Tag: catalog printing
Five Reasons to Use Print Catalogs
Are product catalogs out of date? Some marketers would argue that they are. They would suggest that the only catalog you should be using is an online catalog. US Postal Services prices for mailing catalogs are higher than ever, they say, while an online catalog remains low-cost and infinitely scalable. However, there are still good reasons to use a printed catalog. Here are five of them.
1. Your target audience is more likely to purchase from a printed catalog.
While it’s true that nearly everyone is online these days, even your granny, not everyone is comfortable yet with making many of their purchases online. Different businesses target different demographics; you should consider your “perfect customer” and research their shopping habits. You might find that some audiences – particularly senior citizens and the elderly – are still more likely to make purchases through mail-order print catalogs than through online catalogs.
2. You print a small quantity of catalogs just for visitors to your store.
While color catalog printing on a mass scale for mail-out purposes can be extraordinarily expensive, this is certainly not the only use for a printed catalog. Another way to use a product catalog is to print a small run and keep them on-hand for customers who come in for more information to your retail store. This will minimize your expenses while still providing professional, high-quality catalogs for customers who would like them.
The Keys to Successful Direct Mail
Whether it’s called direct mail, direct marketing, or mail marketing, the use of database marketing and the U.S. Postal Service can be a cost-effective way to find new customers. One major caution though, direct mail without proper preparation and a solid follow-up process may not only fail, it can be very costly.
If your printing, or related graphic arts company is like most, your customers may be scattered all over specific region or a an area no bigger than a single zip code. If you are a larger, more specialized firm, your customers may be spread across the nation. Identifying and locating new prospects and converting them into customers cannot always be done efficiently with a sales force alone. This is where a well planned, creative, and sustained mail marketing program can be very successful.
The first thing to do before considering the use of direct mail is to determine whether the markets and/or industries your company serves will respond to mail marketing. If the answer is yes, then you must identify the prospect’s “hot buttons”. In other words, what will get their attention and cause a response. This is where the creative aspects of direct marketing meet the science of direct mail. I have seen many perfectly executed direct mail campaigns fail because they lacked a creative, attention getting hook.
Why Print – Part 3 of 5
Continued from previous post: Part 2 of 5 on Why Print
Buyers seek print.
The success of retail websites means printed catalogs can be relegated to the doornail file. Or so says the conventional wisdom. But, recent research indicates otherwise.
Online consumers who received a printed catalog from any given retailer were nearly twice as likely to make an online purchase at that retailer’s website. The finding comes from a comScore survey based on 6,400 responses from online shoppers.
The reason for the sales windfall: consumers seek print when they’re ready to buy. That’s a fact supported by a 2005 field study by the Direct Marketing Association. Scoring the primary channels for generating orders, the research found that 60% came from printed catalogs, 24% were inspired by retail settings and only 9% arrived via Internet.
The percent of sales by channel also showed print’s pulling power. Paper catalogs accounted for 42% of sales, retail 20%, websites 26% and other channels 12%.
In a 2006 study of newspaper readers sponsored by the Newspaper Association of America, 78% reported that they use newspaper inserts to plan shopping and 76% say that these inserts have helped them save money.
Why Print – Part 1 of 5
Why print?
We all take printing for granted. Perhaps it’s because print has been the world’s number one communications medium for so long we tend to overlook its impact and power.
That oversight could be fatal to a marketing campaign, a product launch, or a branding initiative that is trying to connect with people. People trust print. They feel comfortable using it. And they can’t fast forward past it.
This guide to the persuasive power of print provides the top ten reasons why you should consider using print in your next campaign. It doesn’t have to be the only medium you use. But, you most definitely should consider print whenever you want to persuade, inform or entertain. Here are your reasons why…
Print is for keeps.
Who’s minding your messages when the screens fade to black? Electronic content comes and goes and when it’s gone, your marketing initiative disappears with it. Print, on the other hand, is there for the long run. Think about magazine pass-along rates. They range as high as two to three persons per issue, giving advertisers double and triple bonuses on their marketing investments.