Marketing with Posters

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Poster marketing has been a popular way to spread the word for more than 200 years, dating back to posters for everything from World’s Fairs, recruitment, and war propaganda to bicycles and bullfights. Today, posters continue as a flexible marketing tool for publicizing upcoming events, promoting ideas, and advertising new products and services. Here are a few benefits of poster marketing:

  • Versatility. Posters can be printed on a variety of surfaces, protected with UV coating or laminating, and mounted or framed. As a result, they can be used either indoors or outdoors in any number of ways.
  • Simplicity. Because posters are created for viewers on the move, some of the best posters don’t say much. Effective posters capture the viewer’s attention immediately — often with large, eye-catching graphics, a catchy headline, and a web address that is easy to remember. You can then provide more detailed information on your website and entice readers to join your mailing list for additional updates.
  • Any size you need. When creating posters, think about where you plan to display them. While the most popular posters are 24″x36,” this large size would be overpowering on corkboard displays (which would be much better suited to an 11″x17″ poster).
  • Fresh factor. Because posters offer a high-quality, low-cost marketing solution with fast turnaround, replacing posters frequently with new content is a great way to prevent your advertising efforts from going stale.

Give us a call if you need help creating posters that will make an exciting addition to your marketing materials. Our creative experts specialize in bringing great ideas to life!

What if?

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Do you ever find yourself playing the “what if” game? What if you had made a different choice with something in your past, whether a life decision or in business?

Sure you have. We all do.

When you’re evaluating these “what if” scenarios in your head, do you ever wonder how close you came to achieving some of the goals you set but for whatever reason never did?

It’s true that we shouldn’t dwell on the past, but it’s also worth mentioning that we all want to live a life that leaves little regret at the end of the day. So learning from our past mistakes (and victories) is an important part of our growth process.

When you want to reach anything worthwhile, you set goals. You put some effort into reaching your target. The higher the target and bigger the goal, the more effort it takes to reach it.

Simple concept, right? 1 + 2 = 3

Then if it’s so simple, why is it that we sometimes don’t reach the goals we set for ourselves?

On the surface, there’s a relatively simple answer. Effort. The amount of effort we needed to put in just wasn’t there. Why? Sometimes the reasons are external and beyond our control, but most often we allow internal issues to block us from reaching our goals.

Even more frustrating is the realization that we were probably much closer to reaching our goal than we ever realized. Water is really hot when it’s heated to 211 degrees. But it’s not until it reaches 212 degrees that water creates steam. Steam is what generates the power to move a locomotive, not warm water.

Whether you’re working on personal goals or business ones, the lesson here is that you’re probably tantalizingly close to reaching the top. Probably one tiny degree away.

Watch this short video to get a little inspiration to start making that one degree difference today.

Information Overload?

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The amount of information (images, videos, blogs, etc.) available to businesspeople is increasing at dizzying speeds. This can be a problem. A big and messy problem.

You see, there’s a lot of junk out there. Yet amid that trash valuable information exists that can help you and your customers achieve exactly what you’re looking for.

As with any problem, there are opportunities to be had.

Can you become the go to source for your top customers to help them find the gold? If you can manage that, you’ll become their trusted ally and vendor of choice.

That in essence is what “content curation” is all about.

You can send your customers and prospects copies of articles and links to important information — basically any resource you think will help them grow in their personal and business life.

Some think that content curation is a brand-new concept, but it’s been around for many years. Where the information comes from has evolved, but the essence has not changed.

Zig Ziglar said it best: “You can have everything in life that you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

You can’t go wrong with that kind of philosophy.

We Miss You!

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Years ago, many companies lived by a “once a customer, always a customer” philosophy. However, in today’s competitive business world full of endless choices and tempting opportunities, customers can be easily lured to a competitor even if they’re happy with your products or services.

Here are a few tips to help you show inactive customers they’re missed and invite them back:

  • Create a postcard, self-mailer, or email with a message such as “we haven’t seen you around lately, and we miss you!” Be sure to thank customers for their previous business and include an apology for falling out of touch.
  • Consider having the owner or president of your company reach out, showing the customer’s importance to your business.
  • Provide an attractive offer, such as an X dollar off coupon, free shipping, BOGO (buy one get one), a value-added bonus, or a percentage discount to help make their decision to return easier.
  • Provide a quick reminder of why customers purchased from you in the first place by highlighting the features that help your business stand apart from the competition. Include an updated list of products and services.
  • Survey old customers by asking what it would take to have them return. Even if your customer won’t return, you can find out how to fix flaws before they affect other customers.

Let us know if you need help creating unique marketing materials to stay in touch with your customers, such as newsletters, postcards, and coupons that will keep them coming back month after month.

Tactics or Strategy?

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You’ve probably heard the phrase “tactics vs. strategy” countless times.

People love tactics. Tactics can be fun and exciting. They’re relatively easy to pick up and seem to have magical quick results (at least for a short time). Social media in the form of a few tweets is a classic example of a tactic.

But there’s a critical part most businesses seem to miss, and it’s why tactics often fail in the long run. To be successful, you have to put all the tactics together in a logical and cohesive way to make it all work.

That’s where strategy comes into play.

Without a well thought-out strategic plan, all tactics will ultimately fail. It’s not the fault of the tactic that it didn’t work. It’s the fault of the person behind the tactic who thought it would be the magic pill it didn’t turn out to be.

A strategy is a plan to get you and your business where you want to go. Without a strategy, you are lost in the Sahara with no compass and no water. Once you have your strategy in place, the right tactics will fall into place where they need to be.

Overwhelmed by Your Marketing Efforts?

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Marketing your business can be a nonstop, exhausting task. Here are a few ways to avoid feeling overwhelmed and get the most out of your marketing efforts:

  • Create a SWOT analysis, which is a strategic planning method to evaluate your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. By identifying and understanding these four areas of your business, you can more easily create a strategy that will distinguish your company from the competition, so you can compete successfully in your market.
  • Hire a talented assistant. An assistant can help you manage your workload, get things done faster, and relieve the stress of looming deadlines. Even a part-time assistant can help you free up time to focus on more important tasks.
  • Find a marketing intern. Interns can provide a lot of value… if you let them. Interns are best utilized to help you reach business goals. For example, consider assigning interns to manage social media accounts, write articles and other blogs to increase your web presence, develop creative campaign ideas, etc. Interns can help relieve capacity issues and “test” new hires before making them official.
  • Remember to delegate. It often seems faster and easier just to do something yourself, but you also risk not having trained backup when you really need the help. If you’re nervous about trusting others with key projects, be sure to frequently track progress, give feedback, and help people solve problems.
  • Communicate with other departments in your business to gather new marketing ideas. For example, your production crew may suggest highlighting a new product feature, while your sales team may receive suggestions from customers about requested promotional ideas.
  • Learn from others. Collect examples of marketing materials or creative ideas that caught your attention, and organize them in an ideas binder. Combine your favorite traits from each into marketing ideas that are customized for your business.
  • Create a wish list of marketing initiatives, as well as a list of necessary projects with realistic deadlines. Schedule a weekly or bi-monthly meeting to review your progress, identify issues that are holding you back, and reassign tasks or projects.
  • Consider outsourcing projects if you or your team doesn’t have the time or resources to complete an important project. Freelance writers or designers can also be a great solution to keeping up the pace without hiring permanent staff. One great way to use freelance writers is for customer case studies. As an outside party, freelance writers can often ask sensitive questions and may be able to get customers to open up more as a result.

Whatever you do, don’t forget to put a professional finishing touch on your marketing efforts by choosing a printer who can offer helpful advice, creative ideas, meet tight deadlines, and provide a quality product you will be proud to distribute. We’re here anytime your business needs help putting your best foot forward.

Positive Steps for Handling Negativity at Work

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We’ve all heard the saying that one bad apple can spoil the bunch. The same is true of negativity in the workplace. A single employee’s negative attitude can bring coworkers down and hurt morale. So how can you combat it?

  • Confront the offender. While it may seem easier to ignore a problem and hope it goes away, that rarely works. In fact, the problem usually just keeps getting worse until you have no choice but to act. When you see someone displaying a negative attitude (or hear about it from coworkers), sit the person down and let them know their attitude is not acceptable.
  • Get to the root of the problem. In your meeting, try to discover the cause of the person’s dissatisfaction. Perhaps they feel slighted by something that happened at work. They may think someone else received preferential treatment over them or that what they do goes unnoticed and unrecognized. Whatever the case, hear them out and acknowledge their feelings, even if you disagree. Share your own thoughts, discuss the issues, and try not to be too confrontational.
  • Seek solutions. As you’re discussing issues, look for ways to resolve them as best you can. Keep in mind that not all grievances can be easily solved and not all negativity is completely work-related. However, approaching the situation with a solutions-oriented mindset should help at least let the person know you’re taking their well-being seriously.
  • Hold your ground. No matter the outcome of your meeting, make it clear that the employee is responsible for their own actions and that continued negativity will not be tolerated. Spell out the consequences and stand firm in your resolve.
  • Reward positivity. Hopefully, your meeting and the solutions you devise together will trigger an attitude shift in your employee. As you notice changes, offer positive reinforcement and encouragement. Of course, even if you don’t see changes in the employee, try not to get too discouraged. Instead, focus on the more positive members of your team. Reinforce, reward, and encourage their attitude and its positive influence on those around them.

Make Unsubscribing Easier

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In the world of email marketing, many companies are so focused on encouraging people to opt-in or subscribe to their emails that they overlook the wishes of recipients who may want to unsubscribe.

If unsubscribing to your messaging is not easy, you run the risk of increased spam complaints and ISP blocking, annoyed customers, and a weakened brand image. More than 40 percent of email recipients click the easier option (the spam button at the top of their email) rather than searching for an unsubscribe link. This occurs most often because many companies hide the link, push it down to the bottom of a message, or purposely blend the “unsubscribe” text into the background.

One way to make unsubscribing easier is to place an “unsubscribe” button at the top of your email. In addition to making your unsubscribe button more noticeable, you may also want to offer other options (change email address, change/reduce message frequency, choose different types of messages to receive, change message delivery to RSS/direct mail, etc.). Consider adding a survey, too, that asks why the recipient chose to unsubscribe (I receive too many emails from your organization, emails are not relevant to me, I did not subscribe to these emails, etc.).

Overall, the unsubscribe button isn’t always a bad thing and doesn’t have to mean goodbye. It can not only help reduce email complaints, but can also clean your email list, ensuring that only people who are truly interested receive your message.

Good, Better, or Best

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When it comes to upselling your product line, a tiered marketing strategy can accelerate the research-buying process for your customers, give you a competitive edge, and increase your bottom line through increased revenue. Here are a few tips to help you take advantage of a tiered selling technique:

  • Provide a comparison chart that outlines various differences and focuses on the most importance benefits to motivate buying.
  • Describe product differences using an emotional appeal rather than technical verbiage.
  • Use descriptive headlines or titles that distinguish between the product service levels. For example, try basic, premium, and ultimate; or fast, faster, and fastest.
  • When displaying in your store, group your products in close proximity to one another, making it easier for customers to comparison shop.
  • Provide upselling options in sales proposals, especially if an RFP asks for minimum or bare bones specifications. You may be surprised how many organizations choose higher price points after understanding their benefits.
  • Even if you offer a large variety of products or services, select a few of your best choices as a starting point that won’t overwhelm your audience. When possible, note that other options are available as well.
  • Draw attention to the most expensive option with extra benefit statements and intriguing visuals that will resonate with readers and support the additional expense.

Tiered marketing can not only paint your product line in a positive light but also help your customers make educated decisions based on benefits that are most important to them. The result is a win-win for you and your customers.

Circle of Trust

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In the movie Meet the Parents, Jack (Robert DeNiro) explains to Greg (Ben Stiller) his philosophy which he calls the “Circle of Trust.” Greg is planning to marry Jack’s daughter. He’s an outsider who desperately wants to be included in Jack’s Circle of Trust.

Greg tries to fit in, but every effort is met with failure and ridicule because he tries to be something he is not.

In an effort to impress our prospects, we sometimes make the same mistake of trying to be something outside of who we are. But if you really want to get inside a customer’s Circle of Trust, you must have integrity, and you must show that you truly have their best interest in mind at all times.

Above all, be yourself.

With all the mishaps and disasters that happen during the movie, Jack is convinced that Greg is not a good fit for his daughter. But at the end of the movie, Jack realizes that Greg really loves his daughter and has her best interest in his heart.

To enter and stay in a customer’s Circle of Trust, always have their best interest in mind and show them that you truly care about them and their business.

Now, here’s a short and funny compilation of the Circle of Trust scenes from Meet the Parents. Enjoy!