Print Marketing Remains Vital to Your Business
By Allan J. Ross
The instantaneous Internet has an undeniable appeal for consumers; most business owners are aware of, and take advantage of, this still-new stream of data flow to offer up their wares in the new media. Cyberspace is big, and getting bigger, byte on top of megabyte.
Information offered via quality, uncluttered print — postcards, brochures, fliers, fact sheets and the ever-useful business card — is a restful, organized and often unexpected way to reach out and stand above the rest in a world of high-tech.
Print information is carefully selected and presented to your customer clearly and strategically.
Smart business owners know to blend new media with the proven: nothing beats being handed or sent something personal and tangible. Quality is felt in the hand, and stays on the desk.
Smart marketing doesn’t confine business to a single medium. It gets and keeps customers, no matter where they look for you.
Collateral materials come in different forms, but they share a critical element: they should be effectively marketing your company. Every business needs printed material, so make everything work for you. Your business cards and even your stationery can, not just the printed pieces that are designed to sell.
A business with all its materials branded uniformly will shine above the rest in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Consider all the documents that are generated from your business: the stationery and letterhead used by your company, for instance. Is it dated? Is it designed professionally, or is it merely one of the out-of-the-box desktop publishing templates that are so easily recognizable by everyone?
Consider your sales fliers. Are they, too, victims of the desktop publishing revolution? Do they have the same professional quality as your own work does, or are they generated by someone in your office who is good at their own job, but who is, perhaps, not a professional designer?
How about your brochures? This critical piece, you may or may not know, is one of the leading sales tools available to business owners, and often can be the instrument that decides a customer. Brochure in hand, a potential customer can peruse your offerings, either in store or at home, and make the final decision on your product or service.
Brochures — designed correctly — can be easily customized by your business, too, and tailored per customer, making them even more effective. Do you have the tools to do that in-house? If not, consider the fiscal pros and cons of outsourcing this crucial sales tool, as well as the large potential savings designers can offer in quality printing costs.
You spend time, money and energy on your Web site — as well you should. The Internet is instant, and these are fast-paced times.
But in a fast-paced world, the business that wants to get — and to keep — the attention of customers will not forget the human, personal, tangible element. Information is everywhere. What a relief, what a pleasure, for your customers, to be able to absorb your information easily.
How many more customers will buy when instead of being “called to action,” they are “appealed to action”?
Allan J. Ross is president and CEO of A.J. Ross Creative Media, a full-service advertising, marketing and Web design company, in Chester. He can be reached at allan@ajross.com or 845-783-5770.
Tags: branding materials, brochures, business owners, consumers, data, effective marketing, fact sheets, graphic design, internet, postcards, print, smart business, web site
April 14th, 2009 at 2:59 am
Thank you for wonderful insights. This article is a valuable one.
May 13th, 2009 at 10:55 am
I found your site while browsing on google you have some great images here! I’ve just added you to my yahoo rss Reader. Just wanted to say” keep up the good work” and congrats on a job well done! I am looking forward to reading more from you in the future. maybe we can swap links?
June 19th, 2009 at 2:45 am
In the current business climate, my company, like many others in the graphic design/advertising/marketing industry, is experiencing “hesitations” (I say that diplomatically) on the parts of both existing and prospective clients, to appropriate budget funding for sufficiently-effective self marketing (not the least of which relates to print media). The “WISE”, I believe, would take advantage of this economic downturn (whereby their competitors have tucked their tails) and work to promote themselves vociferously – and PROFESSIONALLY – so as to be first in the consumer’s mind when the economy does in fact turn favorably (as it most certainly will, in time). As such, though, convincing reluctant companies to be “wise” under these circumstances has now often become “ITEM #1″ – a necessary (and even distracting, at times) addition to what can already be an intense business workflow in our industry.
Ok…. So, I’m preaching to the choir here.
My point: I think that the above article can help to serve as support and substantiation to our own efforts as we seek to ingrain and solidify a thought process, in the minds of our existing (and prospective) clients, which makes clear that: continued, uninterrupted, and professionally-produced marketing (print, in this case) does, in fact, remain vital to their business.
To that end, thank you. And I will refer others to this page.
July 31st, 2009 at 11:03 am
Thanks for you input. Your comments are very appreciated.
Allan
July 31st, 2009 at 11:18 am
Thank you as well Jay. It is a common shared feeling by what I dare to say is all in our industry. But getting clients to believe this is good advice and not self serving to our creative budgets is a difficult task. We’ve had some success with clients believing us based on long term relationships and the ones that have are doing well in this market.
August 29th, 2009 at 7:01 am
As new Internet user, these articles are very helpful, thanks.
February 9th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Nice!, discovered your blog on Ask.Glad I finally tried it out. Not sure if its my Safari browser,but sometimes when I visit your site, the fonts are really tiny? However, love your post and will be back.Bye