Tag Archive for: direct mail marketing

Direct Mail Digital Technologies

Intertwined Marketing Campaigns = Increased Audience Engagement

In an era where marketing is more dependent on technology than ever before, it’s hard to fathom that direct mail marketing is something you need to get involved in. Sure, tech-heavy campaigns can offer a lot that traditional printing can’t, but that doesn’t mean that they should be ruled out entirely. There are myriad benefits to diversifying the mediums you advertise on; the more you expand your audience, the more likely you are to attract more customers. Plus, there are exciting, proven ways to cohesively tie in your digital marketing with your direct mail campaign. We’ve highlighted some of the most effective ways you can incorporate technology into your next mail campaign to create engaging content that generates tangible results.

Augmented Reality

With an interactive interface that overlays digital elements on a mailer’s physical service, Augmented Reality (AR) brings further context, movement, and tangible connection to your piece. Able to be activated through a consumer’s smartphone, camera, or tablet, AR brings sights, sounds, and scenery that that’s seemingly far away that much closer.

Video-In-Print

First impressions are important than ever—with so much content available across multiple mediums, you need to make sure that your brand stands out. An in-print video gives your customers a chance to watch your advertisement play out so that they can explore more about your brand while remaining engaged with on-message marketing.

Redesigned QR Codes

Quick Response (QR) codes give your customers an opportunity to explore an online store, product video, or live stream tangible content. They’re an optimal medium to get as much information to the customer as possible without overwhelming them. QR codes can work in tandem to help customers instantly purchase specific products or look up other things you have to offer.

Buy Now Technology

Social media is more than just for browsing when you’re bored (even though there’s still plenty of that); it’s officially transitioned to a more buying-intensive experience, implementing scanning technology for digitally-enabled mail can drive new customers to your social media platforms, and vice-versa.

Near Field Communication (NFC)

NFC allows recipients to instantaneously engage with your digital content without having to download a cumbersome app or open a new tab. A microchip embedded in your mail piece emits short-range radio waves that communicate with mobile phones to activate an engaging digital experience. You can offer your customers unprecedented access like never before, all by just installing a user-friendly piece of technology.

A marketing campaign’s success is contingent on how effectively grounded it is across several mediums. If you have multiple unique options that all interact with each other, you increase the chances of reaching your target market. Don’t limit yourself to solely print marketing or adhering closely to an email list; a combination between digital and print direct mail is the best way to have your voice be heard at the level you want it to be.

 

Postcard Printing

Make your mark with postcard printing.

You might normally associate a postcard with a faraway place that your parents went to once, but they can be a whole lot more than that with the right marketing strategy. Postcard printing and mailing services can be a huge boon for your company if done effectively—their high readability, cost-effective price, and high-quality, full-color design combine to make them a potent marketing tool in the right hands.

You might be hearing more and more noise recently about going digital. Pouring all of your resources into digital marketing isn’t necessarily a bad move, given how effective that’s proven to be for so many businesses. But if you do have room in your budget to diversify your options, it’s a no-brainer—more advertising platforms are better than less and spreading the word about what you have to offer across multiple mediums ensures that you gain traction in areas that otherwise might go untapped. We’ve highlighted some of the most pertinent benefits of printing custom postcards for your business so that you can effectively reach more potential customers than ever before.

  • They’re cost-effective: When it comes to deciding what marketing strategy you want to roll out for your business, the cost is an enormous factor. You must analyze which marketing strategy is going to yield the best results for the lowest price; as we mentioned above, diversifying your options is always a healthy decision if you’re looking to veer away from putting all of your eggs in one basket.
  • They’re measurable: Unlike convoluted, sprawling marketing campaigns, postcards offer a direct reflection on how effective your product is at reaching customers. You know how many you sent out, and you know how many inquiries or sales it generated. They’re perfect for test marketing—you can send out a small sample size and see what kind of response you get.
  • They’re versatile: Postcard printing services can be fine-tuned to meet your specific needs. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution—whatever you envision for your brand, whether it’s a specific font, color scheme, or image, printing postcards is one of the best ways to get that message across in a unique way.
  • They’re efficient: As soon as your audience receives your postcard, they receive the message—no opening tricky envelopes, no strings attached. Delivered right to your door, direct mail postcard campaigns are an effective way to get your information in the right hands without coming across convoluted.
  • They’re easy to produce: No more languishing around, waiting for your marketing campaign to finally roll out. Postcard printing gives you the opportunity to hit the ground running and get your message out quickly and effectively.
  • They’re ideal for targeted marketing: Not seeing the results that you anticipated with your advertising? It might be an issue with who your mail is being sent to. Targeted marketing is easier than ever with postcard printing. Make sure that your information falls in the right hands.

 

Why Direct Mail is the Ultimate Form of Marketing

Marketing has come a long way in the last 30 years. The internet has invented all kinds of new ways to put your product or service in front of consumers. But even with these flashy new marketing tools there has always been one way to get your product noticed, direct mail.

What is direct mail?

Advertising through the mail is as old as the postal service itself. It involves creating physical promotional material and sending it to prospective customers to drive business and increase awareness for your product or service. This form of marketing can be in the form of postcards, brochures, letters, flyers, newsletters, catalogs, coupon envelopes, and packages, is indirectly unsolicited through the use of mailing lists which leads to it sometimes being referred to as “junk mail.” But its versatility and its ability to sell has remained strong.

What is so great about direct mail services?

It is the perfect substitute for an actual sales person – In fact it may be even better. A good seller will go to a prospect, educate the prospect about your product, show them the benefits answer questions, and actively close the sale. But the physical presence of a salesperson, goading the prospect for the sale, presenting a sometimes heavy and sometimes misguided pitch, may turn a prospect off. Some consumers want the information, but they could do without the pressure. This is where direct mail can work as a salesperson. It presents the information, even gives the customer something they can show to friends and relatives and puts the decision to buy in their hands. Let them come to you because one they have decided they have interest, it is easy to close.

The look of your materials will say a lot about your product – Consumers will equate a slick, well designed direct mail piece to your company as a competent business, and your product as the best at what it does. Your marketing piece represents who and what your business is about so if you are offering a high-quality, professional service, your mailing needs to reflect that.

People love getting mail – And by sending them a direct marketing piece, you can be reasonably sure that the piece will reach its audience as opposed to an email that is either ignored, automatically sorted to junk mail, or immediately deleted.

With direct mail, you are bringing your message to its exact audience – Think of it as using a pencil to draw a picture instead of a can of spray paint. Your mailing lists can be one that you have cultivated yourself from former customers or one that you buy from a source that has tailored it to the exact audience you want.

It isn’t as expensive as you might think – Here is where Presort can help. If you are interested in a direct mailing campaign, we will help you make it a reality. Call us today and speak to our marketing experts about how you want your product presented, what other marketing your business uses, and your goals for your direct mailing campaign. We can design a campaign that will help you accomplish them.

6 Reasons Why Inventory Management is Important

Businesses keep inventory on hand for a variety of reasons, perhaps it is needed to quickly fill special orders, or respond to an unanticipated demand, or maybe to supply spare parts quickly. Whatever the reason, your inventory management systems are vital to responding to these market demands quickly and efficiently. If you find your inventory methods are lacking, here are some reasons why it is important.

Increase employee efficiency – It is 5pm on a Friday and a customer calls for a replacement part. They are willing to pay more to expedite it, but it needs to be there Saturday afternoon at the latest. How does your business respond? Without an organized inventory process your business will find it difficult to respond to opportunities on these and profit from them. Your employees will spend the majority of their time digging through files and spreadsheets to make sure the product is available and in stock. Getting it there isn’t the issue, knowing you have it to send, is.

You will be able to close out more sales – If you are not sure exactly what is in stock and at what quantity, an employee can tell a customer that an item is out of stock when in fact it is available. A customer can be sent to a wrong store that should have an item, but your system isn’t capable of answering those kinds of questions.

You will be able to deliver on time – When your customer orders something and is told their products will arrive between a wide range of dates, it shows your company is not organized enough to fulfill a simple aspect of selling goods. This isn’t just poor customer service, it is bad business. Instead, a proper inventory management system will give you the ability to not only pinpoint a date for delivery but gives you the means to hit that target.

It is clear where your inventory is – It may seem like good customer service when one of your locations is out of an item and calls another to see if it is in stock there. On the surface this appears to be going the extra mile to help a customer, but the real issue is your system doesn’t allow them to know for certain that the item is there. A good inventory system will allow them to see this in real time and respond accordingly.

You will be able to order the correct amounts from vendors – Reorder points can be sent with ease when you have a solid inventory management system. This reduces cost when you are ordering things unnecessarily either through not knowing how much you have, or not ordering enough.

No need to duplicate purchase orders – A sophisticated inventory management system will either generate purchase orders automatically when your inventory levels hit a reorder point or allow you to create one from drop down menus which lowers the potential for errors.

Even small businesses that keep a minimal inventory on hand would benefit from even the most basic of inventory management systems.  Presort can help you find the right software and implement the right procedures to make sure that this aspect of your business is a strength and not a weakness.