2019 Direct Mail Marketing Forecast: Seek and Google Shall Find
It’s that time of the year. Predictions abound about what technologies will take off, which will nudge their way closer to extinction, and how to benefit from all these changes. Every forecaster has their own strategy for making predictions. You can go on a wild flyer and claim brilliance if it happens to come true. […]
How to Measure Print Marketing Performance
The internet has certainly changed many aspects of our lives. We turn to it for entertainment, for news, to research products and vacations, and get directions of all types. But perhaps the biggest change is the impact it’s had on marketing. The internet brought the age of digital marketing with highly focused audiences, and immediate […]
4 Email Marketing Problems Direct Mail Solves for Reaching Customers
There’s a strange wind blowing. If you, as a direct mail service provider, prepare and put yourself in the right place the wind will be at your back. Consider this: Goldman Sachs Group recently invested $25 million dollars to integrate direct mail into email-based marketing automation platforms. (Source: PR Newswire) MailChimp, a very popular and […]
Tapping Into the Millennial Mindset to Drive Print Profitability
Often confused with Generation Z teens, the last birth year for millennials was 1996. In 2018, this makes them 22 – 37 years old. And they are today’s business buyers. They didn’t know life before the Internet and grew up with information at their fingertips. Which explains why over a third of millennial buyers expect […]
Unbox An Experience That Captures The Attention of Your Customers
How many times have you heard the expression, you never get a second chance to make a first impression? I know. It sounds cliché, but it’s true. When you see something that captures your attention, you’re more likely to engage with it, remember it, hang onto it… and even pay for it! Yet when it […]
5 Reasons Why Printers Will NEVER Get Inside an Advertising Agency
Greetings Citizens of The Printerverse. It’s me… though today I’ve swapped-out my Intergalactic Ambassador antennae for my Print Buyerologist hat while I am writing this post. We are 41 days into 2018 and I have been keeping track of the meaningful vs. meaningless marketing material and “cold-call” emails from printers and suppliers that flood 4 […]
2018 CMYK MANIFESTO: PROVIDING THE PRINT EXPERIENCE
The following topics are over and done with in 2018: SHRINKAGE! There is less print in the world. Deal with it. Darwin called it “Survival of the Fittest.” Your biz, and the communications you produce or create have to be optimized for effectiveness at all times, or you will become extinct. SAVE A TREE? Psst… […]
Getting Physical With The Digital Ether Takeover
According to recent reports, Apple’s investors are urging the iPhone maker to help reduce smartphone addiction among children. While I don’t doubt smartphone addiction may be a thing at the moment, my own usage habits lead me to think this issue will be short-lived. When I’m at home, my smartphone stays on my desk. I […]
When it Comes to Marketing, The “I’s” Have It!
Individualization is the first of my I’s – the most important part about any relationship in business and life is to recognise the importance of the individual and pay due respect to that status. It’s what the Internet age has brought us, the ability to pick out and highlight that relationship and deploy new ways […]
How Many Printers Does It Take to Print a Light Bulb?
Q: How many Printers does it take to print a light bulb? A: You don’t know, you don’t print light bulbs… right? Because anyone can print a light bulb. You don’t want to be in the light bulb business. If you are, then you compete with everyone – including online discount light bulb printing factories. […]
What an Arcade Game Can Teach Us About Printing Sales
Remember Pole Position, the popular video arcade game of the 1980s? I loved it. Amazingly, the things I learned while playing helped me in the print sales world. Pole Position is a classic auto racing game. You have to be able to predict and control the timing and placement of other cars on the track. […]
Personalized Product Marketing: What’s In A Name?
I was speaking at an event recently. During the Q&A I was asked if I thought we had reached peak personalization? My answer was a firm no. Through the ages, we have added value to many things with the addition of initials – cuff-links, handkerchiefs, shirts, jewellery etc. Even Henry VIII had his current wife’s […]