General 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Are product catalogs out of date?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.
Marketing and Consultative Selling
Although the use of marketing has increased in the Printing and related Graphic Arts industries over the last ten years, it is still not practiced to the degree it should be. There is no other industry with annual sales over $130 billion that employs so few marketing tools.
When printing companies do prepare a marketing plan and execute promotion programs, all too often it is done ineffectively, without proper measurement, or follow up. Is it any wonder that many of these companies abandon their marketing efforts complaining that marketing does not work or is not necessary in the printing field.
Unfortunately the “good old days” when a printer could simply purchase a new press, fill it with work and make a profit are long gone. Competitive pressures and the inherent challenges of over-capacity in the printing industry, require a more strategic approach.
More that ever, the printing industry must embrace the disciplines of marketing. Most important, printers need to do a better job of positioning themselves through differentiation strategies. What good does it do to invest money in sales materials, advertising, or any form of self-promotion that do not clearly communicate how the company is different or better than the competition?
The Printer and the Designer
A few nights ago for the umpteen times, I was watching the film version of Rogers and Hammerstein II great musical Oklahoma! But this time, a particular song impressed me with a new meaning. The song goes something like this —-“Ho, the farmer and the cowman must be friends. The one man likes to push a plough, the other likes to chase a cow, but that’s no reason why they can’t be friends”. The lyrics of this songs deals with the struggle between farmers and ranchers. Oklahoma’s story was derived from the lyrical play set at the turn-of-the-century in the Southwest called Green Grow the Lilacs. It was a battle for turf rights, The lyrics continues—“I’d like to say a word for the farmer: He come out west and made a lot of changes, he come out west and built a lot of fences, and built ‘em right across our cattle ranges.”
So, the song and lyrics The Farmer and The Cowman lends itself to another theme in today’s printer and graphic designer relationship. The printer and designer are also dealing with turf rights. The feeling among many young designers is that the printers are encroaching upon their turf, mainly graphic design. Due to the number of design and production computer programs that are available today and the relative ease of use and reasonable cost, it is tempting for many printers to offer graphic design services to customers. With the availability of this service, the printer can now truly become a one-stop shop. It’s all done here. From the design, to production, and finally, the finished printed piece, such a-deal! Some printers say that,”it is a logical service”, because they will have complete control of the job and it will be done technically correct. No missing typefaces, EPS, and TIFF files, or incorrect trappings and weird computer outputs. With that premise, I have no argument.