Digital Print: It’s Not Technology—It’s Marketing

Do you think of digital printing as an output technology or a marketing model? The reality is, it’s both. If you don’­t think of digital printing this way, maybe you need to think more broadly about digital print.

Traditionally, marketers have used digital presses to save money and “right size” their print volumes. Print on demand and just in time document management save companies tons of money every year. Marketers who are thinking only in terms of production, however, are missing opportunities to think from a strategic marketing perspective, as well.

Say you take a booth at four industry trade shows per year and print 10,000 brochures to give away. From a cost and logistics perspective, you can use digital output to produce 2,500 brochures at a time. This allows you to minimize your upfront investment and update products between shows. Plus, you don’t need to figure out where to store the extra 7,500 brochures after the first trade show is over.

You can think about digital production from a marketing perspective, as well. Each show might draw a slightly different demographic of attendee. By capitalizing on the benefits of digital production, you can break down the runs into four highly targeted segments. This way, you can tweak the selection of products, messaging, and offers for each show based on who its attendees are and what they are looking for.

As another example, let’s say you are running on a tight budget. You can use digital presses to print and mail only to a portion of your list and have lower out-of-pocket costs. From a marketing perspective, you can also think about how you want to split this list. Do you want to mail only to your highest volume customers? How about your bottom 10%? Try to reactivate dormant customer relationships? By targeting the mailing by customer profile or demographic, you can get a better response from mailing to this portion of your list than you would have from mailing to the entire thing.

These are simple examples, but they illustrate the difference between thinking about digital printing as an output technology and as a marketing model.

How are you thinking about digital printing?

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Effective Marketing Copy Made Easy

Whether you are writing copy for direct mail, email, in-store or exterior signage, or any other type of marketing material, a few simple tricks will increase your ability to grab your audience’s attention and communicate your message more effectively. Here are some fundamental principles of writing great copy that will help you command attention:

• Be imaginative. It’s easy to say the same thing in the same way all the time. Break out of the mold. Look for unconventional ways to communicate your message.
• Be a salesman. Cute and clever doesn’t get you anywhere by itself. Your copy still has to motivate recipients to action. Be creative, but also be clear. Sell benefits. Give an overt call to action.
• Put the customer front and center. Make the customer the center of the message. Talk about their problems, their challenges, and their bottlenecks. Let them identify with the message, then talk about how your products and services can solve their problems. 
• Build trust. Part of building a brand and gaining repeat customers is establishing loyalty and trust. Represent your products in a way that is accurate, helpful, and maintains your customers’ confidence.
• Hire a professional editor. Make sure your copy meets professional standards. Someone who is “good at grammar” isn’t sufficient. When it comes to marketing, there are rules for punctuation, capitalization, and usage that only professionals know.

Of course, there are other elements to great print marketing, as well. Good layout. Interesting graphics. Compelling offer. But great copy ties it all together. 

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

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3 Tips for Maximizing Your Print Investment

Are you tired of hearing people talk about the benefits of going entirely paperless? We are! Especially when it comes to marketing, that’s just not a smart move. When our inboxes are clogged with spam and any company can look big and successful online, print carries weight and inspires confidence in a way that digital channels do not.  People just trust print more.

While digital channels have their place, now is not the time to give up print. But smart marketers are making their print contacts even more powerful.  Let’s take a look at three strategies that can help you make the most of your investment.

1. Focus on recent customers. Clients who have purchased from you recently know who you are. They may just need a simple reminder, such as a postcard or letter, to give them a reason to buy from you again. If you’re looking to stretch your marketing dollars, try focusing on recent customers first.

2. Know your top customers. Pay particular attention to retaining customers with the highest profit margin. Then target prospects with similar profiles so you can reap new customers that are likely to be profitable, as well. If you don’t know who your top customers are, a proactive investment in data analysis can reap big returns.

3. Be relevant. You can only satisfy buyer motivations if you understand what your prospects love and hate—their hearts’ desires and what keeps them awake at night. Knowing your customers and engaging in sincere dialogue about what they want and why they want it will pay off in repeat sales and quality referrals.

Print marketing is evolving. Success is no longer based on trying to get a “same to all” message in front of as many people as possible. It’s about marketing smart and marketing relevant, and using the tangible, confidence-building medium of print to its maximum advantage. 

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

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