Integrate print, email and blogging for quick marketing results
By Sandy Hubbard
When considering an integrated marketing campaign, fast-growing print company owners want to know what already works. “What are the top 3 things we should be doing?” they ask me.
They don’t want 100 things.
Even if they are leaders in their own areas, fast-growing printing company owners observe and recreate ideas that others have done successfully. They know how to identify, adapt and deploy. They rely on expert advice and then make decisions swiftly.
For most printing companies, I recommend jumping in quickly while people are enthusiastic and then adding more channels as we go along.
A proven winner is a combination of email, print and a blog pushed to social media.
You can deploy this type of three-pronged integrated marketing program quickly with the tools you probably are already using. Here are a few choices in each category that will mix well with any item in the other categories:
- Email: Email drip marketing; email newsletter; email sales letter campaign
- Print: Personalized print that opens the door for email; customized print that follows an email request; hand delivered custom print that follows an email sales conversation
- Blog+Social Media: Regular blog that is published within a 13 day cycle; exciting images that are SEO optimized; fast loading blog site; blog posts that are pushed to social and included in the newsletter
For an integrated marketing campaign to be successful, it has to work not only with your prospects but within your own company. Print company employees are usually comfortable with email, print and a writing (blog). Marketing and sales teams are often willing (and eager) to do something they’re already good at and that fits within the time constraints of their jobs.
The technology is understandable. They can view results and measure success.
Integrating a campaign with email, print and a blog post also surround prospects and customers with pleasant brand messaging that is aligned but not duplicated. Print customers generally like to learn and gather information, not be overtly sold to. They like to feel like their printer is their trusted partner and go-to expert.
Using an integrated approach is a predictable and solid way to build trust, name recognition and expertise.
Fast-growing printing companies can get an integrated campaign up and running within 30 days, and it can be tweaked along the way, once the program is launched.
In most situations, I recommend that printing company controls the assets — that is, the list, the passwords, the reports and analytics, the choice of technology, the printing process, and the website or blog site. Employees can be trained or a contractor can facilitate, without endangering the assets if a contractor changes or an employee leaves.
Finally, I have found that a three-pronged integrated marketing campaign using email, print and a blog can inject excitement and revive the competitive spirit into your sales team. If salespeople are happy and productive, the program can pay for itself before too long.
How do I define success in this situation? By choosing tactics that complement and augment one another — and then deploying confidently — owners can quickly launch an integrated marketing campaign and weave it into a busy and growing company.
Sandy Hubbard is a marketing strategist for printing companies that are in transition or extreme growth mode. She helps printers build marketing programs that can be sustained over the long haul, with buy in from employees and the sales team…and without stress! Find Sandy on Twitter at @sandyhubbard every Wednesday at 4PM ET assisting #PrintChat host Deborah Corn @PrintMediaCentr with the liveliest and most entertaining printing chat on social media!
16 Responses
Hello Ms. Sandy HUbbard. I am Queenees Hope S. Luces, currently 3rd year Mass Communication student of Ateneo de Davao University, Davao City, Philippines. Your article is encouraging. Many have thought that print media in today’s time does not have importance at all since the new highly advanced technology in millenial generation has been the main source of gathering information. It connects people and reached culture and diversity all over the world.
However, many also doesn’t know how print media contributed a lot especially in marketing industries and business companies. This media became the root ground of collecting data’s and keeping track of a company’s improvements all throughout the time of the business was born.
You have mentioned in your article that “Personalized print that opens the door for email; customized print that follows an email request; hand delivered custom print that follows an email sales conversation.” Email can be accessed with the use of social media. But, it is always better if it was printed and can be sent and delivered not only through internet but also but personally.
According to Mr. David Roy in his article entitled WHY PRINT MEDIA?, He said that among the reasons why many people prefer print is to do with the feel of the paper, having it in their hands means that the content is real, and it exist. Print media is unique in its capability to trigger a number of senses that could add to the sensory experience of the advertising.
With this, it can add to the effectiveness of print advertising. I agree on your opinion that “fast-growing printing company owners observe and recreate ideas that others have done successfully. They know how to identify, adapt and deploy.” Fast marketing results is one of the effects on how print media helped in making strategies that could contribute in the company’s success.
Lastly, I hope people will open their minds to see how important print media in the industry.
Good Day Ma’am, I am Roby May Mahinay, a third year Mass Communication student from Ateneo de Davao University and these are my thoughts regarding on your article. All of the printing companies around us, they are one of the tools that help us people in sharing our thoughts, printing our assignments or projects to be submitted to our different professors, documents that needed to be pass to different bosses.
According to the website, smallbusiness.chron.com, Print Media advertising is a form of advertising that uses physically printed media, such as magazines and newspapers, to reach its consumers, business people and prospects.
Print Media is still relevant in today’s time because aside from the social media and different social media sites, the print media helps to deliver information and new knowledge through the print stuffs everyday.
Hello Ms. Hubbard, I am Jan Marie Gonzales, a Third Year AB Mass Communication student from Philippines.
I do appreciate your article as you wrote about how Fast-growing Print Companies Capitalize on Success. Truly, print is an effective tool in advertising, then and now. You stated that there are actually 3 most used ways in promoting products which are through print (by forms of flyers, newspapers/magazines), through blog sites and through email. Your article did convince me that print is really not dead although the social media, which had become one of the primary sources of information nowadays, has come. And even if it’s easy to access nowadays.
In support of your article, according to Gundelman (2014), the print industry is far from dead; in fact, print marketing has only continued to grow and evolve alongside the upsurge of new technology. Indeed, print is not overshadowed despite the development of technology at present.
In addition, Gundelman (2014) states that, print marketing is more than just a paper. Others might think that print is dead or some say, print is just in a form of brochures, flyers, calling cards. However, print media can can include promotional drinkware, magnets, stickers, pens, keychains, coasters, or even apparel such as T-shirts and buttons.
Indeed, print marketing is still in demand nowadays because as we can see, newspapers and magazines are consist of approximately 20-60%. That’s enough proof that print is not outshined when it comes to promotional tool on products. Print marketing has been and still an effective way of inviting customers.
Good day, Miss Hubbard.
I am Ingrid Gabisan, an AB Mass Communication student from Ateneo de Davao University currently in my third year. As a future media practitioner trained to be out on the field after graduating from university, I find your article highly promising and boosting with positivity for the medium print.
Print is the oldest medium used in disseminating information to the masses. With the emergence of technology, disseminating information was not only limited through print. We now have television, radio, and the most used in this millennial generation, social media to bring us the recent events happening from all over the world. With this, everybody regards print as the medium that is just tagging along with the other mediums.
However, despite the continuous developing of technology, thus providing us with new and more efficient means of circulating and publicizing happenings, print is miraculously still on the run. It is still alive and a lot of people are still utilizing it.
Your article Miss Hubbard enlightens people that in this world of high-technology, print is still relevant. It could go well with blogs to publicize it more and also it is of great help in marketing. This was of great help to all fellow mass communicators like me to not lose hope in the medium print because there will always be in need of print even in the most miniscule way.
Hello Ms. Hubbard, I am Jan Marie Gonzales, a Third Year AB Mass Communication student from Philippines.
I do appreciate your article as you wrote about how Fast-growing Print Companies Capitalize on Success. Truly, print is an effective tool in advertising, then and now.
You stated that there are actually 3 most used ways in promoting products which are through print (by forms of flyers, newspapers/magazines), through blog sites and through email.
Your article did convince me that print is really not dead although the social media, which had become one of the primary sources of information nowadays, has come. And even if it’s easy to access nowadays.
In support of your article, according to Gundelman (2014), the print industry is far from dead; in fact, print marketing has only continued to grow and evolve alongside the upsurge of new technology. Indeed, print is not overshadowed despite the development of technology at present.
In addition, Gundelman (2014) states that, print marketing is more than just a paper. Others might think that print is dead or some say, print is just in a form of brochures, flyers, calling cards. However, print media can can include promotional drinkware, magnets, stickers, pens, keychains, coasters, or even apparel such as T-shirts and buttons.
Indeed, print marketing is still in demand nowadays because as we can see, newspapers and magazines are consist of approximately 20-60%. That’s enough proof that print is not outshined when it comes to promotional tool on products. Print marketing has been and still an effective way of inviting customers.
Hello Ms. Sandy Hubbard! Thank you for sharing this article with us as it had been an eye-opener for me. I have never thought that an online source would be any better than the physical newspaper itself. But now that I have read your article, I understand that it is really the company’s decision to train and manage their employees.
As many have said, print media is still around for it being able to trigger our five senses and that it is more accurate and timely. I must say that it is not only these that makes it well circulated around the world even at this century.
People depend more on the printed ones even up to this day because print companies do not dare to write scams and hoaxes like online sources may have. Print medias depend on the quality of each articles to make money. If their articles are found to be one of them, then people will stop buying their outputs for it is a fact (therefore, necessary to be) that print media is accurate. And that is what people look for when it comes to being updated with political, business, economical and other categories of news.
But as we know, people may get carried away with getting more incomes. Print media companies who are getting into the ‘global world’ may want to divert to another way, resulting to producing scamming and hoaxing articles. Then again, it is the company’s decision.
Since the printing industries benefit from their newspapers with a big group of people working together to achieve a certain goal, it is also a business organization. With this, I think the company should be practicing a lot of the communication theory to really understand and remind each members of the team, the goal of their industry to avoid getting carried away with the online world.
Goodafaternoon Ms. Sandy Hubbard, let me introduce first myself, I am Prudegine Grace Guillena a 3rd year college, Mass Communication student from Ateneo de Davao University, Philippines.
I would like to commend your article regarding with print. Print is also one way of communication that people thought that it can’t help to the companies success, due to the invasion of technologies. In fact, print leads the factors in companies success, as what you had said, “print company employees are usually comfortable with email, print, and a writing blog.” What I want to emphasize here is that, employees makes the success of the company so if the employees would still prefer using the medium of print as their communication then it leads to success.
In addition to this, print medium as a way of communicating in companies helps also a lot. The fact that you companies nowadays are too busy to catch up with the current news, this is why some of the companies are still accepting newspapers distribution to be informed. Furthermore, in the end, print also is a life as a medium of communication because to think even emails or blogs are originated with the print.
Good day. I am amazed by the ways that you presented on how print is growing today. I like the fact that the printer is considered as an associate. information these days are very easy to access when shared online. technology truly played a big role in the advancement of print and in the success of spreading information
I do agree, Leona, with your point that printers will do better if they partner with and are an associate to their customers. Printers need to stay up to date with different ways to communicate to keep print growing and viable. Thank you for your comment! –sandy
Thank you, Prudegine. I agree that printers need to look at the big picture. Don’t forget that newspapers are buyers of print, they are the customers. Printing is a huge, global manufacturing and communication business that includes packaging, labels, signage, mailed documents, and so much more. I appreciate your comment!
Good points, Jan Marie. It’s true that publications — magazines, newspapers and books — are the most visible examples of printed material. But you’re right, print is all around us. can you imagine going into a grocery store and trying to shop if there were no labels, signs, posters, receipts, etc. I like to imagine those who say “Print is Dead” trying to shop like that!
I so agree that print has an inherent trustworthy quality to it. I hope that continues to be true, and that those who use print do so for worthy purposes. Print and online both have their strengths and often work well together. For someone getting into the printing industry, it is smart to be well versed in both print and digital technologies and to understand how to make print shine. Thank you for your comment.
Thank you, Ingrid, for your comment. Print changes all the time.I grew up in a family of printers, and when I was young, print was done mechanically with type set from lead. Not so long ago! With each wave of change, print adjusts to the new realities of our world. I see growth in areas that used to be done with paint or screenprinting, such as signage, labels, and overlays. That is an example of printing laying claim to manufacturing that was done in another sector. Similarly, print is claiming what used to be considered the copier market. As the quality of copiers improved and changed, printers claimed that and called it digital printing. We are really quite an adaptive industry!
I hope you continue to learn about the printing industry, Roby. Printed matter such as publications is just one segment of a huge, global manufacturing industry that is one of the most successful and lucrative of all industries. I know a printer who does the credit card offers we get in the mail. if he can save a mere penny on each one, he can save his customer millions of dollars. Can you imagine how much print that is, and for just one printer! Good luck in your studies!
I like all of your points, Queenees. Yes, print is doing a good job of integrating with other channels, including digital ones, to continue to be successful. And you are right about how print can be very attractive because of its tactile qualities. In our busy world, being able to touch a printed piece and keep it is a big differentiator. I think about the coupons I receive in the mail from the local pizza store. I usually stick those on my refrigerator and keep them until I need them. I don’t go online for that because I don’t need to. Some marketer helped me make the decision by proactively sending an offer. Print marketers need to be constantly looking at new ways to capture the attention of consumers and make sure print is captivating. Thank you for reading my article!