Why Printers Should Stop Telling People What They Do, And Show Them Who They Are

Video may have killed the radio star, but it’s providing longevity for the promotion of print!

Mark my words – VIDEO – will be the most important tool for your marketing communications next year. Let’s kick this off with some numbers you can’t ignore… According to Invodo’s Video Statistics: The Marketers Summary 2014

• 74% of all Internet traffic in 2017 will be video
• 51.9% of marketing professionals worldwide name video as the type of content with the best ROI
• Online video reaches 60% of the US population
• The average US consumer spent 24 minutes a day watching online video, more time than any other digital media activity except social media and email.
• Two out of three consumers watch product videos some or all of the time they are encountered.
• Video in email can boost opens 20% and increase click-through rate 2-3x.
• Using the word “Video” in email subject lines boosts open rates 18.5%, click rates by 64.8%, click to open rates by 39%, and reduces unsubscribes by 26%.
• B2B and B2C marketers worldwide name video as a top three most effective social media marketing tactic.
• Over 50% of 25-54 year olds share videos online.
• Consumers who view video ads on a mobile device are 3x as likely to click through.

You can download Invodo’s whitepaper to see more stats and the reference sources.

Now before I start seeing “Shouldn’t we be promoting our Printing business with PRINT” comments, let me preempt by saying sure, promote print with all the print you want… but first you need to have people to give it to! Video is a TOOL to help you grow your reach and potentially your customer base. It is the only device equalizer – meaning your site might look like crap on a smartphone or tablet, but your video wont. And the best thing is that people aren’t expecting Avatar from small businesses, just be real, be honest, you can even be funny. The goal: stop telling people what you do, and show them!

Here are five ways to drive traffic, expand your reach, and attract new customers with video:

Do an “About Us” video! People like to know whom they are working with and while you can look almost everyone up on LinkedIn, it’s still a static channel that most people don’t add much personality to in their profiles. After a short introduction about your company, have your key players say a few words about the industry. Take a thought-leader angle here, not many people will sit through multiple employees talking about why your company is the best.

Provide a video tour of your pressroom! Forget the capabilities list! This is a great opportunity to describe in detail your process from file receipt to shipping/mailing, show your presses and other equipment, and educate on what type of projects can be created at your shop. Do multiple videos if needed so they don’t exceed 3-4mins each, and let the pre-press, press and bindery people have their moment on screen to keep the content human and avoid any infomercial factor. Worried about your competition seeing your stuff? Get over it. They aren’t buying print from you, and really, I doubt you have developed a secret proprietary process for printing that needs protection. That is what patents are for anyhow!

Develop a weekly series! This can be anything from sharing a cool printing fact, to explaining a specific printing process, to showing off a cool project you just completed. Again, avoiding the infomercial is key, and you can promote your company without literally promoting it… get creative! The goal here is to become a resource and have people subscribe to your YouTube channel, or an email list that alerts them when new content has been posted. Just remember if people opt in to see your videos it doesn’t mean they have opted in for anything else. Be careful how you use contact info that was generously supplied to you.

Interviews! From local designers and clients, educators, industry personalities, paper merchants, people you meet at events, companies that are relevant to you and the print world, authors, really the list could go on and on. Think about creating a theme – like 5 Questions in 5 Minutes with “the guest”… that title alone gives people a reason to click since it explains exactly what they will see, and approximately how long their attention is needed.

Self-promotion in sheep’s clothing! It’s not against the rules to promote your business; all of the above suggestions work toward that goal. The trick is to do it in a manner that is entertaining, informative on some level, and most important is share-worthy. This one potentially requires a budget and an editor, but if you can pull it off the ROI could be endless. A few great examples:

All About That Ink from CustomXM

God Made a Printer from The Odee Company

Print Fanatic 1 & 2 from Pizazz Printing

Sappi’s Off Register series

Domtar’s Paper Because series

Two Sides North America’s Are You Ready To Bust Some Myths

So… are you ready for your close-up?

Here is mine!

Created a promotional video or want to share one you liked? Please leave the info and link in the comments!