupmailers.co.uk/popup_fortuneteller.html. Whoever thought something on the playground could be turned into marketing material?

Pop-Up Mailers has a lot of other interesting pop-ups you should check out. Once you get ideas from their Web site, I’d look around at other online printing companies to see what you can order in the States. By the way, Pop-Up Mailers doesn’t have prices on their Web site; you have to ask for a quote. They do say that you have to order a minimum of 250 that each is less than the price of a birthday card, to give you a ballpark figure.

Personalizing your Small Business Marketing with Custom Greeting Cards

Many small businesses rely on personal relationships with customers because of the the word of mouth advertising that is accomplished. Realtors, photographers, car salesmen, and commercial cleaners are all examples of businesses that need to maintain close, positive relationships with clients.  Custom greeting cards are a simple way to show clients how much they mean to your business. 

Here are a few ideas to make your greeting cards more meaningful to your customers.

1. Take your own pictures of landscapes or local historical sites to add a personal touch to the greeting card.  Be sure to boast of your work on the back of the card. Use a phrase such as "This card was made by" and your logo to show customers that you took the time to make them a card.

2. Write your own greeting.  You can either leave this blank and hand write a greeting or print a simple "Thank you" with a sentence telling why you appreciate their business.

3. Send greeting cards not only on holidays and birthdays but also at various times throughout the year.  Sending an extra note just to let clients know how special they are to you creates loyal customers who feel valued, and a valued customer will keep coming back.

4. Custom envelopes imprinted with your logo and return address ensures that customers will open it because they know the mail piece is from you and not just another solicitor.  Be sure to hand write the recipient's address to make it personal.

5. Print your custom greeting cards with a commercial printer so that they are of the highest quality.  This  reinforces your professionalism in the minds of customers.  Using a wholesale full color printing company will not only produce excellent greeting cards but cost-effective ones as well.   

So show your customers how much you care about them by sending custom greeting cards throughout the year. You will see your business stabilize and grow through the first-name basis relationships you develop with your clients.