Friday, May 13, 2016

What Is Your Print Project Wearing?

Once your print project comes off the press, it may not be finished—not yet. It might need that extra finishing touch. Let’s look at three reasons you might want to add a coating before your project goes “live” into the hands of your target audience.

1. Protection.  Sometimes a project needs that extra level of protection to keep it looking its best. Coatings can protect projects such as direct mail, marketing collateral, packaging, and catalogs from a wide variety of harsh environmental conditions, including:
  • Mailing equipment
  • Moisture
  • Dirt
  • Retail storage and display
  • Handling (including fingerprints)
If you need full waterproof properties, you may want to consider a laminate.
2. Gloss. Shine adds sparkle and impact. It instantly conveys the impression of value and quality. When you print or mail a piece with a high-gloss coating, you are telling recipients, “You matter!” UV coating offers the hardest coated surface and the highest level of brilliance and sheen. However, these coatings may crack if folded or scored and require printing with UV inks underneath for compatibility.
3. Special effects. The number of options for specialty coatings is exploding. Spot varnish, for example, highlights specific areas of the printed piece for visual interest and impact. (Think lips popping out on a lipstick ad.) Soft touch creates a printed piece with a velvety finish. It produces a wonderful tactile feel and adds fingerprint resistance. Some specialty varnishes can be enhanced with effects such as glitter, tint, and scents. If you want to use a laminate, you can even get holographic effects.
Different finishes have different benefits and drawbacks. They also have different ranges of cost. Varnish is inexpensive and flexible, but tends to yellow over time. This can be problematic if your product has a long shelf life and large areas of white. Aqueous coating dries quickly and offers a high level of protection, but it has a higher cost. Specialty coatings offer a wide array of effects and visual and tactile appeal, but they may also carry a premium.
Different coatings “shine” for different types of projects and under different conditions. Talk to us about your coating options before finalizing your next printing project.
 
Please give us a call at 440-946-0606
Or visit our website here for more information.

3 Tips for Adding Video

Whether you are adding video to email, to print-to-mobile efforts via QR Code or augmented reality, or to direct mail using An embedded video screen, video has become one of the hottest ways to communicate with your audience.
According to data collected by HubSpot:
  • 51.9% of marketing professionals name video as the type of content with the best ROI.
  • Shoppers who view video are 1.8 times more likely to make a purchase than people who did not view video.
  • Using the word “video” in an email subject line boosts open rates by 19% and click-through rates by 65%.
Here are three tips for adding video to your next campaign:
1. Tell a story. People relate to stories more than facts and figures. They also tend to remember stories longer. This is why Liberty Mutual uses the storyline “You loved [your car] Brad—and then you totaled him” to talk about the company’s better car replacement and why the Allstate “Mayhem” commercials have millions of views on YouTube. Find a way to use video to tell your story. 
2. Keep it short. People love and relate to video, but they also have short attention spans. Experts say to keep your video between 1-2 minutes at most.
3. Use social media. Use social media to promote your video and multiply its reach. Target Marketing recently suggested tweeting out your finished video, posting a production shot of the video on Instagram, and posting teaser clips on your Facebook page.
Need help? Talk to us about incorporating video into your next multichannel campaign

Please give us a call at 440-946-0606
Or visit our website here for more information.

Friday, May 6, 2016

How Do You Know It’s Working?

How can you tell if your 1:1 print efforts are working? Measure them. Even if you don’t have a full-time staff of business analysts, creating a simple ROI doesn't have to be daunting. Here’s how to get started.
1. Set specific goals for your campaign.
What are the goals of the campaign? If you don’t have well-defined goals, you won’t know whether you are meeting objectives or not. The first step is to get those goals nailed down. Do you want to increase total revenue and profits? Is the purpose to increase sales of a particular product or service or expand into a new market? Is it general branding?
2. Crunch the numbers.
Customize this basic print ROI model with your own assumptions to determine whether your campaign will be successful.
ASSUMPTIONS
Number of Pieces Printed
20,000
Total Cost
$2500
Response Rate Anticipated
2.5%
Percentage of Respondents Expected to Purchase
25%
Average Profit per Purchase
$50

ACTUAL METRICS
Number of Respondents
500
Cost per Response
$5.00
Number of Buyers
125
Cost per Buyer
$20
Cost per Printed Piece
$0.125
Profit per Printed Piece
$0.31

            ROI
Total Profit/(Loss)
$6250
Total Cost
$2500

PRINT MARKETING ROI
150%

3. Design your printed materials to track responses. Include a customized coupon, personalized barcode, or use campaign-specific landing pages or 800 numbers to determine which customers are responding to which printed pieces.
4. Document how new customers found you. Train your sales and customer service personnel to ask how a client learned about you so you can be certain new sales are a result of your marketing efforts rather than another factor, such as a competitor going out of business.
5. Recognize that it’s not all about dollars and cents. While some metrics are black and white, others can only be captured through market research. For example, you might organize a focus group or survey of those who received a specific printed piece to measure their recall, perceptions about your company, and purchase intent resulting from the piece.

These strategies will enable you to cost-justify your print marketing budget and focus your efforts where you will receive the greatest returns.

Please give us a call at 440-946-0606
Or visit our website here for more information.