Category Archives: Marketing

5 Core Concepts That Small Business Owners Should Know About Branding

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The whole concept of branding is foreign to many small businesses. They view it as something that only matters in the ivory towers of global corporations. Nothing could be further from the truth. Branding is all about making your business memorable, and it’s the small business rather than the big one that’s likely to get lost in the shuffle.

Here are five core concepts that small business owners should know about branding:

1. Repetition and consistency are paramount. Any parent knows that when you say something once it seldom sinks in. And, parents who send mixed messages confuse the child … and perhaps themselves! The same dynamics apply to branding: the market needs to see the same imagery and the same message again and again and again.

2. Sales reps can undermine your consistency. Even in large organizations, sales reps tend to develop their own way of talking about the company they represent. However, if every rep tells a different story, your customer base will ultimately have many different impressions of what your business does. This may cause customers and prospects to overlook key products and services — and perhaps look for them elsewhere.

3. Branding is more than just a logo. Every business should have a logo, but just as important are a consistent color scheme for the website and brochures, a strong tagline, and a consistent set of talking points for sales and marketing communication. Branding should dive deeper into the details still, in terms of consistent font styles, product/service descriptions, item numbers, and any other data and imagery customers see.

4. Branding is far more than window dressing. Far from it: Effective branding reflects and projects the core values and key differentiators of your business. A strong brand tells customers what you stand for and why they should buy from you. Are you the cheapest? The best quality? The most reliable? The most innovative? Your imagery and messaging must get to the heart of what you do.

5. Branding must be focused. Continuing on the previous point, you must confine your branding to a few critical concepts. No amount of branding expertise can communicate that you’re the cheapest, best quality, most reliable AND the most innovative. The more you dilute your message, the harder it is to remember and the less important it sounds. This is counterintuitive for sales people and small business owners who feel compelled to tell the whole company story every time they have the floor.

Let East Coast Graphics assist you with your branding today.

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Efficiency = Savings = Success

http://ecoastgraphics.com/

 

Four Reasons Why Direct Mail Is In, Not Out

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Forget all the notions about digital media replacing direct mail. According to a recent article in Direct Marketing magazine by OgilvyOne Worldwide chairman and CEO Brian Fetherstonhaugh, this $56 million industry has lots of life. He points to the fact that all of the firm’s top 20 clients use direct mail because it has four massive strengths:

  1. Endurance. Both research and in-market results consistently demonstrate that printed messaging such as direct mail lasts longer than digital alternatives.
  2. Acquisition. Direct mail remains one of the most effective acquisition tools of all time. Even digital icon Google uses direct mail to win new enterprise and SMB customers.
  3. Impact. Direct mail conveys importance like no other medium.
  4. Sense. The sensory nature of direct mail has a distinct advantage over digital. You can’t feel a banner ad or smell an email.

According to Fetherstonhaugh, what direct mail needs to do is stop competing against digital media and learn to leverage them. “We must innovate with disciplined agility and purposeful innovation, built on core values and scalable platforms,” he says

To learn more about how East Coast Graphics can help you develop an effective direct mail campaign contact us today. We are always more than happy to help.

East Coast Graphics, Inc.
info@ecoastgraphics.com
631.231.9300

Getting Your Digital House In Order: Your Facebook Page

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As you move toward functioning as a full-service digital marketing partner, any Facebook pages connected with your business should present a professional, engaged, and interactive image that creates a great first impression for potential customers.

You don’t have to use Facebook to manage social media for clients, but if you do use this platform, take time to ensure that your Facebook “house” is in order.

Make a “Likable” First Impression

Facebook is an even more visual medium than Twitter, but offers fewer design customization options. You can’t select a color scheme or add a background image.

You can, however, use “like-gating” to create a custom landing page that encourages visitors to click “like” on your page.

If you go this route, the simplest method involves paying a modest fee for any of several professional Facebook management applications. If you have a team member familiar with Facebook’s Static FMBL application, s/he may be able to code a custom like-gate page easily.

Just like Twitter, Facebook calls for a profile picture; this should be a version of your business logo, ideally color-rich and easily identifiable. You can also add up to five pictures that will appear at the top of your page when it’s viewed. Beware–others’ photos that “tag” your page will appear here, too. If an undesirable picture shows up, just un-tag your business. Your five featured photos should show business events, employees at work, successful campaigns, and anything else that exemplifies your strengths.

Know What You Like

With the “Use Facebook as Page” option, you can “like” other pages and select favorites that will display on your profile. You can even like and comment on other pages’ posts as your page. Safe choices for your favorite pages are industry organizations, enthusiastic customers, and competitors with whom you have a friendly relationship.

Steer clear of politicians and anything PG-13 or above. Don’t feature social causes and issues unless your business is directly related, like a specialist green printer and a page about recycling.

Get Interactive

An inactive Facebook page might collect a handful of “likes,” but it’s not showcasing your skills. Post at least twice per week. If you prefer to write just one set of posts, you can use any of a variety of applications to feed your tweets to Facebook. Look for apps that exclude tweets with hashtags, @mentions, @replies and retweets.

Your posts should be relevant to your business, yet still fun and engaging. You can ask Facebook questions about marketing or printing, like, “What was your favorite Super Bowl commercial of all time?” or “What makes a business card not just good, but great?” Share relevant news items from reputable sources. Link to your new blog posts, if you maintain a blog. Announce achievements, awards, new clients (with their permission), and any other positive news.

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Tips for Integrated Print/Digital Campaigns Targeting Young Adults

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Young adults are a key marketing demographic, but it’s not easy to make them get out their wallets. They’re inundated with advertising from the moment they wake up until they fall asleep at night.

For advertisers hoping to capture a young adult audience, an integrated print/digital campaign is a wise bet. You’ll need to do more than just put a message in print and online; young adults will react very negatively to a tone-deaf or obnoxious strategy.

Provide Something of Value

Okay, so your product can help a young adult audience. But what does your campaign itself do for your audience? This can mean giving them a laugh (like Old Spice’s wildly popular “Old Spice Guy” campaign) or a spectacle (like the “Will It Blend?” YouTube series by Blendtec) but it needs to be valuable, eye-catching, and free.

If you’re not pitching a product that lends itself to humor or stunts, offer more pragmatic value. For instance, a veterinary clinic could play to busy young professionals by offering referrals to local time-saving pet professionals. A print newsletter featuring selected professionals could include a QR code connecting mobile customers instantly to a directory of nearby recommendations.

Get Visual and Format for the Web

The “Facebook Generation” decides whether or not to navigate away from a website or throw a print ad in the trash in a fraction of a second. Your print campaign will need an immediate visual draw to grab attention. Try VDP personalization with customers’ names, along with intensely color-saturated images of people, animals, or products.
Remember that the eye is also drawn to white space–think Google. Using white wisely can capture customers’ attention.

When integrating with a digital campaign, study smart Web formatting. Eye tracking studies show that Web readers read more slowly, skim more, and skip visually uninteresting page elements like blocks of plain text. Remember that Web readers skim in an F-shaped pattern; your most important information should be in the “hottest” parts of that ‘F.’

Make Mobile Meaningful

If you’re using mobile marketing, beware of buyer’s remorse. Customers who let you into the very personal realm of their mobile phones expect important information or value-added services in return. It’s easy to collect cell phone numbers with a sweepstakes, but how will you use them after customers have agreed to “text XXXX to XXXXX to enter…?” Texting sales pitches will just cause your audience to unsubscribe.

Instead, after your initial data collection is complete, develop an ongoing service, like a Facebook app or free weather updates, and send just one marketing message asking customers to opt in. Lead them to engage with you regularly, of their own volition. Young adults are weary of sales megaphones blasting in their digital “ears,” but they’re still interested in a mutually beneficial conversation. Let that ideal guide your integrated print/digital marketing efforts for young adults.

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ONE-TO-ONE MARKETING SERVICES

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One-to-One marketing (sometimes expressed as 1:1 marketing) is a customer relationship management (CRM) strategy emphasizing personalized interactions with customers. The personalization of interactions is thought to foster greater customer loyalty and better return on marketing investment. The term is new; the approach is almost as old as commerce itself. In the past, for example, proprietors of a general store would naturally take a one-to-one approach, remembering details about each customer’s preferences and characteristics and using that knowledge to provide better service. One-to-one marketing seeks to reinvest marketing with the personal touch absent from many modern business interactions. Another approach, customer segmentation, focuses on customizing marketing components for groups of customers rather than individuals.

Upgrade Your Direct Mail, E-mail And Landing Pages With Personalization

Multi-channel solutions that lift response and evoke faster action. East Coast Graphics offers a full array of innovative direct marketing services that can dramatically increase your response rates, and even prompt faster response, by simply upgrading your direct marketing to highly personalized, relevant messages across print, e-mail and web (personalized web pages or personalized URLs).

Whatever the combination of media you rely on – print, e-mail or web landing pages – East Coast Graphics can upgrade them to generate higher response and evoke faster action. Got data? Do you retain data about your customers such as transaction history? Are you using that data in your direct mail, e-mail and landing pages to create personal and relevant communication and offers? If you answered “no”, then you’re missing out on the proven power of personalized content.

We understand the dynamics of managing a successful print program and provide the quality, consistency and rapid turn-around times necessary to ensure that your objectives are met. Whatever your needs, East Coast Graphics is the company that can make you look good on paper.

One-to-One Marketing:
  • Static, Short Run Printing – high quality, full-color, using up to 3 paper stocks per document in quantities as low as one.
  • Version Printing – common design with unique content or language changes for specific audiences or markets.
  • Personalized Printing – name and/or address are seamlessly integrated, producing a unique document for each recipient.
  • Customized Printing – personalized applications, with images for greater audience relevancy.
  • Transactional Printing – content is customized and personalized, with “data-driven” charts and graphs.
  • Fully Customized Printing – images, text, graphics and even layouts are unique for each recipient.
  • Automated Fulfillment – a highly efficient workflow where the entire print production is automated from request through production.

To find out more about our products and services,

CONTACT OUR 1:1 MARKETING COMPANY TODAY

631.231.9300

HOW SHOULD I SPEND MY MARKETING BUDGET IN 2010?

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EAST COAST GRAPHICS PRINT MANAGEMENT

Many people are understandably nervous about spending their hard earned money in the current economic situation.  Companies continue to downsize their marketing budgets, which increases that anxiety.  Confusion on how to best tackle a marketing strategy is common, with many wondering if they should have a marketing budget at all.  This confusion, in addition to frequent newer and better technology and internet advertising options, has peoples’ heads spinning.  Employees are fearful that they may lose their job if they make one wrong move.  Owners and employees commit to taking the “safe” way, knowing the results will be sub-par. 

“You have to be in it to win it”.  Although this quote is cliché, it is also true.  Prospects and customers no longer approach many companies.  Consumer behavior and technology are constantly evolving.  As a result, it is more important than ever to be on top of your marketing strategy.  In difficult economic times, it is even more important for your brand and company to be noticed.

As 2010 begins, it is important to be positive.  Too many companies have cut back or eliminated their marketing budget.  A successful marketing and direct mail program does not need to cost an excessive amount of money.  Thomas Glenn, Vice President of Business Development of the New York based East Coast Graphics states, “the key to success in today’s market is to be as efficient in your marketing efforts as possible.”  Using one form of media to reach potential clients does not work.  Being unique, clever, and integrating multiple forms of communication is key to conveying your message effectively.

Where do I spend in 2010?

This is probably the most common question asked this year.  There are many options from which to choose including: direct mail, internet marketing, social media, pay per click advertising, television, radio marketing, etc.  However, none of the aforementioned forms of communication will generate successful returns individually.  An integrated approach using multiple media sources will generate the highest return.  Each company is unique.  Therefore, every organization requires an individualized integrated approach to their marketing strategy.  There are many articles and blogs claiming a particular marketing strategy or combination is most effective.  In reality, a company needs to try different combinations to determine which integrated strategy works best meets their needs.  Unless you actually test a marketing strategy, you will not know whether a particular approach will be successful or not. 

If you or your company would like further information about different marketing strategies available, or if you have any questions, please contact us.  We are more than happy to help!

Thomas Glenn
Vice President Business Development
East Coast Graphics, Inc.
http://ECoastGraphics.com
Follow me on Twitter: EcoastGraph44

Using Point-of-Sale to Improve Profitability

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Here’s a story from Marketer David Frey in the US. The lessons are clear.

Not long ago I made a trip over to the local Radio Shack to purchase an electronic plug for my cassette recorder. As I paid for my item the retail clerk asked me for my name, address, cellphone number, birth date, and even my email address (something every retailer should be asking for today!).

Although I felt a twinge of discomfort giving out my personal information, I went ahead and gave it to him and went on my way.

Driving home I reflected on Radio Shack’s checkout process and was reminded of the power of information gathering at the point of sale. I had just given Radio Shack three ways to contact me, not to mention, information on what I had purchased. In the hands of a skilled marketer, this information is powerful.

Database Marketing

The recent economic slowdown has brought increased competition to small businesses. And with that, retailers across North America have described their sales as “flat.” Small businesses should be looking for low cost, high impact marketing activities to drive prospects to their business.

One of the most effective and cost-efficient ways to add profits to the bottom line is the use of database marketing, which uses information collected at the point-of-sale.

Using personal data, purchasing data, and contact information from a customer database, a spa and pool retailer can make offers to customers for complimentary products and services and engage in loyalty marketing activities.

Database marketing has four key elements:

(1) gathering customer data
(2) building a customer database
(3) creating targeted offers for specific customer groups
(4) tracking results to improve responses

  • Step 1: Gather customer data. The easiest way to begin this process is to develop a simple form for customers and salespeople to fill out every time a customer purchases a product or service. Include personal information such as names of spouses, children, profession, and birthdays, as well as product information such as manufacturer, make, and model.
  • Step 2: Build a database to store your customer information. Start simple using off-the-shelf software such as Microsoft Access. Later on you can begin to modify the database to either include different types of information or to print special reports.
  • Step 3: Start sending offers and personal messages to your customers. Don’t wait until you have a large mailing list. Begin sending notes to customers right away thanking them for their purchase, to celebrate birthdays, share holiday messages, and inviting them to come in and take advantage of special offers. There is an old saying that goes, “Business goes where business is invited, and stays where it is appreciated.” A personalized invitation to drop by the store to take advantage of a specific incentive is sometimes all that is needed to keep your customers coming back into the store. Instituting a program of personal, hand-signed notes that coincide with birthdays or special events addressed to the customer’s significant other that offer gift ideas, can have surprising results.
  • Step 4: Track the results of your database marketing efforts. By knowing who you sent offers to and who responded will help you identify your best customers, allow you to more effectively allocate your marketing dollars, and help you tweak your marketing pieces to get higher response rates.

What Information Do I Collect?

It’s important to determine in advance the type of information to collect. To do this, make a list of common special offers you might be presenting to your customer.

For instance, if you sold a product in the health industry and many of your customers have lower back problems you could joint venture with other businesses to develop special promotions on products that help to relieve lower back pain.

To capture the fact that your customer experiences lower back pain, simply place a check box on your form that says, “Do you experience lower back pain?”

If your customer has small children, consider presenting follow-up offers for products targeted for small children. Imagine being a consumer and receiving a letter from your business with an enclosed birthday card for little Joey who just turned eight years old and a discount offer for a basketball hoop or other relevant products.

You think to yourself, “What a great gift. Joey would love that!” This is the power of database marketing.

Collecting Accurate and Consistent Information

Database marketing all starts at the point of sale. Without accurate, complete, and consistent data this type of pinpoint target marketing can’t be done. To ensure that your information is accurate and consistent, help your customers fill out the data collection form and review each information form for completeness.

You might experience a hesitancy from your customer to give out all their personal information, similar to how I felt at Radio Shack. However, after explaining that the information will only be used to send out special offers during important events, is completely confidential, and will not be shared with anybody else, you’ll find that most of your customers won’t have any problem giving out their personal information.

Cost Effective Loyal Customers

Marketing to your current customers is one of the most effective and cost-efficient strategies you can do to reduce your marketing costs, enhance your customer / retailer relationships, and produce long-term loyal customers who, over a period of months or years, become your biggest source of referrals.

Thanks for the tips David. Today even the CRM technology is easy. In fact for those starting with nothing it’s actually better. Those big Corporates with their legacy databases inevitably have to spend lots of time and money cleaning things up first. Small businesses can start within a few weeks.

To get started, email East Coast Graphics today!

logo single Using Point of Sale to Improve Profitability

 

Thomas D. Glenn
East Coast Graphics, Inc.
p. 631.231.9300 xt.11  |  f. 631.231.5159
ECoastGraphics.com

Direct Mail vs Email – And the Winner is…

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Exact Target just released their annual survey on media channels. It’s one of the most enlightening and unbiased reports I’ve read in years, especially considering it was written by an email marketing provider. Here’s a direct quote from the report:

“Still wondering about the best channels through which to deliver your messages when you’re trying to boost your bottom line? Consumers are more likely to purchase based on messages they receive through traditional media. In this year’s study, we included television commercials and infomercials as channels through which consumers may have been directly influenced to make a purchase. While this approach does not take important factors like branding into account, it does give us a basis for comparison where branding may be the primary goal—as is often the case with social media.

Our research shows:

Direct mail has directly influenced more consumers to purchase than any other channel.

76% of consumers have been directly influenced to purchase through direct mail.”

For the first time in years, someone has actually taken the time to look at media channels in an objective way. And what media channel came second as an influencer of purchases? Television. Email came in third, which considering email marketing is a tiny fraction of the cost of TV advertising, is an excellent result.

Another gem in the report was the statement that email is still very popular and we love it, but only 15% of people like to receive marketing messages via this channel!
logo single Direct Mail vs Email – And the Winner is…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thomas D. Glenn
East Coast Graphics, Inc.
p. 631.231.9300 x.11  |  f. 631.231.5159
ECoastGraphics.com

What’s Your Marketing ROI?

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Businesses are always looking for value and good returns on their marketing dollars. Yet in spite of all the new choices, getting a good ROI remains elusive. Newspaper, magazine, street, TV, radio and online promotions all struggle, with response rates typically under 0.1%, being one per thousand (see photo). Lotto payouts do better. Even email marketers have declining response rates, along with nasty legal and delivery issues.

What Works?

Well, we know that good copywriting, design and a superb offer can make a huge difference. A well crafted direct mail letter to a targeted house mailing list typically gets a 2.6% response, being significantly better than mass market advertising. But in any promotion, only a percentage of responses will turn into sales. To see what it means to your bottom line, use one of our ROI Calculators.

Clearly this is why business owners spend time shopping around to get the best design, printing and mailing rates. They know that getting a good ROI is still hard work and cost cutting appears the only option.

But this approach seldom helps sales leads or results. It just minimises the loss.

Poor response rates occur because our advertising and mailing campaigns (print and online), treats everyone the same. These campaigns are only relevant to a few… Today’s methods reflect a wasteful, highly inefficient process.

Better Targeting

One answer? Studies tell us that 93% of your sales will come from just 40% of your mailings. So, why waste time and money continuing to send stuff to that huge 60% chunk of people on your list who don’t buy?

The secret to efficient, high response marketing is in your customer database.

An expertly maintained database can tell you:

  • WHO you should communicate with
  • HOW you should communicate
  • WHEN you should communicate
  • WHAT to offer

Sort Out Your Data

Weed out unlikely prospects and find a subset of your customers that are most likely to respond to your marketing campaigns.  By targeting ONLY those most likely to respond, you’ll achieve about the same response, for a lower cost.

Then if you want to boost sales results, start introducing more relevancy into your messages. Yes, it does increase the per-piece cost, but you’ll find that by sending out fewer pieces (top 40% only), together with 2-5x higher response rates (i.e. 5-15% response) will more than cover everything, giving far more qualified sales leads.

A 50-100% ROI is now very achievable, showing a typical ROI before and after segmentation down to the top 40% or the ‘gold’ customers, plus the relevancy factors added in.

Where To Start?

It starts by working on your database. Some work you can do immediately, like having us check your address list against the latest NZ Post Change of Address Database. It’s known that 23% of households change in some way each year. At just 60c per entry, it will quickly pay for itself in the first mailing.

Follow this up with some old fashioned telemarketing and mailers, to gauge their interest and collect their email address. You’ll certainly need a better ‘system’ to enter this new data and to then manage it all – To help with segmenting, data mining, campaign management etc. Excel or the Outlook address book simply doesn’t cut it for this task.

CONTACT EAST COAST GRAPHICS TODAY TO LEARN MORE

Use Direct Mail to Build Your e-Mail List

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In many of today’s corporations, marketing channels such as e-mail, direct mail and other traditional media often exist in separate silos with each channel operating independently, sometimes even in conflict with the others. Some organizations do manage to maintain a consistent message across channels, but the individual channels often do little to support common goals.

1. Give prospects something to look forward to. A personalized e-mail sent before your drop creates anticipation by alerting your target audience to a direct mail offer on the way. Your prospects know to look for your piece and are more likely to recognize it when it arrives.

2. Provide another look, another chance and another response channel. With limited time offers, an e-mail sent after your drop can provide a brief reminder about your direct mail offer and the deadline, as well as give prospects a fast, easy way to respond.

3. Put personalized power into response rates. A recent Direct Marketing Association (DMA) study revealed that 42 percent of direct mail recipients prefer to respond online. Instead of a one-size-fits-all mail piece and business reply card, use customized direct mail to invite prospects to visit a personal URL, or PURL, such as www.johndoe.greatvendor.com. PURLs provide a personalized introduction to your company and a unique marketing message for each prospect.

4. Gather PURLs of wisdom. While visiting “their” PURL site, prospects can also be encouraged to complete a survey revealing their individual preferences, wants and needs or to opt-in for e-mail communications. This data allows marketers to craft the more precisely targeted offers and personalized communications that can lift your response rates in both traditional direct mail and e-mail marketing.

Then use e-mail to optimise your direct mail budget

A coordinated effort using direct mail and e-mail could help trim mailing budgets. Send an inexpensive postcard to alert clients or prospects that personalized offers and information are available and can be accessed electronically. Clients can then log in to a secure personal URL (PURL) to retrieve information or elect to receive the message by secure e-mail. Most will appreciate being given the choice too, knowing its a “greener” option.

CONTACT EAST COAST GRAPHICS TODAY TO GET STARTED