If you print and mail a monthly newsletter…Stop it! That's our suggestion. Read on to see why we think monthly newsletters
are a waste of time and money and aren't the best way to market your print
business.
Before we do, however, you should determine if your
newsletter delivers real value to your customers. Or, is it simply a monthly
annoyance that immediately goes in the trash? Consider what kind of message
that delivers.
If you're like many print shop owners, your customer base is
increasingly broad and less knowledgeable about printing and direct
mail…perhaps even marketing. Your customer are less likely to be interested in discussing envelope
sizes, bleeds or the nuances of mailing. Newsletters that focus on such topics probably
offer little value to most of your customers. This type of narrowly focused newsletter
may tell customers that you don't really understand what they want and need.
They want you to make them look good and make their jobs
easier and they look to you more-and-more to do what is right for them. For
this reason, your newsletter should address broad, simple business
communication and marketing ideas and solutions.
Even if you have the right newsletter content, we suggest
not sending it monthly.
Mailing a monthly newsletter only demonstrates your
capability to print and mail. Why not save money, show more of your capabilities
and make customers happier? Consider changing your marketing-communication
program to a monthly email and a quarterly printed newsletter.
A monthly email should be short but packed with value for
customers. For example, include 4 to 6 very short but valuable/interesting communication
and/or marketing tips, tricks, reminders (e.g. ordering Christmas material) and
a monthly special offer of some type (buy this and get that, call for a free
something, etc.). Short and valuable are the key concepts for the email. The
goal is to make your monthly email easy to create yet something customers look
forward to receiving.
When your newsletter comes only quarterly, customers will tend to view it as something more special than the monthly version. Since you have raised interest, give your customers something special… something that demonstrates why you are the knowledgeable, creative and talented professionals they want helping them. Make your newsletter such an interesting and valuable piece that they want to save it, share it and act on it.
Stop sending monthly newsletters, save money, save time and make your customers happier and more confident in working with you. Consider the simple monthly email and a quarterly newsletter. While you're at it, see if your current newsletter provides interesting and valuable content to your customers…or something that might reflect poorly on you.
Many print shop owners cringe at the mere mention of
anything that includes the word or the concept of data. If you react the same
way, you’d better get over it. Marketing and communications are now almost
completely reliant upon and driven by data. As simple evidence, we now have what’s
called “Big Data” and even “Little Data”. Business cards, letterhead and the
like will always be part of the printing business, but opportunity and growth are in those products incorporating the use and management of data. Not
convinced? Don’t care? Perhaps the following will change your view about data…
Collecting and applying data to find and cultivate buyers, members,
donations, etc. for products and services has become its own industry. A
groundbreaking 2013 study developed under the auspices of the Direct Marketing
Association (DMA) concludes that the data-driven marketing economy (DDME) in U.S.
was worth $165 billion and involved some 675,000 jobs in 2012. It also suggests
that small business and innovation are the biggest beneficiaries of the DDME:
“Thanks to data, startups and small businesses today face
lower barriers to market entry than they have since the 1870s. The exchange of
data enables small businesses to compete effectively with big players, allowing
new market entrants to challenge mature players."
You can download the study, “The Value of Data: Consequences for Insight, Innovation, and Efficiency
in the U.S. Economy”. The summary (4 pp) is here… | The full study (105 pp) is here…
You’ll see that data in the DDME isn’t financial, accounting
or transactional data. It is data needed to communicate…seller to buyer…maker
to user…marketer to consumer. It’s data businesses of all sizes use to reach
and motivate their target audiences. Many of these businesses can be customers,
if you are willing and able to help them use their data. The DDME study
explains:
“Today, data-driven marketers still spend more on the postal
channel [direct mail] than all digital channels [online] combined. In the
current DDME, data is equally vital “offline” where the cost of interaction
with a customer is much higher. By acquiring data, and using it for
segmentation, targeting and measurement, marketers aim to reduce expenditures
on non-valuable interactions as close as possible to zero, while ensuring that
the expenditures they do make maximize the number of valuable interactions. The
efficiency derived from smart use of data makes the process of marketing
significantly more efficient.”
Translated into simple English:Small
businesses want to use data intelligently to target high potential
customers and avoid low potential customers to maximize the return on
money spent on direct mail. Unfortunately, many print shop owners ignore this because they don’t know how to deal with customer data.
So we don’t leave you hanging…Big Data is a general term referring
to data sets too humongous to be stored and managed with conventional
techniques. Big Data is, for example, Amazon’s 237 million active customer
accounts or the more than1 million sales transactions Walmart processes every
hour. Little Data is all about you…how many calories you had for breakfast…how
many minutes you watched what TV program…how often you do this…when you do
that. You may not want to know that much about yourself, but there plenty of people who will do just about anything to get (and use/sell) all that
information about you.
You don’t need to worry about Big
Data or Little Data, but you do need to understand why and how your customers
use data (or want to). There's no need to staff up or gear up to do data
work…don’t waste your time and money…simply outsource all your customer data
work to specialists. Differentiate your business the fast, easy and
effective way by learning how to get things done rather than learning how to do
them yourself.
Value is invaluable!
Customers, clients, donors ... all the people you send communications ... are constantly bombarded by messages, advertising and blather. They make decisions on how to allocate their limited time and short attention spans. This is where value makes a difference.
Send them messages with value and you will command more of their time. Send them dumb stuff just to be in their face and they probably think about making you and your messages disappear... for good.
Value varies by recipient. In general, value is found in three areas:
- Information - unique or timely news, announcements, dates, etc
- Education - details, advice, tools, etc. that make life or work better, easier, etc
- Entertainment - generate smiles or laughs or stimulate thought in a positive way.
Try a combination such as edu-tainment ... humor and education ... sort of like this blog ... maybe.
Put value in your communications and your recipients will be waiting to get your messages.
Know your audience, segment them and personalize to add value...we can help you.
PrintShopMarketing.com or EZ-VDP.com
