Thinking about combining digital communications with print? Careful — it’s a potent mixture!
Here’s a client project where we had to put on the brakes because our response rate was higher than we could handle:
We helped a printing company plan and promote a business anniversary celebration that would feature live music and a catered meal for 60-75 customers. With a week to go until my client’s event, however, we had 120 people registered.
My client was thrilled. The caterer was not.
The caterer was freaking out
Extra attendees would mean more food to order and prepare, parking logistics, lines at the registration table, and more signage. But that’s what caterers get paid to do — freak out and then make it all look easy.
On the night of the event
In my experience, 70% of those who RSVP for events will actually show up. We had 83%. Excellent.
How we slowed things down
When we saw the registrations increasing in the final week before the event, we changed our email schedule.
- We intended to email again to the folks who had not opened their invitations. So we removed that email blast from the schedule.
- We also planned to send a reminder to the people who had opened but not registered. We DID send that one, because we didn’t want those people just showing up at the event. We told people we were sold out, but they could contact their sales person or CSR for a ticket. We closed the online registration. People who were motivated could attend.
The day before the event, we emailed instructions on where to park and how to check in.
Using print to make the digital communication “stick”
Rewind to two months before the event. We emailed a “save the date” blast with fast-loading graphics, links and calendar integration.
While it was still fresh in the recipients’ minds, we followed up with printed flyers. Flyers were put in all the jobs that were picked up or delivered. Sales executives hand delivered invitations to customers.
Print drives conversions
We started with 319 handpicked recipients whose email addresses we exported from Salesforce. We personalized the invitations with salutations and the recipient’s name. We emailed the series over a period of two months.
We ended up with the above-mentioned 120 registrations — a whopping 38% engagement rate!
And who knows how many people would have replied if we had emailed that final scheduled invitation.
The point is…
“Email + Print = Powerhouse Combination! “
Can there be any doubt that integrating print with digital communications will amplify your results?
Sandy Hubbard helps printers accelerate their marketing programs by combining email, print, web content and social media. She’s been around print and publishing her whole life and loves having digital media in the mix.
