Everywhere you look these days, you’re bombarded with data about how much money marketers are putting into their Internet presences.

E-mail marketing. Web site development. Search engine optimization. Banner ads. Social networking. This creates the impression that print is irrelevant, but in fact, the opposite is true.  Don’t let the ubiquity of Internet data fool you. Print has power, including the power to drive online activity. One of the most effective ways to build an online presence is to use print.

For example, a survey of 2,251 senior executives, the “BE: USA 2008/2009: The Media Survey of the United States’ Business Elite” found that this elite group was heavily influenced to increase their Web traffic as a result of print. Nearly one in four (23%) was motivated to visit a marketer’s Web site as a result of a local newspaper ad, rising to 38% who were motivated by a magazine ad.

Here is some more eye-catching data:

• A 2008 Magazine Publishers of America study reconfirms prior studies that show including URLs in magazine ads drives readers to advertiser Web sites. The biggest lifts came in the women’s service, home and travel categories, where ads featuring Web addresses were 98%, 103% and 186% more likely to boost Web site visits, respectively.
• Seaport Village, a San Diego retail hub, saw a 26% rise in traffic to its Web site right after city officials launched a holiday direct mail campaign steering visitors to the shopping center.
• A USPS/comScore survey found that people who receive a catalog account for 22% of Web site traffic and 37% of money spent at retailers’ Web sites. In fact, shoppers who received a catalog were twice as likely to make an online purchase at the retailer’s online store.

What does this mean for you? Print matters.

When looking for strategies to boost your Web traffic, get print into the mix. Send a direct mail piece. Use the space on your catalogs, brochures and even invoices to advertise your Web address, Twitter ID and other URLs. Make sure important Web addresses are in your trade and consumer advertising. Find excuses to get them in front of your customers. Take advantage of every opportunity.

Print is highly effective for driving all types of consumer and business behavior, including building your online presence. Use it!

Campaign Effectiveness, Cross-media campaign, Integrated Marketing Campaign, Marketing direct mail marketing, marketing campaigns, multi-channel marketing

Do you have a mobile strategy as part of your marketing plan? If not, maybe it’s time you did. We all know how important email and a Web presence are to customer marketing. Now, according to research by Prosper Mobile Insights, more and more consumers are conducting these activities exclusively on their mobile phones.

For example, more than half of mobile users say they access email only on their mobile phones. Forty-five percent do Internet searches only on their mobile phones. Forty-two percent access Facebook this way. Think about it—consumers are scrapping their laptops and desktops in favor of their mobile devices.

As a marketer, this has powerful implications. As consumers transition their everyday activities to the mobile world, you need to have a strategy for reaching them at that level. You need to go where your customers go.

It’s time to start incorporating mobile marketing into your print marketing mix. This doesn’t need to be complex or overwhelming. Here are a few simple, easy steps to get you started.

Add QR codes to your direct mail pieces, your invoices, and your envelopes. Leave the phone numbers, the URLs, and the tear-out forms. Just add QR Codes as an optional way to respond.

Start using short codes for promotions. For example, “Text ‘SUPERDEAL’ to 0550 and receive your free coupon!” This not only gives your customer a way to respond to the promotion immediately, but it gives you their mobile phone number for future marketing contacts.

Offer to send text alerts as a customer service. Restaurants offer to text patrons when their tables are ready. Doctor’s offices offer to text appointment reminders to their patients one day ahead of time. Walmart uses text messaging very effectively to alert customers when their photo lab orders are ready for pick-up.

Create a mobile website for your business. Template-based software makes this easy. If you’re not ready to launch a full mobile site, you can still begin to create mobile-friendly landing pages for specific promotions. Especially when using QR codes, be sure that you are sending people to a mobile-optimized page.

When you think “mobile,” you don’t necessarily have to think about mobile payments . . . yet. It doesn’t have to be about selling products. The first step is simply getting customers engaged with you on a mobile basis. Then imagine where that relationship can go over time!

Cross-media campaign, Integrated Marketing Campaign, Magjak Company News

Marketers can boost their holiday revenue with the 2012 Holiday Mobile Shopping Promotion from the US Postal Service. The promotion runs Nov. 7 – Nov. 21.

According to the USPS, the promotion is designed to “drive online product purchases by putting mobile-optimized promotional offers, coupons and catalogs into consumers’ hands in time for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.”

Here’s how it works:

• Online merchants get an upfront 2 percent postage discount on Standard Mail and First-Class Mail letters, flats and cards (presort and automation) that include a mobile barcode or print/mobile technology — such as a Quick Response (QR) code — that can be read or scanned by a mobile device and leads the mail recipient to a mobile-optimized shopping website.

• Mailers may also qualify for an additional 1 percent postage rebate on their discounted mailings if a portion of their product orders are fulfilled via Priority Mail between Nov. 9 and Dec. 31.

Learn all the details of the program in this promotional piece from the USPS.

Here’s how to sign up:

Registration for the Holiday promotion is now open. Go to the USPS business services website at http://gateway.usps.com. Once you log into the Business Customer Gateway, select “Incentive Programs.” From this link, programs open to registration will display.

You can register through Nov. 21, but there’s no time like the present to get started on boosting those holiday profits!

Cross-media campaign, Direct Mail, Mailing & Fulfillment, New-Media

By Bruce Browning | Magjak

In my previous post, I encouraged you to add some bright new colors to your fall campaigns.

But the thought of adding a new color to your look might stir up some concerns about maintaining your company image.

As I mentioned in that post, your printer can develop an array of shades that will complement, not contradict, your own company colors.

Now let’s take that idea a step further and talk about maintaining your unique brand across multiple channels. Here are four steps to take to establish a recognizable presence in all your outreach efforts.

Define your personality. Sure, you have a logo, and no doubt that includes your signature colors. But have you ever brainstormed what “personality” your look conveys? Professional? Casual? Serious? Fun? Strong? Flexible? Modern? Classic? Determining that personality will help ease your choices about color, presentation, tone, what have you.

Use your logo everywhere, and use its colors. The quickest way to make your mark at social networks, in direct mail pieces, in emails, is to include your logo. It doesn’t have to be huge, but it needs to be there. And use its colors first in any outreach – in borders, headlines, bullets, etc. Then adding a new splash of color can complement those established basics.

Match your outreach to your website. When crafting an attention-getting email or direct mail piece, make sure your website landing page reflects that same design. Using an autumn leaf to dazzle? Put it on that landing page, too.

Take care with fonts. Ideally, the font(s) in your logo will appear in your text, too. And if you’re using a unique font for an outreach – you got it – put it on that landing page, too! But don’t overdo it with font changes. Choose a couple of staples. Multiple fonts don’t dazzle – they just confuse.

Campaign Effectiveness, Cross-media campaign, Design & Creative, Integrated Marketing Campaign

By Bruce Browning | Magjak

I talked a while ago about using personalized URLs (pURLs) to connect with customers one-to-one. In short, when a customer responds to an ad through, say, an email link, you can direct her to a pURL that speaks to her unique preferences. Instant TLC!

But you can take that connection even farther. Say that customer loves what she sees on the pURL — a great price on a kitchen gadget, or (if it’s a B2B site) a free whitepaper.

She’s impressed, so she clicks on the Facebook Like button you’ve included on the page, and shares the news with her friends and colleagues on Facebook. Instant reach!

And with today’s technologies, you can track what that customer shares to Facebook, monitor the conversation, and, when appropriate, respond! Your connection has just expanded to a whole new community.

How can you respond? Here are three suggestions:

•  Enter the chat when someone asks a question, and offer a useful answer.
•  Slip an ad onto your Facebook page with a discount for viewers.
•  Add a “Best Customer” special offer to your customer’s pURL.

The possibilities for continued connection are huge — if you’re willing to be creative. And with the right digital setup, you can track and measure that customer’s value for months to come.

That’s a smart, contemporary way to use customer connections to boost response and results.

Campaign Effectiveness, Cross-media campaign, Integrated Marketing Campaign, Social media

By Bruce Browning | Magjak

You know Magjak: We’re multichannel marketing’s biggest advocates. That’s because it keeps customers more engaged, turns up more prospects, targets better, and boosts ROI. Period.

And it also serves as profitability insurance: The more channels you employ, the better your options are for success in a customer-driven marketplace.

For all these reasons (and more), we’ve compiled a quick how-to guide to help you go more multichannel right now. Take these four steps:

Know your customers. Identify who they are, why they like you, how they engage with you, what they most want from you—as markets and preferences change.

Segment your data. Identify preference groups. Who likes what products or services? How are they learning about them? When do they buy? Why do they buy? Define your targets.

Study your current results. Match your efforts to your customer response. Be brutally honest: Which ones are working, and which ones aren’t?

Diversify. Now it’s time to brainstorm new ways to extend your outreach. Might your direct mail customers matched to your mobile segment respond to a barcode on your next mail piece? Might your less-active email subscribers link to a seasonal offer online? Will your active mobile customers click on a timely offer? Once you know your customers better, you can judge which direction to nudge them in—and find better ways to reach prospects just like them.

Keep your outreach fresh and engaging by keeping your marketing channel options wide open. That’s your best bet for success in an ever-changing marketplace.

Campaign Effectiveness, Cross-media campaign, Data Segmentation, Direct Marketing, Integrated Marketing Campaign, One-to-One Direct Marketing/Variable Data, personalized marketing