Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Turn Your Marketing Materials Green

Marketing can be green, as long as you can be smart about it.

Even Kermit the Frog knows that it’s not easy being green. But when you’re marketing, who says it can’t be easy? Besides being friendly to the environment, using green approaches in your marketing could help you gain recognition and support from audiences you haven’t reached before. And besides that, your company can feel great knowing that you’re helping preserve the environment. Maybe you’re just not sure how to go about changing your ways, or you don’t know if the risk of changing tactics is worth the reward. Here are some simple strategies to help your company start utilizing sustainable marketing. Because by starting small, you could later turn your green campaign into something big.

The Three R’s

We’ve been hearing this statement for some time now. “Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.” Maybe you utilize the slogan at home, but at work you think it’s too difficult to make the change. However, you could attract a variety of customers by advertising the green approaches you’re using.

Reduce

If it’s habit to print something for each round of edits, see if employees are willing to change their ways. Although it is important to see how the product will actually print on paper, many times employees will print out unnecessary documents. Encourage employees to cut back on clicking print and reduce paper usage.

Reuse

Maybe you have leftover flyers or other materials that aren’t time sensitive. Before tossing them in the trash, think of ways to repurpose them. Your printer may have an idea to make modifications to incorporate them into another marketing campaign. You could turn this venture into a fun exercise for employees by rewarding the person who comes up with the most creative idea to reuse the materials.

Recycle

This one’s simple, and you might already be doing it. Set up recycle bins around the office for all of those papers that you printed with a spelling error, and would have just thrown in the trash. You can also recycle leftover advertising materials in the office. While you’re implementing a paper recycling program, consider other recyclable materials such as aluminum, plastic and glass.

Paper

It’s probably not a good plan to convert to an online only marketing approach. Much business can be gained through printed materials. But you can still use a sustainable marketing approach. For starters, use paper that has been recycled and is labeled “processed chlorine free.” Not only is this paper recycled, but chlorine in paper has been found to have a negative impact on the environment.

All Aboard

Take advantage of what the company as a whole is doing to go green as a unique selling point in your marketing endeavors. If your products are somehow considered “green” customers will want to know. Also, get the entire office on board with possible energy saving or other green practices. Many customers appreciate hearing about what you’re doing to help the environment.

Be Authentic

Once you’ve implemented sustainable marketing strategies by going green, let your customers know about it. Come up with a simple logo to put on all of the materials that lets them know the materials they are receiving are good for the environment. Be sure that you are completely honest about the practices that you have established. This may seem like a no-brainer, but it can be easy to want to embellish the practices you’re implementing to make your company look better. This could damage all the other good you’re doing for your marketing efforts, not to mention the Earth.

You can read more print, marketing, and design blogs on our website : Minuteman Press News Archive

Minuteman Press
4185 Sunbeam Road, Suite 100 • Jacksonville, Florida 32257
Phone: 904-733-5578 • Fax: 904-733-6568
sales@mmpjax.com

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Leave Your Mark in Print

Magazine Prints

There is a time for everything in the marketing business. A time to stick with your current marketing strategy, a time to change your plan just a little and a time to try something completely different. The beginning of the year brings an exciting time to implement new strategies that could ultimately improve your company’s bottom line. Here are some ideas to help get your marketing in gear for 2012.

QR Codes

Technology rules the world these days, and consumers want information at their fingertips. QR codes are just that, a quick response code that your clients will love. The small square codes can contain a large amount of information, and anything that you would like to program into them. You can place them on direct mail, business cards, posters and even buildings. In terms of marketing, you can direct customers to a coupon, contact information or a link to a special promotion on your website. The possibilities for creativity are virtually endless. 

Personalization

Nobody likes to be treated as just another number. And with variable data, your customers won’t feel like a number at all. Variable data printing allows you to personalize your mailings towards each of your customers. The more information you have on your customers, the more personal you can get. And in today’s social media world, there’s more information to get. This marketing strategy allows you to deliver messages that matter to your customers, meaning they won’t automatically ditch your mail because they find it irrelevant.

For a more advanced personal touch, QR codes can also be combined into PURL (Personalized URL) campaigns and used in connection with direct mail print pieces to attract customers with personalized designs and offers than span all forms of media.

Content is King

With all of the information we ever need—and then some—readily available to us online, many think the traditional printed newsletter is dead. Oh, contraire. Consumers are information hungry and a well-produced, quick-read newsletter is just the ticket to keep your brand on your customers’ mind. But be sure to offer more relevant news to customers other than how your company's business is doing. News about how the industry you operate in is doing and how you've impacted the community around you are great ways to keep attention focused in your direction.

You can read more print, marketing, and design blogs on our website : Minuteman Press News Archive

Minuteman Press
4185 Sunbeam Road, Suite 100 • Jacksonville, Florida 32257
Phone: 904-733-5578 • Fax: 904-733-6568
sales@mmpjax.com

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Turning Email Marketing Into Sales

Be an Email Marketing Champ, not a chump
Email has become a part of our everyday interaction. You send a quick note out to friends, make sure that you send reminders about meetings and even communicate with people who are thousands of miles away. And although email has become the norm, that doesn’t mean we can forget about the power it has with generating leads for new customers. But if you’re going to use email effectively, you’ll need to go beyond your everyday email habits. Here are some ways you can go from a simple email to generating more leads for your company.

Honing your List

So you might have a solid emailing list put together already, but try honing that list or creating sub-groups to market specific products to different demographics. If you're having trouble managing all of your email contacts (too many spreadsheets!!) you can always move to a Customer Relationship Manager. Some popular web solutions are Zoho CRM, Sugar CRM, and iContact.

Know the Basics

Like any marketing endeavor, you need to know the goal of your efforts. Once you understand the purpose of your marketing email then you can determine your target audience. Now, jump in and create your content, including your subject line and call to action. Don’t forget to set a goal for your campaign and how you’re going to measure effectiveness. An easy way to see if prospects are responding to your email is through landing pages on your website so you can determine click through rates. Most email marketing programs also provide email open rates.

Subject to Creativity

Creating a good subject line to entice customers to open may be one of the more difficult aspects of an effective email campaign. And thanks to spammers, there are several words you’d like to use that you should avoid, such as “free” and “order now.” Some email marketing programs help rate your subject line before you send to check for those pesky spam words. So make sure your recipients see a subject line that lets them know what they’ll get out of opening the email, and be clear that the email is coming from you.

Find Clarity

Now that you have them enticed with an engaging subject line, don’t lose them as soon as they start reading. Quickly get them to a single call to action without droning on about product features. You can give them more detail on the landing page when they click through.

Great design and a clean layout can also help with the clarity of your message. Some of the best email marketing companies (MailChimp, iContact, and Constant Contact) have easy to implement layouts that are good looking to boot.

You can read more print, marketing, and design blogs on our website : Minuteman Press News Archive

Minuteman Press
4185 Sunbeam Road, Suite 100 • Jacksonville, Florida 32257
Phone: 904-733-5578 • Fax: 904-733-6568
sales@mmpjax.com

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Direct Mail Bests Online Marketing with Personalization

If you’re looking for a revenue-generating powerhouse for your business, you’re looking for direct mail. Direct mail campaigns are the Old Faithful of marketing—businesses count on them because they’re dependable and promise a consistent ROI.

You can push direct mail’s ROI from consistent to record-breaking with a focus on personalization. Some online marketers mistakenly think their methods are more personal than direct mail. But thanks to Internet cookies, over-sent emails and Google Ad Words, consumers are turned off and tuning out. Direct mail bests digital marketing tactics in the area of personalization because, to the consumer, it feels more human.

The simplest way to personalize direct mail is using variable printing to address your business’s leads by name. But you can go even further than that.

The key to effective personalized direct mail is to get as much useful information as you can from your customers and prospects. Use sales records, surveys and social media to collect good data about your mail leads.

Make the Design Count


Now it’s time to personalize your direct mail piece. To craft a message that’s relevant to the prospect without being creepy, you’ve got to use your data carefully. Let’s say, for example, that your jewelry store wants to market diamond engagement rings. You’re working form a list of young people who you assume—or hope, for your business’s sake—are single (and you should know that from your data).

It makes sense to write copy that speaks to a buying audience in the mail piece you will send to males. On the other hand, the mail piece sent to females should feature different photos and copy. Although who will buy and who will receive such a gift varies, catering the message of the direct mail according to gender is a subtle method of personalization.

As this examples shows, the best marketers have to interpret the data and use it in a way that tactfully shows consumers that your business is just what they need. But you don’t have to be selling jewelry to personalize direct mail skillfully and in a non-intrusive way. Think about your audience and how their demographic information may affect their buying habits or business needs.

Work from your recipient data to go beyond names in personalizing your business’s direct mail. When you personalize your direct mail piece with a name, you’re working to catch your prospects’ attention. Go one step further—and one-up online marketers—by letting demographics inform your direct mail piece.

You can read more print, marketing, and design blogs on our website : Minuteman Press News Archive

Minuteman Press
4185 Sunbeam Road, Suite 100 • Jacksonville, Florida 32257
Phone: 904-733-5578 • Fax: 904-733-6568
sales@mmpjax.com

Friday, June 1, 2012

After Hours Networking

In honor of our new blog and the fact that it's both Friday (TGIF!) and the first day of the month, here's some great info on how to use those out-of-office hours to drive business.

When you’re on the job, you do everything you can to reach out and drum up new business. Maybe you’re managing multiple social media pages to reach consumers. You’ve sent direct mail to new markets where you can find potential customers that would benefit from your products or services. But just because you’re doing all you can on the clock doesn’t necessarily mean you should rule out after hours networking. Think of the advantages of getting out there to meet new people while your competitors are confined to their businesses. Here are some easy networking strategies to consider next time you’re off the clock.

Don’t Be Bashful

Let’s face it. Being shy is not an option when it comes to networking. So you’ve got to put yourself out there and think of every interaction as a networking opportunity. And if you’re on the shy side, you can overcome that by being prepared. Unless you engage, you never know if that stranger beside you on a plane or the table next to you at a restaurant could be a customer. So don’t just think of traditional wine and cheese networking events as the only place to find new business. Volunteer opportunities, for instance, are a great way to get connected to others with similar interests. Also, remember to always have business cards handy for any unexpected opportunities you meet.

Perfecting Your Pitch

Studies show that the younger generation, an up-and-coming portion of the consuming population, have short attention spans because they were raised in barrage of information from the readily available content the Internet puts at their fingertips. They may not be the only ones. As technology continues to expand, consumers have more options to become distracted and don’t have time to listen for elongated periods of time. That’s why you should never rule out your best elevator pitch.

Make the pitch short, simple and relevant to the person you’re engaging. People want to know what you have to offer without sorting through information to get to your main point. Give it to them up front instead of dancing around what they’re really looking for. Remember that although you’re trying to be concise, you also need to find a way to stand out from everybody else.

How to Keep Them Hooked

The best way to keep people engaged is to find commonalities. If you talk about a shared hobby or passion before you talk business, your new connection is sure to remember you and possibly follow up to work with you. When you’re out there networking, never attempt to force a business relationship. But that doesn’t mean you should stop talking with them just because you don’t see potential. The personal connection may eventually result in a referral or at least a substitute fourth for your golf league.

You can read more print, marketing, and design blogs on our website : Minuteman Press News Archive

Minuteman Press
4185 Sunbeam Road, Suite 100 • Jacksonville, Florida 32257
Phone: 904-733-5578 • Fax: 904-733-6568
sales@mmpjax.com