Inkjet’s Age
for Successful
Print & Mail
Marketing
Below is a collection of thoughts regarding marketing for print and mail service providers.
Keep this and refer back to it. Hang it up in your offi ce and even the most marketing savvy
printers will fi nd inspiration.
By Patrick Whelan
7. Focus on the customer experience. Brand differentiation
starts with an understanding of the customer journey from
the customer’s point of view, not the printer’s. Do customers
really want to see more advertisements and promotions in their
inboxes? How does a customer feel when they have to search to
fi nd a phone number because your employees don’t include it
as part of their email signatures?
8. Pay attention to your website. 67% of prospects go there
fi rst when seeking info about your company. Do customers
want to visit your website just see the same boilerplate
website content that they see on a competitor’s? How does a
customer feel about your company when they visit your site
and see that the latest blog / news article update was several
years back? Timely, relevant, engaging content promotes
thought leadership. And please make sure your site utilizes
responsive design. More than half the traffi c will come from a
mobile device.
9. Every employee is a harbinger of your brand. I see it all the
time, and it has even happened in my own business. Employees
(and owners) mishandle situations that end up creating
opportunities for their competition. It’s not just the sales and
customer service people who have to provide a customer-centric
experience. Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s, in making
his case for consistency, always claimed that the fi rst bite and
the last bite were what the customer remembered most. So pay
attention to how your phones are being answered and how your
products are being delivered.
10. Printers should forget about trying the latest and greatest
marketing methods for fi nding new customers until they
have become profi cient at retaining the customers they
have. There is a wealth of information to support the premise
that client retention efforts produce a far greater ROI than new
client acquisition efforts.
1. The cost of implementing an effective marketing program is
trivial compared to the cost of not implementing one. Someone
is always marketing to your customers. Plan and execute.
Beware of overthinking. I’m reminded of what a client once told
me. “My many years in the printing industry have taught me
that the pursuit of trying to craft the perfect marketing piece
often ends up being the reason for doing nothing”. And beware
of taking a committee approach. A group of people agreeing
to disagree combined with diluted accountability rarely, if ever,
produces a positive result.
2. The average person is only capable of retaining 3-5 brands
per category in their memory. If you want to introduce your
company to an audience, you need to push another company
out of consideration. Repetition is fundamental to success. For
most print and mail providers, top-of-mind is far more critical
than SEO.
3. Just because you can’t measure it (which doesn’t mean it
can’t be measured), do not discount the importance of social
media. In today’s marketplace, not only does the prospect need
to know and trust you, they also want to like you. Social media
is very effective at facilitating this. The abandon rate for social
media is VERY high. Beware of creating marketing graveyards.
4. Don’t discount “little things” like birthday cards and notes of
appreciation. Most sales relationships are more infl uenced by
emotions than pricing. Emotional responses drive sales. There’s
no way around it.
5. Well perceived brands command a price premium of nearly
9% over brands perceived as just average. Focus on positioning
yourself as the expert. Continue learning. Reading, writing,
and sharing content (using multiple channels ) should become a
weekly exercise.
6. The most popular way to lose a customer is to lose touch
with him or her. Industry-specifi c data indicates that 60% of
customer loss is due to lack of communication. Irrelevant communications
contribute to customer defection and alienation.
28 Printing News June 2018 PrintingNewscom
/PrintingNews.com