Print advertising remains a powerful tool for reaching and engaging with audiences. A strategic approach is helpful for creating effective print advertisements that resonate with your audience.

Here are seven tips for getting great results:

1. Define clear, measurable objectives. Whether you aim to increase brand awareness, drive sales, or promote a new product, your goal will guide your messaging and creative decisions. Be specific: “I want to increase sales by 10% over last month’s ad.” Or, “I want to increase per-order revenues by 5%.” Otherwise, how will you know you’ve reached your goals? Be specific, but be realistic, too!

2. Understand your target audience. Knowing your audience includes knowing their demographics, interests, and pain points. This information will help you tailor your message to resonate with them effectively.

3. Use the insights you’ve gathered to create a compelling message. Focus more on benefits than features. Position your product or service as solving a specific problem or enhancing recipients’ lives in a clearly defined way.

4. Capitalize on your competition’s vulnerabilities. Identify areas where competitors may fall short and position your product or service as a superior alternative. Highlight your unique selling points that set you apart.

5. Pick the right images. Images capture attention and convey your message. Different photos will appeal to various audiences, so choose high-quality, relevant images that complement your ad’s message and appeal to your unique target audience.

6. Include a call to action (CTA). Every print ad should include a clear and compelling call to action. Whether it’s encouraging readers to visit your website, call a phone number, or visit a store, make it easy for them to take the next step. You’d be surprised how often marketers forget!

7. Measure your results and refine them for next time. Build in tracking so you know how your campaign performed. This way, you can keep doing what works and stop doing what doesn’t. 

Designing a successful print ad doesn’t have to be complicated. Planning and following these tips will ensure great results every time.

After the dip in in-person trade show attendance following the pandemic, trade shows are experiencing a resurgence. In fact, according to event management company CVENT, spring in-person attendance at its events was 34% higher in 2023 than the previous year. Here are three “out of the box” ideas for promoting attendance at your next trade show booth or live event.

1. Three-dimensional “pop-up” mailers.

No piece of mail will captivate your audience’s attention like one that pops from a flat into a 3D shape in their hand. Surprise! Remove the band or pull the tab, and the flat mailer explodes into a three-dimensional shape that recipients can’t help but explore. Every surface can have a different picture, message, or graphic. As recipients turn the 3D pop-up over and over, they become engaged with the content in a unique and highly memorable way.

2. Virtual tours using augmented reality.

One of the hottest ways to promote trade shows is through virtual tours using augmented reality. Recipients scan the QR code on postcards, posters, or social media posts with their mobile phones, follow the prompts, and after a few moments, they appear to “step through” a virtual doorway into the event venue itself. Use augmented reality to give them a 360-tour of your booth, allow them to “walk around” and explore your product as if they were right in front of it, or offer another exciting experience. You provide the video, and the software does the rest.

3. Branded promotional items.

Match the right promotional item to your audience and marketing goal, and you will have a powerful and long-lasting marketing tool. Unlike brochures that can get thrown away, branded calendars and mugs will sit on your recipient’s desk for weeks or months. Mail a 90-day countdown calendar with all the reasons to visit your booth at Coffee World 2024, or send them a funny trade-show-meme-themed coffee mug: “Don’t Be a Land-Lubber! Make Waves with Us at National Boating World!”

There are so many creative options for promoting trade show events that there is no excuse not to do something truly eye-catching and memorable. If you need ideas, let’s brainstorm.

Learning from the missteps of others is a valuable opportunity in the marketing world. Direct Marketing News recently delved into the blunders of 13 direct marketers and their subsequent rectifications. Here, we distill five crucial lessons from their experiences:

1. Not Knowing Your Audience

One of the most common traps in marketing is assuming you know your audience inside out. However, one marketer discovered the peril of resting on past assumptions when their audience completely disengaged. The takeaway? Continuously challenge your beliefs, employ A/B testing, embrace novelty, and involve fresh perspectives. Past success should never lead to complacency.

2. Overloading with “Personalized” Communications

While personalized communication can be potent, bombarding the same person with multiple messages in a short span can backfire spectacularly. To maintain the value of personalization, streamline your marketing database and establish protocols to prevent overwhelming individuals with excessive touches.

3. Neglecting Customer Retention

While lead generation is pivotal, overlooking customer retention in its favor is shortsighted. Your existing customer base often harbors the most substantial potential for profitability. Treat your marketing efforts like an investment portfolio, balancing lead generation with customer retention strategies for sustained growth.

4. Misinterpreting Audience Motivation

One marketer’s attempt to drive fundraising through competitive fervor fell flat, as they misjudged their audience’s altruistic inclinations. Understanding audience motivations is paramount; campaigns must align with their values and desires. Flexibility and a willingness to adapt are essential when launching initiatives to ensure resonance with your audience.

5. Assuming Passive Brand Advocacy

More than merely satisfying customers is needed to cultivate brand advocates. Active engagement and relationship-building are requisite to nurture advocacy. Embrace a multifaceted approach, spanning various platforms and touchpoints, to foster enduring connections beyond the point of sale.

Implementing these insights can be transformative for your marketing endeavors. Need guidance? Let’s collaborate and brainstorm strategies tailored to your needs and objectives!

Do you treat your customer acquisition and customer retention mailings the same? If so, you should reconsider. The two groups are quite different and should be marketed differently. Let’s take a closer look.

Customer Acquisition Mailings

Customer acquisition mailings focus on reaching potential customers who have not engaged with your brand. The goal is to make a memorable first impression, spark interest, and prompt them to take action.

Example: “Welcome to the Neighborhood” Campaign

Imagine you’re a real estate agency targeting new homeowners. Your acquisition mailing could include a personalized welcome package featuring information about local services, exclusive discounts, and a warm invitation to explore “the perfect” property listing. This introduces your brand to a new audience and establishes a positive association with their recent life event.

Here are some critical elements of customer acquisition mailings:

• Incentives that make it irresistible for recipients to explore your products or services.
• Visually appealing designs, concise messaging, and a clear call to action.
• Use personalization to tailor your message to the unique needs and preferences of the target audience.

Customer Retention Mailings

Customer retention mailings aim to reinforce the connection between your brand and existing customers. This strategy fosters loyalty, encourages repeat business, and creates brand advocates. Your messaging and images may be different, and your call to action will be different, too.

Example: “Exclusive Loyalty Rewards” Campaign

You run a boutique coffee shop. Your retention mailing might include a personalized loyalty card thanking customers for their support. The card could unlock exclusive discounts, access to “customer only” events, or free samples of new products. These types of communications encourage continued engagement and repeat visits.

What are some of the key elements of customer retention mailings?

• Acknowledgment and expression of gratitude for the customer’s loyalty using personalized messages.
• Rewards or incentives exclusive to existing customers to create a sense of belonging.
• Regularly updates on new offerings, events, or promotions to keep your brand top-of-mind.

While customer acquisition mailings aim to broaden your customer base, retention mailings focus on fortifying existing relationships. These groups think differently and are motivated by different things, so don’t treat them the same! Develop a marketing plan that addresses both groups as the unique marketing segments they are.

Are you designing a new brochure? Postcard? Setting up an email template? The choice between serif and sans-serif fonts plays a pivotal role in shaping text’s visual identity and readability. Let’s examine the difference between these two font types and when to use each for maximum impact.

Serif Fonts: Tradition and Elegance

Serif fonts are characterized by small, decorative strokes or “serifs” extending from each letterform’s ends. These typefaces exude a sense of tradition, formality, and elegance. Serif fonts are often associated with classic literature, print media, and formal documents.

When should you use serif fonts?

Printed Text: Serif fonts like Times New Roman or Garamond are ideal for printed materials like books, newspapers, and magazines. The serifs guide the reader’s eye along the text, making lengthy passages more readable.

Formal Documents: For documents requiring a formal tone, like resumes, academic papers, or business reports, serif fonts convey professionalism and credibility.

Body Text: In body text, especially in long-form content, serif fonts offer better legibility due to the serifs helping readers follow the text line by line.

Sans Serif Fonts: Modern Simplicity

As the name suggests, Sans-serif fonts lack the decorative serifs found in their counterparts. Clean lines and a contemporary, minimalist appearance characterize these fonts. These fonts are often chosen for their modern and straightforward aesthetic.

When should you use sans-serif fonts?

Digital Content: Sans-serif fonts like Arial or Helvetica are well-suited for digital content, including websites, mobile apps, and email. Their simplicity translates well to screens of all sizes.

Headings and Titles: Sans-serif fonts make excellent choices for headings, titles, and callout text, offering a striking appearance that grabs attention.

Informal and Friendly Tone: When aiming for a relaxed or friendly tone in design or branding, sans-serif fonts convey approachability and modernity.

Signage and Wayfinding: Sans-serif fonts are favored for signage and wayfinding systems due to their clear and legible design, even from a distance.

Logo Design: Many contemporary logos and brand identities opt for sans-serif fonts to project a sleek, forward-looking image.

Combining Serif and Sans Serif

Sometimes, the most effective typographic solution combines serif and sans-serif fonts within a design. This approach can create visual contrast and hierarchy. When using this combination:

Choose fonts with complementary styles to maintain visual harmony.

Use serif fonts for body text to enhance readability.

Reserve sans-serif fonts for headings or call-to-action elements for emphasis.

Choosing between serif and sans-serif fonts is a matter of design intent and context. When used strategically and harmoniously, each style can enhance visual communication and contribute to the overall impact of your design or message.

When we consider personalized print marketing, we consider the name, address, gender, household income, and other simple variables. But is that enough to create highly targeted, relevant campaigns? There are times when you want a richer data set. Before purchasing third-party data, however, take a deeper look in-house. You may have more data than you think.

Let’s look at some of the often underutilized data types.

Transactional data: This data typically includes purchase orders, sales receipts, invoices, payment records, and other financial transactions. Analyzing transactional data can help identify trends, popular products or services, customer buying behavior, and potential upselling opportunities.

Submissions through web contact forms: Web contact forms collect valuable information from customers and website visitors. This data includes inquiries, feedback, support requests, and other messages that provide insights into customer needs, pain points, and preferences.

Business reply cards: Business reply cards (BRCs) are often used in direct mail marketing campaigns, allowing customers to respond to offers, request information, and provide feedback. Analyzing the responses from BRCs can provide insights into the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and the interests of specific customer segments.

Text messaging: Companies that engage in text marketing might need to realize the wealth of data they have. This data includes phone numbers, response rates, and communication preferences. Analyzing text marketing data can help companies optimize their messaging, timing, and targeting for better engagement and conversions.

Responses to email campaigns: Email campaigns contain a wealth of information, such as opens and click-through rates. Analyzing these metrics can help you understand customer engagement levels and interests. Once incorporated back into your marketing database, this information can be used to improve the effectiveness of your email marketing and overall marketing.

Trade shows/events: When companies participate in trade shows or events, they gather a wealth of helpful data. This includes leads generated, customer interactions, survey responses, and attendee feedback. This can help you assess the success of their participation, identify potential clients, and tailor future event strategies.

Customer and Prospect Surveys: Conducting surveys can be a powerful way to gather feedback and insights from customers and prospects. Surveys provide direct information on customer satisfaction, preferences, pain points, and suggestions for improvement.

In conclusion, these data types might sometimes be overlooked but hold valuable insights. Do you have marketing gold right under your feet? Get out your digging tools and find out!

As a nonprofit, you know that donors are the lifeblood of your mission. That’s why saying “thank you” is not just courteous. It is vital. It strengthens relationships, encourages future giving, and helps you and your mission thrive. Let’s look at five ways to say “thank you” to your donors, not just during special events but at all times of the year.  

1. Give donors the credit. Give donors credit for the excellent work you are doing. Instead of saying, “Your gift will help our organizationfeed hungry children,” for example, say, “Your gift will feed hungry children.” This subtle shift may be the most powerful thing you can do in your “thank you” letters.  

2. Tell stories. When you share the impact of donors’ gifts through the eyes of changed lives, this speaks more loudly than a mere “thank you” alone. Tell mission-impact stories using an informal, friendly tone and incorporate powerful storytelling images. Keep it short. Hit the highlights so even busy donors see their impact loud and clear.  

3. Show them that they have made a wise investment. Share specifically how the gifts will be used: “Your gift will go directly to…” When possible, include a personal message from someone who directly benefited from the gift.  

4. Be accurate in the details. Ensure the donor’s name is correct—and there are no spelling or grammatical errors. When possible, have someone higher up in the organization, such as the executive director or director of development, sign the letter. (Remember that you are just saying, “Thank you.” Don’t use this as an opportunity to ask for another gift.)  

5. Open the door to a more extensive engagement process. Although you are thanking donors, you are nurturing them, too. So keep it up! Send them ongoing impact reports and personal letters written by those benefitting from your work. Invite them to donor celebrations like cookouts or tours.  

Sending a great thank you letter is the first and most crucial step of the donor engagement process. It increases donor retention and creates a sustainable base of highly engaged supporters who renew their gifts year after year and feel so connected to your mission that they are likely to share it with others.

More than any other factor, a donor’s relationship with the organization determines their likelihood of donating. Print and emailed surveys can go a long way toward achieving this goal. What are the keys to sending effective donor surveys?

1. Clarify your goals and objectives. What specific information do you want to gather? Are you looking to understand donor motivations, preferred communication channels, or demographic information? Clearly defining your objectives will guide the design of the survey.

2. Keep it concise. Respect your donors’ time and ensure the survey is brief and focused. Long, complex surveys may discourage participation. Stick to the most essential questions that align with your objectives.

3. Mix question types. Use a mix of question types to gather different kinds of information. Include multiple-choice questions, rating scales, and open-ended questions. This variety helps to provide a well-rounded understanding of donor opinions and preferences.

4. Segment and personalize. Include the donor’s name, reference previous interactions, and acknowledge their contributions. If your donor base is diverse, segment the survey based on different donor personas or giving levels. This helps each donor to feel valued and allows you to gather more targeted insights.

5. Offer non-monetary incentives. Encourage survey participation by offering non-monetary incentives that align with your mission and appeal to donors’ interests. For example, provide exclusive content, previews of new projects, or links to activity behind the scenes.

6. Test before sending. Before launching the survey widely, conduct a pilot test with a small group of donors or staff members. This allows you to identify any issues or areas for improvement before rolling it out to a larger audience.

7. Respect privacy. Assure donors that their responses will be kept confidential. Communicate how the data will be used and reassure donors that their feedback will be used only to improve the organization’s impact.

8. Follow up and say “thank you.” After the survey, express gratitude for their participation. Share key findings or insights from the survey, demonstrating that their input has been valuable. This helps foster a sense of involvement and strengthens the donor-organization relationship.

Ready to send a survey to learn more about your donors? Let’s get started!

Every year, the Advertising Specialties Institute’s “Ad Impressions Study” provides a fascinating look into the power and effectiveness of branded promotional products. The study is always a must-read, from how many impressions a product receives to which ones are kept the longest. What are some of the highlights from the 2023 study?

1. Consumers love branded swag. First and most importantly, consumers prefer branded promotional products over all other forms of advertising. Whether men or women, young or old, or whether they live in the Midwest, the South, or one of the coasts, consumers universally prefer branded promotional products over radio, newspaper, magazine, mobile, television, and Internet advertising.
2. Made in the USA wins again. More than half of men (52%) and half of women (56%) say they would feel more favorably toward an advertiser who gave them swag made in the USA. Of the different age groups, the older the consumer, the more preference they gave to such products.
3. Consumers want branded products that are environmentally friendly. Nearly half (46%) of consumers say they would feel more favorably toward an advertiser that gave them an environmentally friendly product. This rises to 49% of women. Of the different age groups? Those 55-65 and 65+ were most likely to say they would feel more favorably toward such advertisers — 49% for both groups. This is somewhat of a surprise since we associate the most significant environmental concern with younger buyers. Yet among those aged 25-34, only 39% gave this answer!
4. Drinkware has the most staying power. Which branded promotional product are consumers likely to keep and use the longest? Drinkware! Nearly two-thirds (63%) of consumers would keep and use promotional drinkware for one year or longer. Promotional calendars and polo shirts came in second, with 62% saying they would keep and use them for one year or longer.
5. Outerwear is the top show-off. Which promotional products get the most impressions? Outerwear/fleeces, with 7,856 impressions. This is followed by headwear at 3,380 impressions.

Want to learn more about the value of promotional products and which products to choose for your target audience? Give us a call, and let’s talk about it!

When it comes to using color, many people tend to think exclusively in terms of images. However, marketers increasingly recognize the value of color in text and other messaging areas. For instance, color can highlight phone numbers, payment information, discounts, and critical points in marketing materials that make them more impactful and actionable. Let’s look at five practical ways to add color to your text and messaging areas to improve your marketing.

1. Improved Recall

Studies have consistently shown that using color in messaging and images can significantly increase recall. One study found that people are 40% more likely to read and select materials that are presented in color. Another found that using color increases recall rates by up to 80%. Use color in your sales letters to highlight important details you don’t want readers to miss.

2. Greater comprehension

Using colored text and backgrounds can increase readers’ understanding and retention of information. Add colorful images, graphics, and charts to your next sales presentation.

3. Ease of Locating Key Information

Using color can help readers locate information more easily. This is particularly useful in lengthy documents like insurance policies and contracts.

4. Reduces Errors

Highlighting important information, such as instructions or account details, reduces errors and helps readers get things right the first time.

5. Reduces payment time

Because using color helps readers better understand their statements and invoices, this can lead to faster payments and better cash flow for you. Try highlighting the amount owed and the due date with color, and watch your invoices get paid faster!

Ultimately, color is a critical aspect of marketing materials that are beautiful and highly practical. But don’t just throw color around anywhere. It should be utilized strategically to maximize its effectiveness. If you’re unsure where to start, ask for suggestions on incorporating color into your direct mail efforts.