Archive for March, 2008

Marketing Tips for Any Business

When it comes to marketing your product or service, you may feel lost with all of the different types of marketing media and marketing strategies. Although it may seem daunting at first, by following a few rules, you can create a marketing campaign that is right for you.

In Part 1 of the book “Guerilla Marketing: Secrets for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business,” Jay Levinson lists the “Thirteen Most Important Marketing Secrets”:

1.You must have commitment to your marketing program.
2.Think of that program as an investment.
3.See to it that your program is consistent.
4.Make your prospects confident in your firm.
5.You must be patient in order to keep a commitment.
6.You must see that marketing is an assortment of weapons.
7.You must know that profits come subsequent to the sale.
8.You must aim to run your firm in a way that makes it convenient for your customers.
9.Put an element of amazement in your marketing.
10.Use measurement to judge the effectiveness of your weapons.
11.Establish a situation of involvement between you and your customers.
12.Learn to become dependent upon other businesses and they upon you.
13.You must be skilled with the armament of guerillas, which means technology.

According to Levinson, without using these tips, it is impossible to successfully market a product or service. By putting them into practice, he says that you are 80% of the way toward a profitable marketing campaign.

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Investing in a Direct Mail Marketing Campaign

If you’re thinking about mailing a card mailer, postcard, statement printing, or invoice printing to market your product or service, you need to be aware of the time and money you will need to invest. Not all direct mail marketing programs are created equal. If you don’t devote yourself to your marketing campaign, you can’t expect to see results.

Kleen Kuip Supply Mart Inc., a Professional Carpet Cleaning Equipment and Supply Specialist, discusses the importance of investing both time and money into a direct mail marketing campaign in the KleenKuip.com’s Carpet Cleaners Discussion Forum. In this blog, entitled “Clean Up with Your Direct Mail Marketing Plan,” companies are instructed to “piece together your goals” before jumping into a marketing program. According to the author, “Direct mail advertising really works! Some masterpieces take a while to be fully appreciated. Like any advertising, promotion and marketing, it takes a long term investment to see the results you want. Sit down with your direct mail consultant to set goals. Tell them exactly what you are looking for. Some local and nationally based direct mail magazine advertising resources will offer you complimentary marketing consultations, artwork and the use of professional photographs, mailing lists, printing and postage.”

By partnering with a direct mail marketing company, you can set goals and make a marketing plan instead of sending out direct mail pieces to just anyone. With their help, you’ll have a much better chance of seeing results.

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Immediacy

If you want a customer to act on your offer before being swayed by your competitors, you need to convince them to act now as opposed to later. This is exactly what a direct mail marketing program allows you to do. With a direct mail piece, you can create a sense of urgency by offering limited time discounts and savings in the form of a postcard, card mailer, invoice printing, statement printing or by including reply forms that are partly filled out.

Edward Nash calls this advantage of direct marketing “Immediacy.” Immediacy is the third advantage discussed in Chapter two of “Direct Marketing: Strategy, Planning, Execution.” According to Nash, “Our promotions are successful only to the extent that we facilitate immediate action. It is for this reason that our copy disciplines find ways to urge action now, rather than later; that our offer disciplines require simple, easy-to-use, sometimes pre-filled-out reply forms; that our media planners place a premium on bound-in insert cards or other easy-to-use reply devices. A sacred rule of direct marketing is that response devices must be easy to use because, if they are not used immediately, they may never be used.”

By encouraging customers to act now you have a much better chance of making a sale. If you give them too much time, they might lose your direct mail piece or just forget about your offer and go to one of your competitors. With the use of direct mail marketing, you have a much better chance of catching a customer’s attention and getting them to act on your offer.

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Personalization

With the use of a direct mail marketing program to market your product or service, you have the ability to personalize your message to your recipient. Whether you’re using a card mailer, postcard, statement printing, or invoice printing, you can tell the recipient why they need what you’re selling.

Personalization is another advantage of direct marketing that Edward Nash discusses in Chapter 2 of “Direct Marketing: Strategy, Planning, Execution.” In this discussion, Nash gives an example of how one company used direct mail marketing to appeal to various industries. According to Nash, “A Lanier promotion for word-processing equipment used not only computer personalization, but also a half-dozen variations in the printed brochure to illustrate the specific applications of a new product to each of several industries. Only the cover and a couple of pages changed, but the mailing became more relevant when the recipient’s industry was boldly displayed. ‘How this new product can save time and money for advertising agencies (or engineering firms, or law offices)’ is much more likely to be read than any general appeal.”

If you want a better chance of having your message heard and getting a customer to act on your offer, you need to make the recipient feel as if the product or service was made just for them. With the help of a direct mail marketing campaign, you can do just that.

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