For new businesses, small companies, or establishments new to digital marketing, PDF magazines are a budget-friendly and simple way to start. This form of digital literature allows publishers to keep the same print format but offer a convenient option for those on the go. PDF magazines are easy to create and cost much less compared to printing physical copies but offer few features.

Ease into Flip-Books

A “flip-book” is similar to PDF magazines but give readers more features. Also known as digital magazines, there are different formats available. These online magazines allow readers to search for content, zoom in and out, and advanced features such as bookmarks. Flip-books keep the traditional book format allowing them to view and turn pages exactly as they would with a real magazine.

Understand the Age of Blogging

When the print presence of a business begins to lower or simply does not exist, blogging is the best solution for most types of publications. Blogs are not only cost-effective but they are far more popular now than decades ago. A successful blogging strategy is more effective than most print methods and is easy to distribute. Blog subscribers receive email updates and commonly follow the company’s RSS feed.

Print-to-web is a vital marketing strategy to succeed in business today. More consumers are looking online for products and services without considering a magazine or catalog. Learn more about print-to-web strategies that work for every industry.

Social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, are massive marketing tools for businesses. However, having a sign, postcard or newspaper advertisement telling readers to “like” your social media profile is not efficient. Enter into the equation QR codes. Also known as a Quick Response code, this is a useful tool for inbound marketing in the hands of potential customers and clients.

How QR Codes Work

A QR code is a square shaped symbol filled with matrix code that functions in the same way as a bar code on a product at the supermarket. Individuals can scan these codes using a digital reader with a camera feature, such as a smartphone or tablet. The information saved within the QR code will lead the user to a social media site, where they are then able to like or comment on your profile. For instance, someone can read about your business in a magazine. If you’ve included a QR code for your social media profile, they’ll be able to scan the code so to connect with your social media page.

Creating QR Codes

Start by utilizing a website that will create a QR code for you. All you need in order to create a QR code is the address to the website in which you want to connect to using the code.

Utilizing a QR Code

Once you have a QR code you can print off a copy of the code and paste it onto various forms of print media. For example, you would want to include the QR code for your social media sites along with your press releases, advertisements, YouTube videos, and business cards. Brick and mortar establishments for businesses often include a QR code linking to their social media page on signs placed strategically throughout the building. By allowing customers to connect to your social media site in a clever and efficient manner, you ensure that more individuals are reaching your marketing platform on the web.

Don’t neglect direct mailing just because you’re heavily invested in the online marketing world. Direct mailers are a viable marketing method, particularly if you want to build up your business locally. However, there are right and wrong ways to go about a direct mail piece.

Do:

  • Make it clear what the offer is.
  • Provide a call to action.
  • Consider using QR codes on your mailer to send the recipient to a website for additional information.
  • Send out a targeted mailing about specials and seasonal sales.
  • Provide as much information as possible on your products or services to help increase the response rate.
  • Incorporate direct mailing in an on-going campaign instead of a one off, as repeated exposure is necessary to build up brand trust and recognition.

Don’t:

  • Purchase untargeted address lists and waste the time and expense sending out mailers to people who won’t be interested in your offer.
  • Work with designers who have only worked in the online space, and do not understand the advantages and limitations that direct mailer formats have to offer.
  • Send out a single, unsuccessful mailer and decide that direct mailing doesn’t work for you. Direct mail response rates take some time to build up, and you have to send out repeated mailers to see the impact.
  • Check work sent from outsourced printers. If you’re going to save money on your direct mailing costs by outsourcing it to a cheap bulk printer, get some proofs before you send it out.

Direct marketing puts the customer and the business in direct contact with one another, therefore the term direct. The main benefit of using this form of marketing is that the results can be measured using hard data, such as through numbers or statistics. This allows marketers to understand if the applications they are using to engage customers are working. In terms of applications of direct marketing, there are several to mention.

Print Media

Years before there was Internet, print media ruled the world of direct marketing. Today it is still useful, albeit with less of an emphasis. Catalog distribution, fliers and promotional letters are three of the most common forms of direct marketing. Additionally, if your business publishes magazine or newspaper advertisements that encourage a response, such as a survey or coupon to be used in a store, this would be considered direct marketing.

Internet Methods

As email became a commonplace way to communicate, it joined the ranks of direct marketing applications. Often you will see web based forms asking users to submit their email address either for contest entries, a newsletter sign up, or to receive free material such as an eBook. This is another form of direct marketing as it allows businesses to create a database using the email addresses of web users. Blogs that promote interaction between customers are another form of direct marketing online. The website advertisements that encourage users to click to redirect to a business’s page allows marketers to track web users’ activities so they can measure the success rate of such ads.

Mobile Technology

One of the first direct marketing applications using the telephone was through telemarketing. Marketers continue to use this technique. However, the methods have changed from cold-calling to connecting with customers who call in to customer service agencies for specific needs, such as when signing up for a credit card or updating banking information via the telephone. Cell phones with their ability to text message provide businesses with another form of direct marketing. This application allows marketers to reach customers through their mobile devices as yet another means of connecting with potential customers. Often times a text will include a coupon or sales ad that will promote a business, while helping marketers track the users of this application of direct marketing.

Facebook has become one of the most dynamic and profitable advertising venues in the history of advertising. In just the third quarter of 2013, Facebook earned over $2 billion in revenue thanks to its successful advertising model. There is a reason why Facebook has been able to generate so much revenue: advertisers on Facebook have access to a large and captive audience that can be narrowly targeted based on income, interests, location, etc. for a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising.

However, not everyone that advertises on Facebook is getting their money’s worth. There are certain tactics and strategies that can dramatically increase the effectiveness of your advertising dollar. The following are some best practices everyone should adhere to:

Write simple and straightforward copy: The content of your ad should be simple and easy to understand. People on Facebook aren’t looking to read a long treatise, especially when it is an ad, so make sure your message is clear, specific, and simple.

Include a call to action: This advertising technique has been used for decades, and it remains true today. Every ad should directly ask the viewer to act. Whether this is visiting a website, taking advantage of a limited time offer, or anything else, make sure everyone that sees your ad and is interested in it knows what the next step is.

Narrowly target your advertisement: Facebook offers an advertising experience that traditional outlets like TV and radio simply cannot. With Facebook ads, you can drill down to a very specific audience. This means that an 19 year old single boy will not receive an ad for a retirement home.

Track the data: Facebook offers a suite of tools to track how each specific ad is doing. Use these tools to divert advertising funds away from campaigns that are not working and towards campaigns that are.

New Orleans-based Pel Hughes is a printing and marketing services provider that delivers relevant marketing solutions to an array of clients – ranging from individual customers, to casinos, businesses, banks, schools and more.

Challenge

Pel Hughes recognized many marketing departments today fail to track conversions generated from voice interactions, creating a significant blind spot around the true success or failure of individual marketing campaigns. Companies engaged in direct mail campaigns, in particular, often send out thousands of mailers with a phone number call-to-action – yet don’t track the actual volume, quality and conversion rates associated with those phone leads. Pel Hughes wanted to extend their metrics-driven consultative approach to include phone call conversion measurement, offering their clients a more comprehensive understanding of their marketing campaign ROI.

Business Solution

Pel Hughes looked to Ifbyphone for an easy-to-implement, cost effective call tracking solution that would enable clients to measure voice interactions for the first time.

Leveraging Ifbyphone call tracking, which Pel Hughes Senior Account Executive, Paul Stackpole, considers “invaluable,” customers are shown a full reporting suite that displays how many phone calls each marketing campaign generated. A full dashboard also showcases the volume of call-based conversions.

Results

Pel Hughes’ clients now have a more comprehensive understanding of ROI figures, enabling them to efficiently allocate marketing dollars to the campaigns and materials that are actually driving leads.

For instance, a leading Texas-based utilities company that engaged Pel Hughes experienced a 100% jump in response rate for a 500,000-piece monthly direct mail campaign. In tracking the voice interactions that resulted from these mailers, Pel Hughes helped the utilities company better optimize the campaigns.

“Once we started using Ifbyphone, we were able to deliver all-inclusive tracking and give our clients the capability to more comprehensively understand marketing campaign ROI,” said Stackpole. “Call tracking has really opened our eyes and helped us close a big loop in providing marketing optimization tactics in a multi-channel manner.”

Since engaging Ifbyphone and receiving so much positive feedback from clients, Pel Hughes has integrated call tracking into every campaign across their suite of offerings. Going forward, the company plans to continue leveraging Ifbyphone call tracking to provide customers with actionable feedback on campaign success.

Your website is the equivalent of a physical storefront. If visitors can’t find it through the search engines, they are not going to translate into sales for your business. This is why it is so important to have a website that is SEO-friendly. This will increase your search engine rankings and help you drive more traffic to your site.

Crawlable Link Structure

The search engine spiders are constantly looking at new webpages to determine how to rank them. However, it is also important for the spiders to find more than one page on your website. This means you need to make sure your website is structured in a way where the links create a natural flow for the spiders to follow. This will increase your search rankings.

Proper Keyword Usage

This can be one of the most difficult aspects for many web designers. When they are creating content for a website, they may think the more often they use a keyword, the better the site will rank. Today, search engines look at quality, as well as which keywords are used. In addition, the search engine spiders work hard to identify websites that overuse keywords. There is a delicate balance in the number of times these words should be used to attract the attention of the search engines.

Tags

Tags are extremely important to the success of your website on the search engines. For instance, you title tags should run about 65 to 75 characters long and include the keyword near the front of the tag. Meta tags should also be used to increase your rankings on the search engines. These tags should also include the keyword and provide a good description of what the page is about.

When you make use of these important SEO elements, you will increase the rankings of your page. when your site ranks better on the search engines, you will generate more traffic, which in turn will equal more sales for your business. This will help you build a productive business online.

Social media encourages online readers to interact with one another through comments, likes and web based friendships. While businesses are encouraged to use social media to market their services or products, it can be an overwhelming process. Certain social media sites are more popular, whereas others are targeted for particular audiences. Here are the social media sites you should be focusing on.

Facebook is the most popular social media site with more than 1 billion active users worldwide. Eleven million businesses have pages on this social networking site. Therefore, you can bet you should have one of your own. The key here is to remain active by adding posts on a daily or bi-weekly basis. Additionally, to build up your social network on Facebook, respond to comments posted to your page.

Twitter is the second most popular social media site, attracting more than 200 million active users. While your comments are limited to 140 characters, this fast moving social networking format allows you to share information with a wide range of Twitter followers. Join groups and build your network to expand your horizontal reach. However, keep in mind that the number of followers you have should be approximately equal to the number of people who you are following in order to get the most out of your Twitter handle.

Other social media sites that offer more specific services include YouTube, Pinterest and LinkedIn. YouTube is ideal for sharing videos, which can become viral in an instant. Create commercials, offer how-to videos, and explain your products on YouTube. Pinterest is another visual media site, yet here you are focused on photos rather than videos. You should set up a board, or twenty, that offers helpful tips, links to blogs, and projects that are on par for your target audience. Include “pins” to your own website or blog on your boards for better results.

LinkedIn is a professional networking site that allows businesses, colleagues and job seekers to interact. For your business, include a comprehensive history of your company along with any contact information for potential employees. You should also create a personal profile illustrating your resume details and work history so to attract potential clients and customers.

Although they are often overlooked, direct mail campaigns are one of the most effective means of promoting your business. In order for it to be successful, however, there are a few key elements you should incorporate into the campaign.

Research your target area. Choosing the right target area for your mailing is critical. Make sure the recipients are ones most likely to benefit from your products or services. For example, a roofing and siding company would not benefit by targeting newly built homes.

Create a mailer that stands out. Whether it’s a post-card, flyer, brochure or letter, your mailer needs to be eye-catching and attract the reader’s attention immediately. Grabbing the recipients’ attention will be the difference between having your mailer be read or tossed into the trash without a second glance. Use bright and bold colors, easy to read text and an opening sentence that makes them want to read more.

Make an offer. The point of a direct mail campaign is to attract business. Give the customers a reason to want to do business with you. For example, a service based company can give a discount offer on services performed, a product based company can offer a free item.

Provide company information. This is key! Customers can’t contact you if they don’t have your contact information. Be sure to supply a range of methods including your business location, phone number, website and social media platforms. Consider placing a QR code on your mailer if it fits with your target audience.

Send multiple mailings. Sometimes, your first mailer is cast aside. Maybe even the second. It often takes several mailers to obtain a response.

Track your results. Develop a way to track the results of your direct marketing campaign so that you can measure its effectiveness. This information can be used to improve future direct marketing campaigns.