Let’s talk about email. Email is easy and cheap, but it is not green by a long shot. It uses much energy to do emails blasts and light up those screens by the thousands. It is also very short lived and can be deleted before it is read. An overload of contact via email actually becomes very annoying. You should use email as one of your sources to touch your clients and prospects, but mix it up with some other media.

Print is the next item you should put on your list. I hear so much about how paper kills trees. “Let’s be green, don’t print”???? The truth is that the paper industry is exceptionally green and forests used for making paper are managed to help the environment, not hurt it. The paper industry in the US has done an amazing job of forest conservation and should get the kudos they deserve.  Print is actually the best bang for the buck if you use if properly. Just took part in a survey about a newsletter I receive from an organization where I’m a member. Stats came back on the survey and it was about 50/50 on membership who still wanted a mailed newsletter versus those who  would rather read the newsletter online. Printed material has longevity, folks take it with them, or file for reference, it has a much longer shelf life, and can be customized to the audience if you wish to do so. Many folks who get the online version hit the print button on their computer and print it anyway. The technology available today, like our digital presses here at FrontEnd Graphics, make reaching out to the customer a very personal experience. We find it to be especially successful for clients with development campaigns of all levels, such as our nonprofit clients, and institutions of  higher learning seeking alumni donations. It is very successful as a loyalty program, frequent shopping club, cruise lines specials, general advertising by demographics or interests and various other categories for client data per industry. We can talk at great lengths about all of the above, but that is another blog for another time. If you want to know more, just give us a call. We are very good listeners.

Social Media is widely used for communications these days and there are many options here and some cool technology of late that allows you to post once and output to many sources all at once. It is a great way to create buzz and you should choose to get involved. It is here to stay just a question of what and how you would like to use it for your business.  There is a ton of really great information available through these sources. I have my favorites, and you should look at all of them and choose where to put your time and effort. There are also an enormous number of experts out there who will gladly help you for a fee, just be sure you are getting the proper ROI on your investment. At the end of the day the goal is to sell your stuff, or to sell your clients’ stuff. What is the cost of that transaction? It must be measured.

Mobile is hot and getting more and more interesting every day. This year they broke records at the electronics show and it was filled with publishers and advertisers all trying to figure ways to make money with the technology. So many choices, so little time.

Don’t forget the most important part of business, face time. All the email and print in the world doesn’t make up for some face time with your clients. I never suggest campaigns without segmenting the list data, so we can actually follow up with a sales call. Seminars and lunch and learn sessions are also inexpensive and it is good to be the expert!

The important thing is to market. Stay visible and out front. They won’t know you are there unless you are visible. You need multiple touches to your clients.

Good Luck!

This year’s Franklin Awards, held Sept. 18 at Chelsea Piers, Pier 60, New York City, brought in record numbers, with almost 600 attendees. This was the first time the prestigious event was held under the authority of the Printing Industries Alliance.

The Franklin Award was first given out in 1952, and the Power of Communications Awards, also given out this night, were established in 1971. A new award this year was the Peter Zenger Medal, given to an individual in the industry who has “exhibited exemplary character in the form of selfless courage, charity, activism, or service.

The Franklin Award went to Martha Stewart, founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. The Power of Communications award for printing went to Lester Samuels, Pictorial Offset Corp.; the award for publishing went to David Orlin, Conde Nast Publications; and the award for advertising went to Michelle Unger, Grey New York.

The Zenger Medal was given to Betty Maul, FrontEnd Graphics, for her work with the Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome  Association (RSDSA).

Stick with me!

Creating customer loyalty

What does it take to create customer loyalty, the kind of loyalty that makes customers stick with you, even when their favorite sales representative, hair stylist or financial advisor moves on? Even when your prices change? Or when the extra 10 miles between your store and someone else’s means they spend an extra half-gallon of gas to reach you? Here are some tips from the experts.

1. Know your customer base.Do you know who your customers are? Customer bases are not homogenous. They are made up of different demographics, with different needs and with different motivators for shopping with you. Profiling your customers can tell you a lot about how to keep them.
   Then take it a step further. Find out not just who your customers are, but what they think. When was the last time you did a customer survey or conducted a focus group?
   The more you get to know the unique demographic and psychographic makeup of your customer base, the more you are able to adjust products and services to respond to their unique needs and the more likely you are to hang onto their loyalty.
2. Make it personal. Shift from mass mailings and generic communications to 1:1 print communications as much as possible. This should go beyond “Dear <>” and include content driven by demographics, demonstrated preferences or past purchase history. The goal here is not just to let your customers know that you know their names, but to increase the relevance of your communications to their lives. Large online retailers like Amazon.com use this strategy to great success—shouldn’t you?
3. Spread the communication around. Some companies assign each customer a specific customer service representative or sales consultant. This creates a special relationship between customer and sales rep that can be invaluable. The downside is that this relationship can become so valuable that, should the sales rep leave the company, your customer might be willing to leave with them. For this reason, encourage your customers to have multiple contact points within your company. Try to avoid relationships being through a single individual.
4. Increase the frequency. Stay in communication with your customers on a regular basis, not just when there is a special promotion or event. This is the idea behind monthly newsletters and “tips and tricks” postcards, especially those personalized to each recipient’s individual needs. This develops a relationship that creates a value beyond price and convenience and keeps your company top of mind.
5. Reinforce and reward loyalty. When customers are loyal, let them know that you appreciate it. Send them a thank-you once in awhile. Then reward them for that loyalty. Send them special “loyal customer” discounts, personalized to their unique habits and preferences whenever possible.
6. Reinforce and reward loyalty. When customers are loyal, let them know that you appreciate it. Send them a thank-you once in awhile. Then reward them for that loyalty. Send them special “loyal customer” discounts, personalized to their unique habits and preferences whenever possible.

A Quick Car Quiz

Would you be loyal to an auto dealership that offered great services and charged a fair price? Would you be more loyal to a dealership that offered these things and sent you personalized alerts 30 days before state inspections, recommended maintenance and other important service dates and then provided you with a financial incentive to bring your car to that dealership?

Do you want to boost customer loyalty?

What might you learn by identifying the top 10% of your customers by number of shopping trips? By dollars spent per trip? By longevity? What do these customers look like? What is their profile? Are they the same people? What does each group look like? Are there common denominators within each group?

Retaining customers takes effort. It requires a customer retention plan and an intentional, focused effort to keep those customers you’ve worked so hard to have. What’s your plan?

Let FrontEnd Graphics build your brand message by fitting the pieces together. Create a cohesive,
targeted strategy with 1:1 marketing.1:1 marketing is a program that helps you reach your
customers personally with a customized message. Contact Betty Maul at FrontEnd Graphics: 856-547-1600

Often, we look at 1:1 printing case studies with an eye to learn from what others have done right. But have you thought about looking at case studies with an eye for what they could have done better? Think of it as a chance to hone your skills of analysis and improve your own 1:1 programs at the same time.

CASE STUDY

The following case study is from a real archive (although we’ve changed the name). Test your 1:1 analysis skills, and see if you see the same things we do.

1. Cleanse Database with Personalized Mailer. BlueFish, formerly a franchise operation, decided to go independent and change and expand its service mix. Before sending an announcement to its customers, however, it decided to cleanse its existing customer database. To do this, it sent out a personalized mailing announcing that it would be relocating. This enabled the company to update its database before promoting its official re-launch. BlueFish followed this mailing with a personalized e-mail, asking customers to look for another big announcement in the near future.
2. Re-launch Mailer. Next was the official re-launch mailing. This was an opportunity, not just to mail to customers, but also to new prospects. So BlueFish profiled its existing customer base and appended its customer list with a list of prospects fitting its current client profile.
3. Segmented Mailers For the heart of the program—its rebranding mailing—it segmented the run. To customers, it sent a version announcing its name change, as well as its new capabilities. To prospects, it introduced itself. To both, it sent recipients to personalized URLs (pURLs) to win a prize—in this case, a cool t-shirt with the company’s new logo. In order to receive the gift, recipients needed to fill out a short survey that gathered their e-mail addresses and enabled BlueFish to find out more about their companies.

“Sweep up” E-mail. The final step was a “sweep up” e-mail, encouraging those on the mailing list who had not responded to do so.

LESSONS LEARNED

What did BlueFish do right?

• It cleansed its database before sending out its primary sales-generating program.
• Before appending its list with prospects, it created a profile of the type of customer it wanted to attract.
• It used multiple touches to accomplish its goal.
• It used multiple media to reinforce its message.
• It gathered additional data on customers for future campaigns.

What could BlueFish have done better?

• Historically, the success of pURL campaigns rises and falls with the offer. BlueFish was smart to use the offer as a way to further promote its business (its logo on the giveaway t-shirt), but not everyone wants another t-shirt. What if it had made a higher value offer? Maybe it could have entered respondents into a sweepstakes for a high-dollar gift certificate or a chance to win cash.
• What about its profiling? BlueFish produced the campaign in order to rebrand, and yet, it appended the list with names of prospects that fit the profile of customers of its old brand. What if, instead of developing a profile of its current customers, it had profiled and appended based on its best customers by volume or margin? Or what if BlueFish created a profile of the type of customer it wanted to attract, rather than the type of customer it already had?
• These are important questions. Just by asking them, there is much to learn. So next time you read a terrific case study, ask questions. Look for areas of potential improvement and improve your critical eye for 1:1 marketing.

Target your marketing plan for higher response rates

If someone gave you $5 million to put toward your marketing budget, what would you do with it? This was the question put to three of today’s top brand marketers in a webcast sponsored by Peppers & Rogers called “1to1@work.” The question was asked of executives at American Association of Retired Persons, British Airways and Saturn.

Their response?

They would use the money to…

• Develop the brand
• Develop a program to talk to their top customers (those who purchase more
  frequently and spend the most when they do)
• Develop the database infrastructure to increase customer engagement.
• Get customers involved with the brand so, as marketers,
  they can talk to them, learn about them and communicate with them
• Learn more about customers and prospects to give themselves a competitive advantage

Is that what you would do with $5 million?

It’s an intriguing question, and it’s important to understand that it doesn’t take $5 million to accomplish many of these goals. In fact, to a great extent, they can be accomplished within the confines of the existing budgets of small and mid-sized marketers. How? Through 1:1 marketing using variable data printing.
Variable data printing uses the information captured in your customer database (even if it’s just a basic mailing list) to speak to each recipient on an individual basis. This doesn’t require the IT resources of an international corporation. It can be accomplished using something as simple as Microsoft Access or Excel.
Read the case studies below to learn how variable data printing accomplishes various goals…
These applications are easily within the reach of even the smallest businesses, and yet, they reflect the priorities and success strategies of the largest marketers. And the payoff can be huge.

CASE STUDY: THE PEDIATRICIAN

Say a local pediatrician wants to communicate more closely with his customers. On a monthly basis, he might select from his patient database those children who are due for check-ups, vaccinations and other routine procedures. His print provider sends out personalized mailers to each family (protected in a brightly colored envelope for privacy), encouraging them to make an appointment to address their children’s individual needs.
One card might say, “It’s flu season! Are Emma and Megan at risk from other children at school? Bring them in for vaccinations!” Or maybe, “It’s hard to believe—Abigail is turning three! Ensure that she stays healthy for years to come. Make an appointment for a three-year checkup—the lollypop’s on us!”
Not only does this remind patients to make appointments, but it builds the brand. A pediatrician with a brand? Absolutely. His brand is that he cares about his patients on a personal level. He knows and cares about their needs, even when they aren’t in the office.

CASE STUDY: THE MARKETER

A marketer wants to use 1:1 marketing to do competitive reconnaissance. An automobile manufacturer asks people about their preferences in automobiles, SUVs or pickup trucks. It gathers data on their likes and their dislikes, what kinds of vehicles they own now and how long they’ve had them. Then it shares that competitive intelligence with local dealerships, who can then contact those individuals with incentives to visit their locations to test drive the car of their dreams.

CASE STUDY: THE RETAILER

A retailer wants to boost end-of-month revenues. Since it maintains a loyalty program, it skims off its top customers and makes them feel special. It creates a postcard that greets them by name and thanks them for their purchases. Then, it gives them a personalized “thank you” discount based on their past purchase history.

Find out more about how 1:1 marketing can become part of
your marketing success strategy.
Contact Betty Maul at FrontEnd Graphics: 856-547-1600

Ed. Note: Traditionally, the printing industry has been referred to as an “Old Boys Club.” Now, not so much. In fact, the industry thrives, in part, due to the dynamic women who hold executive positions. The following females were nominated by their peers for the Florence Joachim Woman Executive of the Year Award. The honor will be given out at Graphic Communications Day on Nov. 16 at Pier 90 in New York City. For now, though, Printing News thought it fitting to applaud all of the nominees-ladies who have undoubtedly made a difference in the industry.

Betty Maul – FrontEnd Graphics – Cherry Hill, N.J.:

“In the 15 years that I’ve known Ms. Maul, she has always gone out of her way to help the industry, associates, clients, and friends,” said Nick Patrissi, Kodak. “She has given countless hours to better our industry by chairing key conferences, working on committees, educating our younger colleagues, and above all, sharing her knowledge. She is an astute business woman who knows exactly how to balance business, family, and social relationships, and she is passionate about our industry. Her energy and optimism inspires others to do their best. She is a role model for all women in our business. If there was only one person that I could call for help and advice it would be her.“

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Challenge
Trevor wanted a website that would complement his sense of style, be easy to update, and flexible enough for different size photos.

Results
With a clearly defined set of parameters at the onset of the project we developed a website that showcased his work and aesthetics. What’s going on behind the scenes is a content management system (CMS) to update photos and text.

Challenge
Jacobs/Wyper wanted a website that reflected their sense of style, a showcase for the various projects that they have worked on, and give them a “presence” within the architectural community.

Results
We developed a website that will be primarily viewed by potential clients. The site is plug-in free and has a content management system (CMS) going on behind the scenes to update photos and text.