Preparing for Next Year’s Customers Today

The time to prepare for next year’s marketing campaigns is now. As we look forward to the New Year, smart marketers are getting their ducks in a row. Here is a short checklist to help you get started:

1. Wrap up your important, but not urgent projects. Finish a white paper, update your website copy, or implement a new customer relationship management tool. Clean the slate so you can start next year with gusto.

2. Strategize. Read a book or attend a conference. Research what your competitors are doing (and not doing) so you can position your messages more favorably. Make a plan.

3. Refine your approach. Test a pricing discount, a free consultation, or a value-added service in advance of a full rollout. Experiment with a different paper, ink, or finishing technique. A/B testing is your friend!

4. Play to your strengths. In an election year, there can be a lot of economic uncertainty. People won’t stop buying, but they may be more selective. Clearly state why you offer the most relevant product at the greatest value for their family, their lifestyle, and their needs. Promote value, but also relevance to them as an individual or a family.

5. Stay ahead of the channel curve. Understand all of the marketing channels your customers are using, including social and mobile media, and how they are using them. But don’t neglect print! There is a lot of digital clutter out there. When your customers open the mailbox, that well crafted direct mail piece will always stand out.


Consult with our experts today to review and update your marketing plan for the upcoming year. 

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

Tips for Ordering Promotional Products

Promotional products, whether common items such as pens and refrigerator magnets or more unusual items such as branded toys or back scratchers, can be powerful components of a multichannel marketing campaign. They tend to be kept for longer periods of time than traditional marketing pieces and can be highly effective door openers for hard-to-reach targets, particularly in the C-Suite. But ordering promotional items isn’t like ordering print. Here is a quick checklist to make the most of your investment.

1. Don’t overload the promotional item.

Keep it simple and don’t try to overload with copy or images. Often times, a logo and phone number is all you need.

2. Avoid the rush.

You may be used to being able to rush orders for brochures and direct mail, but promotional items require more lead time.  Plan at least several weeks in advance.

3. Simplify your use of color.

The differential between single-color and multicolor printing is relatively minimal. However, promotional items are generally imprinted using silkscreen or pad printing, and every color adds  more cost. Use single-color versions of graphics and logos to keep the cost down.

4. Price breaks matter.

In the world of commercial print, you don’t want to over-order product simply to get a price break, especially when considering the cost of obsolescence. Promotional items will go out of date less quickly, however, and the price breaks with volume can be substantial. 

5.  Dimension matters.

Remember to take into consideration the final mailing cost. A more expensive promotional item that ships flat may cost less in the end than a lower priced but bulky item that needs to be mailed in a dimensional package.

Want to learn more about best-in-class use of promotional items? Talk to one of our business development experts. 

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

Inventory Management Driving You Crazy?

Struggling with your inventory of printed collateral and other documents? How about fulfillment items for your marketing kits? If so, you’re not alone, and if you’re not careful, it could hurt your bottom line.

According to Capterra, inventory numbers for most businesses are profit killers. In fact, Capterra finds that businesses keep $1.43 of inventory on hand for every $1 of sales. To make matters worse, the average inventory on hand for businesses of all sizes rose 8.3% between 2000 and 2015.  

What’s a marketer to do? Unless you have a highly efficient inventory management system, you might be better off moving to a vendor managed inventory (VMI) model. With VMI, we manage your print and kitting materials for you. We track, manage, and fulfill your documents and kit materials with maximum efficiency, and you save money. 

This happens in two ways.

First, we maximize the opportunities for print on demand (POD). By printing only what you need as you need it, you can minimize your warehousing costs or even eliminate them entirely. You can also minimize obsolescence costs. How often does your product information change? Company contacts? Phone numbers? How much do you waste every year throwing things away? Keep that money in your pocket!

Second, if your document management and kitting do require warehousing, we’ve made the investment in a secure, highly efficient inventory management system so you don’t have to. Let us handle the details so you get it right, at the lowest price, without the hassle.

Want to talk to someone about letting us manage your marketing collateral, kitting, and other print and related products for you? 

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