Month: May 2018

What do Sriracha, Costco, Spanx, and Ben & Jerry’s have in common? They built their brand by breaking away from traditional forms of marketing (i.e. expensive advertising campaigns). Still effective, their strategies tend to be creative, well-communicated, and cost-efficient. Inexpensive marketing ideas don’t have to damper your brand recognition.

 

Take Krispy Kreme for example. This delicious donut maker relies on word-of-mouth marketing, enhanced through social media engagement and training store employees as brand ambassadors. Studies show that consumers prefer Krispy Kreme 35% more than competitors such as Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts.

 

Whether you’re the heir of a hot sauce empire, or a small business owner looking to stretch those marketing dollars further, try campaigning creatively rather than expensively. Here are 5 low-cost marketing ideas that work.

 

1. Host and Properly Promote an Event

Plan a free event that people will have interest in attending, such as:

• A summer picnic in the park
• Yoga class
• Wine tasting
• Chef’s table cooking class
• Workday brunch
• Networking happy hour (yes, it’s an excuse to leave the office)

To guarantee attendance, hand-address the invitations and make the design pop. There’s something special about a beautiful piece of cardstock, with a creative design and simple, yet powerful message. Personalized printing and mailing services can help get the word out using quick and cost-efficient methods.

Serve tasty cocktails and canapes. If budget allows, hand out small giveaways with your company logo. Whatever you do, don’t forget the business cards. A well-designed business card is a powerful tool for brand recognition and communicating with new leads.

 

2. Make Them Stop and Stare, at Your Logo

Your company’s logo says it all. It’s the story of your brand, so it should be well thought out and consistent with company values and characteristics.

Enlisting a design service is a cost-effective way to ensure your logo speaks well for your brand and appeals to your target audience. The use of color can enhance brand recognition by up to 80%.

Consistency is key when it comes to the design of your logo, and it should be placed on all marketing materials, from letterheads to newsletters.

 

3. Stick It to Them

Stickers have become a powerful tool in the world of advertising.

Apple, Folgers, and Gillette have all used them as part of their marketing strategies. Stickers in unexpected places or on vehicles make people stop and take notice.

Flexible in size and placement, stickers are a cost-effective way to spread your brand’s image throughout a targeted location. Enlist a couple brand ambassadors to hand out stickers and place them in high traffic areas or wrap a vehicle in your brand’s image for ultimate exposure.

 

4. Say, “I Wish You Were Here” with a Postcard

Creative, visual and easy to share, postcards an excellent way to get eyes on your brand.

Design and distribution are relatively affordable, compared to traditional letter campaigns. Since postcards arrive already “open” they make your message more noticeable.

The use of on-brand, eye-catching visuals will strengthen the design of your postcard. Including a bold yet intriguing call-to-action will further help to increase leads.

 

5. Get Social Savvy

A creative social media campaign with eye-catching visuals, witty captions, and branded hashtags can easily be done when marketing on a budget.

You don’t need to hire a professional photographer, and an iPhone camera works well. Capture creative moments that highlight your brand’s culture and use an editing app such as Snapseed.

Capture emails or addresses from a social media campaign and be sure to follow up. Send an e-blast, personalized letters, or self-mailers with a catchy call-to-action.

 

Inexpensive Marketing Ideas for Your Audience

In the end, don’t be afraid of that “dare to be great” situation. Big ideas often come from interesting places, so take that “ah-hah!” moment and run with it.

Inexpensive marketing ideas should put more focus on creative ways to connect and engage with your audience on a personal level. Learn more about the costs and process of bringing your personalized marketing methods to life.

After all, they’re just a click, invite, or crazy stunt away from becoming your next customer.

Is your direct mail marketing campaign not as strong as you hoped? Failing to proofread and follow up are two ways you could be killing your business. Did you know that the median household return on investment for direct mail marketing is 29%? Or that for every $167 direct mail marketers spend in the U.S., they sell $2095 in goods and service? If you’re not reaching those numbers, you’ll want to keep reading. Here’s a compiled list of methods to improve your campaign and boost traffic.

 

1. Pre-Plan

Deciding what your goals are and how you’re going to achieve them are the essential first step. Your first goal is simple: determine a format. Here are a few examples:

• Postcards – If you’re working with a lower budget, postcards are an affordable option and tend to be effective. This is a great tool to use, as an immediate call-to-action, to get prospects onto your website.
• Letters – The industry standard letters are known to have the highest response rate. They include sales letters that are directly addressed to the individual prospect. Personalization is key.
• Self-mailers – This method is similar to postcards in its affordability. Self-mailers can be sent without wrapping or any other protection.
• Catalogs – Coming from a long history in the direct mail world, catalogs are the strongest (albeit, least affordable) option. They compile large quantities of products and offers for single customer browsing. There’s enough space to provide all buying information at their fingertips.

 

2. Target the Ideal Customer

Your best results will come from sending your offers to a specific, niche audience. Here’s how.

Analyze Market Research

Review your initial goal and remind yourself what kind of customer you’re looking for. Then, dive into market research. Quantitative data consists of ratings and rankings. You’ll want to organize your findings for later reference. Alternatively, you’ll want to search for patterns and themes in qualitative data. Once you’re finished, compare your findings to the goals you wanted or expected. You’ll learn methodologies that work best for your particular industry and implement them into your direct mail marketing campaign.

 

3. Pick a Better Mailing List Type

The mailing list type you choose is vital to the success of your campaign. Using your market research findings, you can find your most valuable prospects and pinpoint the best mailing type for them. There are three specific types you should consider:

• Specialty List: identifies the target audience
• Custom Mailing List: allows selection of customer criteria
• Cloned List: allows you to find new customers similar to your best customers

 

4. Be Different

Use your direct mail opportunity to show how you and your products are different (and better) from the competition. Be creative. Consider the color and design of your envelopes and match them with the offering. Understanding the psychology of color will help you better understand your creative potential in marketing. For example, black represents sophistication and is seen in almost all high-end campaigns.

 

5. AIDA

Being one of the best-known marketing models, AIDA will ensure you make a profit. It stands for attention, interest, desire, and action. For direct mail marketing, you’ll need a quick message that grabs the prospect’s attention, tells them why they need it and provides a call-to-action for them to proceed.

 

Are You Ready For Your Next Big Direct Mail Marketing Campaign?

Study this list and be sure to implement it in your next campaign. Contact us if you have any further questions or concerns about our ideas. If you own a small business, we have a specific guide just for you.

Snail mail, as it’s affectionately called, may seem obsolete nowadays; but, that couldn’t be farther than the truth. Direct mail is still effective in gathering leads and converting them into customers. After all, there are still people out there that enjoy receiving mail and look forward to seeing the offers that await. In this guide, we’ll explore direct mail and see if it’s still an effective advertising strategy.

 

People Are Sick of Email

Decades ago, spam was known as a canned meat delicacy. Nowadays, it’s a broad term that describes unwanted emails. Every day, people get bombarded with special offers, coupons, and other emails they just end up ignoring. People treat direct mail differently. The average person checks their mail every day. That means people are more likely to use coupons and other special offers they receive through direct mail. The fact that many companies are switching over to an email marketing approach is actually good for your business. It means less competition.

 

You Can Get Creative

All the bells and whistles of email marketing may prove to be a headache for most people. Moving graphics, videos, and pop-ups don’t always get a good response. One of the things that makes direct mail an effective advertising strategy is the potential for creativity. You get to play around with fonts, colors, images, and even shapes. Unlike email advertising, you aren’t competing with every other site on the internet. It’s become second nature for people to ignore crazy online graphics or exit out of the email altogether. Direct mail is a tangible item that people can smell, hold, and feel. It might sound crazy, but that matters to people. When we think of coupons, we think of a piece of paper. A colorful piece of paper is a lot easier to remember than a coupon code. As a direct mail advertiser, you can make brochures, postcards, catalogs, and other forms of print media that grabs attention. Additionally, products like InDesign and other desktop publishing tools make it easy for advertisers to create direct mail campaigns.

 

It’s Easier to Track Your Campaign’s Performance

Google Analytics and other digital analytical systems were created to help advertisers track the performance of their marketing campaigns. Internet advertising is a numbers game. Sending an email out blindly into the internet isn’t very productive if you can’t see who opens it. Every advertiser knows that the more people see or interact with your content, the better your chances are of getting new customers. But, these digital analytical systems can be a bit confusing and hard to understand. You have to navigate open rates, bounce rates, landing page quality, etc. In fact, many companies require their digital advertisers to be certified in Google Adwords and Analytics.

 

ITI Direct Mail will Help You Create an Effective Advertising Strategy

Maybe your business has moved away from direct mail advertising and you realize that was a bad idea. Maybe your business has never used direct mail before and you want to give it a try. No matter the case, we’re here to help. We’re experts at direct mail marketing and we can help you with conception, strategy, and production. Contact us today to learn more about our services!