Posted by Aja on July 28th, 2010
Every Wednesday I write posts for the blog, Black and Married With Kids. The website is a relationship and parenting resource for couples of all races and provides positive images of marriage in the Black community to counter the often negative views. Be sure to stop by and check out my most recent post; Marrying [...]
Posted by Aja on July 16th, 2010
Target your printed marketing materials to get the most for your money
Last week I wrote a post about the importance of printed materials to your marketing strategy. While it is important to incorporate print marketing materials for most companies, you don’t want to just start printing with reckless abandon. In order to save money (and trees!) print marketing should be targeted and appropriate for the product and company.
Business Cards They’re small. They’re inexpensive and you can hand them out wherever you go. It is nice to have professional, well designed cards but if that isn’t in your budget right now, cheaper ones will do. However you set them up, make sure that what you do and your contact information is very visible.
Brochures These days just about everything you would put in a brochure will be on your website, yet it’s important to have this information in a printed format as well. For small businesses and start-ups you can’t always rely on your website to pop up first in a search engine. Having brochures, fliers, or rack cards printed and visible in locations where you may find potential customers can help to promote your business.
Print Advertising Print ads in magazines or newspapers can be expensive and may not be appropriate for every product or business. The key to running a successful print ad campaign is targeting the right audience and running your ad consistently. Targeting the right audience will take research to determine which publications reach your potential customers. If you don’t have the budget to run more than one ad, you may need to choose a more affordable publication or wait on starting your ad campaign. Print advertising produces much better results when customers see ads over and over again.
Direct Mail Like print advertising, direct mail can be expensive and doesn’t always have a great response rate. To get the most out of your direct mailings, have well written sales copy and be sure to only mail to those within your target audience.
Newsletters Depending on your product and your audience, having a printed version of your electronic newsletter can be a great idea. While working for a non-profit I was editor of a newsletter that was distributed online and in print. This helped us to capture both those who were actively interested in the organization and would go online to look at the newsletter and passersby who may just be attracted by something they saw in the print edition.
Posted by Aja on July 8th, 2010
Photo Courtesy of Pixomar
I recently promoted a film screening for a client. I sent out press releases to get radio interviews, partnered with bloggers for giveaways, and promoted the screening on websites like Facebook and Twitter. The screening was successful and a garnered good deal of buzz. Yet I used one key marketing tool many people seem to have forgotten in this highly technological age.
That tool was a flier. And while many people found out about the event online and on the radio, a solid percentage of the audience came to the event because they saw the flier. Most business owners have recognized the importance of building an online presence, but in most cases, your printed material should not be completely ignored. Brochures, fliers, business cards, even printed newsletters can still play an important role in your marketing strategy. In fact despite the rise in all of the different types of web marketing, print still remains the most popular content marketing tactic.
Below are a few reasons why print marketing isn’t disappearing anytime soon.
Audience: Social networking websites are undoubtedly a powerful tool, but believe it or not, everyone is not on Facebook or Twitter. Of those who have accounts, there are many people who only log on intermittently and don’t rely on those channels to get information. Depending on your target audience demographics, there are likely a good number of people who are more likely to see your product on a flier than find out about it on Facebook.
Durability: A recent study showed that more than fifty percent of email recipients delete marketing messages within two seconds of opening them. An ad in a magazine, a brochure, or even a flier typically has a much longer shelf life.
Branding: Printed products give you another channel to market your company and promote your brand. Having your logo, brand name and signature displayed in diverse formats is a way to maximize your exposure.
Visibility: Printed materials can often catch you when you are not actually looking for a particular product. The other day I was at the registration desk at the gym and while waiting started looking through the materials they had on display. I noticed a stack of business cards for a personal trainer next to a flier detailing his services. I picked up the business card and flier, and although I probably won’t hire a trainer tomorrow, I have the information and will likely use it when I begin to look.
With all of that being said, printed material should still be used as part of a strategy, especially because unlike posting tweets, printing isn’t free.
Next week: Using print marketing effectively