Marketing with Promotional Apparel & SWAG 

Pel Hughes makes marketing with promotional apparel and branded merchandise a breeze. There’s a reason SWAG (stuff we all get) is always popular among new hires, convention/conference attendees, and as gifts to loyal clients or customers—particularly if these items are something that will be used on a frequent basis by their recipients. Below are some wonderful benefits to working with Pel Hughes for all your customized promotional apparel.  

Benefits of Marketing with Promotional Apparel/ Branded SWAG 

Develop a Strong Brand Identity 

Customizing everything from pens and coffee tumblers to t-shirts and zip-up hoodies with your corporate logo helps your business generate a stronger brand identity. Imagine the power of marketing with promotional apparel when your employees are seen out and about with well-made branded apparel, canvas grocery totes, or laptop bags.  

Make Employees Feel Appreciated 

Promotional apparel and SWAG make for excellent gifts to employees in your organization. From onboarding new associates to yearly holiday presents, promotional apparel and useful items like mousepads, metal tumblers, mugs, laptop bags, and umbrellas can make employees feel valued by your company.  

Convey Gratitude to Loyal Clients/Customers 

Longtime customers and clients will certainly enjoy receiving promotional items from your business. When gifting customers, useful yet universally appealing items are best. Gifts like tote bags, lip balm, hand sanitizer, beanies, and ball caps tend to have mass appeal.  

Pel Hughes provides an array of apparel and SWAG to make marketing with promotional products a breeze. Some of our favorite items include: 

The Stanley Quencher H2.0 

Stanley tumblers are wildly popular among many demographics because these tumblers make staying hydrated easy. The 30-ounce size is sleek and can easily fit on any desk or in any cupholder. This product is customizable with your brand’s logo and comes in seven colors.  

Ribbed Knit Beanies 

Beanies are a wonderful and universal option for branded headwear. These ribbed knit beanies are modern, available in various hues, and appealing to almost anyone’s personal style.  

The Urban Messenger Bag 

This messenger bag is modern and has several compartments as well as a laptop sleeve. Perfect for storing everyday essentials, the messenger bag is an affordable yet useful option for conveying appreciation to your associates.  

Full-Zip Lightweight Jacket 

This lightweight jacket looks sleek and professional for casual office days or out-of-the-office events. Available in nine sizes and two colors, this water-repellant jacket is a budget-friendly option for branded office apparel. Pel Hughes offers an assortment of outerwear for both men and women to suit every climate and occasion.  

The Solstice Softbound Journal  

This journal makes an excellent addition to anyone’s desk and is perfect as a yearly gift to employees or loyal customers. Available in seven colors with plenty of space to add your corporate logo, this journal’s per unit cost is very budget-friendly.  

Marketing with promotional apparel is easy with Pel Hughes. Feel free to peruse our website to see all our offerings or give our team a call at (504) 486-8646 to learn more. We serve businesses, non-profit organizations, and educational institutions throughout the United States. 

Personalization in Marketing: Consumer Opinion 

Personalization in marketing is all the rage; and for good reason: it works when it is executed properly. Professional marketers tout personalization as a means to increase sales and build meaningful relationships with clientele. But, as with anything, there can be a dark side to this practice. When it comes to personalized marketing, it’s important for brands to strike a balance. In a nutshell, personalized messaging should be helpful, not intrusive or creepy. Intrusive messaging will send consumers running. Thoughtful and helpful personalized content, on the other hand, could lay the foundation for a loyal customer relationship.  

How Consumers Feel About Helpful Personalization 

When personalization is executed properly, it should enhance a customer’s experience with your brand. Helpful personalized marketing can involve customized landing pages that make product recommendations from past purchases or coupons through direct mail offering a discount for a loyal customer’s birthday. These forms of personalization can show appreciation for your clientele and demonstrate an understanding of their needs. 

When personalization adds value to a customer’s experience, consumers will have positive feelings about a brand. According to the 2023 Consumer Trends Index conducted by Marigold, about 64% of consumers don’t mind sharing information with a brand if it leads to helpful product/service recommendations.  

When Personalization Goes Too Far 

Intrusive personalized marketing creeps out consumers. There’s research to back this notion up, too. Over half of consumers report feeling that their privacy is invaded by brands who use personalization irresponsibly. The bottom line is that consumers don’t want to feel watched or tracked. While most consumers enjoy a better brand experience, overly intrusive personalization will drive them away from your business. A great example of the line between helpful personalization and creepy personalization is search history. Let’s say a consumer is looking into a specific set of symptoms they are experiencing with a Google search and then, moments later, they begin receiving targeted ads and e-mails for remedies or supplements used to treat a suspected health condition related to their symptoms. This chain of messaging can quickly feel intrusive and downright creepy.  

Now, on the other hand, let’s say one of your long-time customers has purchased a specific supplement for several months online. Sending this customer personalized direct mail with a coupon or discount code for a product they have purchased in the past can be seen as helpful. In fact, consumers appreciate it when their loyalty to your product or service is rewarded. According to the 2023 Consumer Trends Index, roughly 82% of consumers favor messaging when their loyalty to a brand is acknowledged.  

Personalization Tips from Pel Hughes 

The printing experts at Pel Hughes are no strangers to personalization in marketing. In fact, our team is committed to helping our clients create well-received customer experiences. Following are some helpful tips for those new to personalized marketing: 

  • Use data responsibly. Be mindful of how your messaging is received by your customers.  
  • Aim to be helpful. If personalization doesn’t add value to your consumers’ experiences, it’s not worth using.  
  • Merge print and digital personalization. You can personalize direct mail with custom URLs, QR codes to curate digital shopping carts, variable data printing and so much more.  
  • Use personalization as an opportunity to treat each consumer as an individual.  

Pel Hughes serves businesses and non-profits in a variety of sectors throughout the United States. We offer graphic design, campaign automation, database services, and stunning direct mail campaigns. Give our friendly pros a call at (504) 486-8646 to learn more about direct mail and personalized marketing. 

Higher Education Marketing: Communicating with Students 

The landscape of higher education has changed. Today, higher education marketing is more important than ever.  In the past, prospective students would request a course catalogue and pamphlets to be delivered via mail. Many students of yesteryear selected colleges based on where their family members attended. In the digital age, however, more students are selecting higher education institutions for the specific programs they offer, hire rates after graduation, and scholarship opportunities. Quite a lot of this information is available online, too so prospective students have an idea of what your institution has to offer before official communication begins.  

Tips for Higher Education Marketing & Communication  

Understand a Student’s Needs & Expectations 

When it comes to higher education marketing, it’s important to present information in a way that treats a student like a customer. Simple, concise, and personalized messaging that highlights the benefits of attending your institution is vital to attracting today’s tech-savvy, information-conscious students. 

 Today’s students enter a highly specialized and competitive workforce. Many of them also take on substantial debt to achieve their desired education and career goals. In short, modern students are under quite a lot of pressure while also facing a good deal of uncertainty. Your institution’s messaging should operate with an understanding of a student’s needs and challenges.  

The crux behind communicating with prospective students is to highlight what your institution and its programs has to offer. How does your university stand out from competitors? Does your institution help students earn internships? What types of career services do your programs offer? These questions can help you tailor your messaging for optimal appeal. 

Include Parents & Guardians in Your Communications 

While students are your primary audience, it is important to bear in mind that their parents and caregivers play a large role in the decision-making process. Like students, parents will have their own concerns and expectations. For example, parents and guardians tend to prioritize campus safety more than students. They may also want to know about social clubs and how students can assuage feelings of isolation and homesickness. This isn’t to say that information about post-graduation hire rates, internships, and tuition costs don’t matter to caregivers and parents. They do.  

Know that Students See Education as an Investment 

Although students at your university may partake in a soiree with their classmates or even join a fraternal organization, today’s students aren’t just attending college for freedom and pub crawls. Modern students are acutely aware of the need for their education to pay off in the long run.  

Aside from purchasing a home, deciding which university to attend is one of the most important decisions a person can make in their lifetime. Most students view higher education as a worthwhile investment in their future. When communicating with prospective students, it is important to center your messaging on how attending your institution can pay off. Perhaps you have a robust network of alumni that have connections in a variety of industries or maybe your university has partnered with a large corporation for internships. This crucial information should be front and center on your direct mail, website, and social media platforms as it can help a student feel empowered in their school search.  

Realize the Importance of Personalization 

Personalized messaging can go a long way with prospective students. Technology makes this quite easy to accomplish, too. PURLs (personalized URLS to landing pages), variable fields in e-mail blasts, and variable data printing, can ensure that both your digital and print communication addresses your recipient by name. Maintaining accurate databases can help, too. Sorting recipients by program/major of interest and demographic data makes it easier to ensure that your communication resonates with their needs.  

Pel Hughes is a woman-owned enterprise serving businesses, universities, and non-profit intuitions throughout the United States. We offer direct mail, cross media marketing, graphic design, campaign automation, and database services. Call our friendly pros at (504) 486-8646 to request a quote or visit our blog for more information about our offerings.  

Personalized Marketing Copy: 5 Tips for Optimal Results 

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Personalized marketing copy can be a game changer—particularly for businesses providing individualized services like dental and healthcare along with brands that produce consumer goods. With personalized marketing copy, you can help set your business apart from your competition by making your customers feel appreciated and valued. Valuing your clientele can go a long way in today’s technology-forward commerce climate.  

Following are five helpful tips to get optimal results from your personalized marketing copy.  

5 Tips for Personalized Marketing Copy 

Keep Your Copy Casual and Relatable 

Using overly technical vernacular in your copy can confuse and even turn away potential customers. Whenever possible, it’s best to use casual and simple language that can highlight the benefits of your goods and/or services with minimal risk of confusion. While maintaining a simple, friendly tone is important, it’s wise to avoid being overly informal as it could come off as unprofessional. Our team recommends creating copy with short sentences, an informative tone, and personalized touches.  

Anticipate Your Customer’s Needs in Your Copy 

Every customer has specific wants and needs. When you draft marketing copy, understanding these needs is critical to creating messages that spurn interest in your goods and services. One way to demonstrate your understanding of your target consumer is to anticipate their needs in your copy and offer solutions to their problems. For example, let’s say you provide residential cleaning services. Your clients likely struggle with keeping a clean home due to time constraints from work and family life. Your copy should recognize your customer’s desire for a cleaner home while also offering a solution: a team of professional cleaners who can make a house spotless in a couple of hours. 

Abide by the Golden Rule 

It might not seem like the Golden Rule applies in business when the focus is on expansion and profits but treating your customers with empathy and respect can go a long way. When drafting marketing copy, ask yourself questions like “if I were in this consumer’s shoes, what type of communication would resonate with me?” With marketing copy, your mission is to make decision-making easier for your potential customer. Highlighting the unique advantages associated with purchasing from your brand is a great way to demonstrate to your consumers that you value their wants and needs.  

Consider Feedback from Surveys 

One way to connect with your customers is to conduct brand surveys and carefully evaluate the feedback. Understanding the wants and needs of your customer base helps foster long-term relationships with your business. Customers want to be understood and appreciated so implementing surveys and taking constructive criticism seriously shows your clientele that you make their satisfaction with your products and services a priority. The results of these surveys can help shape the tone and direction of your future content, which can help your brand build staying power.  

Leverage CRM Databases to Your Advantage 

CRM databases are valuable tools to help you produce content that resonates with your target consumers. You can use CRM technology to create detailed personas of the people who purchase from your brand as well as those who show interest in your business by interacting with your social media and website. CRM makes it possible to understand what messages drive customer interaction and their purchases. These reliable metrics can be used to make sure your personalized marketing copy strikes a chord with customers.  

Print and digital personalized marketing copy can make a world of difference in your messaging. Our team at Pel Hughes can help you develop personalized marketing campaigns through e-mail, direct mail, social media, and more. We also provide online databases to store approved brand messages, retargeting technology, variable data printing, and CRM software to help you create effective personalized marketing.  

Give our friendly experts a call today at (504) 486-8646 to request a quote.  

 

 

Marketing Trends: Hot Colors for 2023 

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A new year is almost upon us and for professional marketers, that means it’s time to develop editorial calendars for next year’s marketing projects as well as finalize the overall aesthetic of a brand’s messaging for the new year. Color, like anything else, follows trends based upon world events, popular culture, and a host of other social factors. When the calendar rolls to a new year, people tend to focus on the future so tapping into marketing trends is a great way to help ensure that next year’s content will resonate with consumers.

How Color Marketing Trends are Determined

A few well-known organizations like Pantone and the Color Marketing Group (CMG) contribute to analyzing upcoming trends with color. The Color Marketing Group, a non-profit organization, takes a deep dive in color trends and produces a color forecast on a regular basis. Analyzing world events, social changes, and high volumes of data is involved in their color recommendations for brands and marketers. You can view a more detailed analysis of this year’s upcoming color marketing trends by clicking here.

Color Marketing Trends for the New Year

For 2023, CMG determined that space, emerging technology, the rise of digital commerce, and environmental issues are the driving forces behind determining the upcoming year’s color trends. CMG also evaluates the psychological impact color has considering world events and social changes to develop their marketing recommendations.

Following are some key takeaways from the CMG color forecast that you should know.

Warmth 

After years of contending with a global pandemic and economic uncertainty, consumers are gravitating towards comfort. This fact has demonstrated that warm colors, particularly warm reds, yellows, and oranges pique consumer interest. Warm colors have a comforting effect on the psyche and can be implemented beautifully in marketing materials for several industries. Focusing on a warm aesthetic doesn’t mean that blues and greens are out the window. Warm earthy tones can be balanced in marketing materials with cool-toned blues and sage greens.

Neutrals 

Neutrals have a big place in 2023—especially in packaging. As consumers desire more environmentally conscious goods, brands are responding by reducing their reliance on dyes for packaging and mailing boxes. The general public’s acceptance of neutrals is certainly beneficial to companies utilizing raw and recycled materials for their packaging and products.

Invigorating & Bold Black 

One surprising addition to the CMG color forecast is a specific black called “Bohld”. This hue isn’t just any black either. It’s a rich, inviting black that evokes feelings of creativity and contemplation rather than darkness or sadness. Bohld is a great choice for direct mail materials, logos, and digital graphics.

While awareness of color marketing trends is helpful, it’s important to work with design professionals. A graphic designer can help you implement trending colors while maintaining your existing brand’s aesthetic so that new marketing materials won’t confuse your clientele.

Pel Hughes is a full-service printing company that provides cross media marketing, campaign automation, database services, and graphic design. Call our marketing experts at (504) 486-8646 to learn more.

Psychology Hacks for Marketing & Advertising 

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With widespread access to the Internet and social media, today’s consumers have abundant purchasing options and a wealth of information at their fingertips. This can make selling your service or products more difficult as you likely face steep competition from your peers in business. Producing effective marketing and advertising campaigns is a necessity to stand apart from your competition and break through the onslaught of brand messaging consumers see on a daily basis. Implementing these psychology hacks for marketing can help you develop compelling messaging that resonates with consumers.  

Helpful Psychology Hacks for Marketing & Advertising 

Tap into the Power of Social Proof  

Social proof is a powerful psychological phenomenon. Human beings are a highly social species and respond to messaging that conveys the popularity of a product or service. A common example of social proof you have likely seen is the classic “As Seen On TV” icon found on packaging for consumer goods like appliances, kitchenware, and gadgets. The “As Seen on TV” icon legitimizes a product or service by demonstrating that other people have used and bought a particular item.  

Essentially, social proof helps consumers feel more comfortable making purchases. While not every product or service can be advertised on television, smaller brands and businesses can use social proof by sharing testimonials, positive reviews, follow counts from official social media pages, and more. For example, highlighting testimonials in an easily-seen location on a website’s product page is a great way to benefit from the social proof phenomenon.  

Use Symbols & Shapes to Enhance Your Brand Messaging 

As visual creatures, people respond to images. The way our brains are wired makes the use of symbols in marketing especially powerful. One easy-to-implement example is placing checkmarks in your copy. For instance, rather than using traditional bullet points, use checkmarks in your copy for bulleted lists. Our brains interpret checkmarks like we would a green light at an intersection. Checkmarks send the message that we are on the right track and can positively influence our decision-making behavior.  

Shapes help convey your brand’s tone, too. Following is some helpful information on how particular shapes enhance your messaging: 

  • Triangles: Psychologically-speaking, triangles evoke emotions of stability and strength. Common brands that utilize triangles in their messaging include Mitsubishi and Adidas. Triangular shapes can often be found in branding and logos for legal practices and businesses in scientific industries. 
  • Horizontal Lines: Lines oriented horizontally convey tranquility and community. A famous example of horizontal lines used effectively is IBM’s logo.  
  • Vertical Lines: Suggesting masculinity, aggression, and strength, vertical lines are eye-catching and attention-grabbing when used in infographics, logos, banner images, and in printed marketing pieces like direct mail.  
  • Circles and Ovals: There’s a reason circular shapes are wildly popular in marketing and advertising materials. Well-known brands like Ford, Land Rover, Pepsi, and GE all incorporate ovals and circles in their imaging. Circular shapes are associated with feelings of unity, community, and trust.  

These psychology hacks for marketing only scratch the surface. There’s been a wealth of research devoted to this topic, especially the effect shapes, font, and color have on consumer emotion. In a previous blog post, our team delved into the psychological effects of color on consumer habits, which you can read by clicking here. The pros at Pel Hughes recommend devoting some time to studying the psychological impact that graphic design can have on your business for optimal marketing and advertising campaigns.  

Based in New Orleans, Pel Hughes is a woman-owned, full-service printing company that offers graphic design, direct mail campaigns, database services, and campaign automation. Give us a call at (504) 486-8646 to request a quote on your next project.  

Five Must-See Inspirational Ad Campaigns 

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Inspirational ad campaigns can leave a lasting impression on the general public. This form of advertising is great for for-profit and non-profit organizations—especially when inspiration is executed with authenticity. Inspirational ad campaigns can generate powerful responses, brand loyalty, and increased sales. Many times, inspirational ads go viral because their content is share-worthy on social media or discussion-worthy over the water cooler in workplaces. Following are five inspirational ad campaigns that the experts at Pel Hughes love.

5 Positive & Inspirational Ad Campaigns

#1 Stabilo Boss 

In 2018, Stabilo Boss launched the “Highlight the Remarkable” ad campaign. These ads literally highlighted women in history who made noteworthy contributions to society that were overlooked in their time. In the example below, Stabilo Boss highlighted Katherine Johnson in a group photo at Nasa. The ad featured copy discussing her contributions as a mathematician for NASA’s Apollo 11 mission. Katherine Johnson’s calculations were instrumental in the safe return of astronauts to Earth. This ad campaign won numerous awards and went viral on social media.

Image Source: Ad Week

#2 Always 

The Always “#likeagirl” campaign turned a common, gendered insult on its head. These series of ads showcased women and girls playing a variety of sports. This campaign juxtaposed common insults such as “run like a girl” or “throw like a girl” with footage of young athletes performing their respective sports very well. Utilizing a hashtag in the #likeagirl campaign was a brilliant way to increase the virality of the advertisements while inviting social media users to share their own experiences with gendered insults and sports performance.

Image Source: Always

#3 The Movember Foundation 

The Movember Foundation is a non-profit organization that raises awareness for men’s health concerns, particularly mental health, testicular cancer, and prostate cancer. On World Suicide Prevention Day, the Movember Foundation launched a PSA on YouTube called “Unmute & Ask Him”. This short video featured a man speaking about his mental health struggles while the subtitles displayed grilling tips. This jarring disconnect between perception and reality highlighted the fact that societal pressure and gender norms led to men stifling their feelings. This PSA was a call for people to check on the men in their lives and encourage them to speak candidly about their wellbeing.

You can view the “Unmute & Ask Him” campaign on YouTube.

#4 P&G 

P&G (formerly known as Procter & Gamble) is one of the largest companies in the world with dozens of household brands such as Crest Toothpaste, Dawn, Always, Bounty Paper Towels, and Pantene. As a worldwide manufacturer of popular consumer goods, P&G sought to highlight the sacrifices of mothers across the world by showcasing how their nurturing and support helped Olympic athletes achieve their goals. The “Thank You, Mom” series of ads showcased video footage of mothers who raised champions. Launched in 2010, the “Thank you, Mom” ad series was the most successful campaign in P&G’s 175-year existence. It resulted in a $500 million increase in global sales and earned over 74, 000,000 views.

Image Source: Business Wire

#5 Dove 

In an effort to promote body positivity and inclusion, Dove launched the “Real Beauty” series of advertisements. Featured in photographs and videos, the “Real Beauty” campaigns showcased ethnically-diverse models as well as models with a variety of body types and sizes. These ads also featured women of different ages. This shift toward promoting diversity and inclusion was ahead of its time when Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign launched in 2004.

Image Source: Live Oak Communications

Positivity, gratitude, and inspiration can go a long way with consumers. Incorporating stories of triumph and inclusion can be a winning formula in your next advertising campaign. If you need help with your cross media marketing, direct mail, or graphic design, give the friendly pros at Pel Hughes a call at (504) 486-8646 to request a quote. We offer a wealth of resources to businesses and non-profits alike, including campaign automation, database services, and full-service printing.

What is CRM marketing? 

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CRM or “customer relationship management” is a hot concept in marketing and advertising. While CRM utilizes advanced software, it is more accessible to small businesses and organizations than you might think. CRM marketing can efficiently streamline your digital and print advertising, reduce labor costs, and help maintain relationships with your existing and prospective customers.  

Chances are, your business is utilizing some form of CRM marketing if you produce automated e-mail blasts and newsletters. There are abundant options in the software world for businesses of all sizes across many industries. Popular CRM marketing software you may have heard of includes Zoho, Salesforce, Zendesk, and Hubspot.  

What can CRM marketing software do for my business? 

CRM marketing software is essentially a way to organize important information to enhance advertising efforts, customer service interactions, and sales. Great examples of how CRM can help your business include: 

  • Organize data for marketers to personalize campaigns including e-mail and direct mail marketing. 
  • Provide sales representatives with relevant data on purchase history during customer interactions. 
  • Assist customer service professionals with customer history related to purchases.  
  • Compile demographic data to glean the effectiveness of past marketing campaigns. 
  • Help strengthen brand messaging based on sales performance, particularly when tied to purchasing activity of specific demographics. 

Although CRM software is heavily used in marketing, this technology can provide effective support across many departments including customer service, sales, and the development of upcoming products or services.  

How can CRM software improve marketing? 

One of the biggest challenges marketers face is replicating results of successful marketing campaigns. Determining what messaging works, which customers resonate with specific campaigns, and how to ensure messaging reaches targeted consumers is a daunting task. Fortunately, CRM software organizing your data can make a world of difference.  

Organizing and analyzing data is a powerful tool for marketers. CRM software can provide data on interactions likes clicks and views on digital platforms as well as response rates on direct mail campaigns. This data can also reveal what types of messaging resonates with particular demographics along with insight on where your marketing campaigns fall short. Evaluating CRM data makes it possible to recreate successful marketing campaigns and discard tactics that don’t have a quantifiable impact.  

CRM Makes Personalized Marketing Easier for Small Businesses 

While it’s certainly true that the titans of industry are utilizing CRM for personalized messaging to consumers, small businesses can benefit from this technology, too. CRM can make sending targeted digital and direct mail to specific groups of existing and prospective consumers easy and efficient.  

The marketing experts at Pel Hughes can help. In addition to print advertising like direct mail, we offer database services, campaign automation, and an online portal for clients called “Storefront”. If you’d like to take your print and digital marketing to the next level, give our friendly team a call at (504) 486-8646. We serve businesses and organizations of all sizes throughout Louisiana and beyond.  

Marketing with Storytelling 

Marketing with storytelling is a compelling way to engage consumers. Science backs this notion up, too. When information is presented in the format of a story, it is far more likely to be committed to memory. Marketing with storytelling also helps connect a consumer to your brand and its products. Storytelling isn’t just for for-profit businesses. This content marketing tactic is especially effective for cause-based organizations. To help our clients better understand the powerful nature of storytelling, we’ve compiled a list of great content marketing examples.

Examples of Marketing with Storytelling

#1 Eva Stories 

This example is especially useful in the context of non-profit marketing. When tech billionaire, Mati Kochavi and his daughter learned that only 60% of millennials could identify Auschwitz, they developed a campaign called “Eva Stories”, which chronicled a Holocaust victim’s life from Instagram. This idea was conceptualized by Kovachi’s daughter when she pondered what a Holocaust victim’s life would look like if their experience was documented through a social media platform. Eva Stories involved delving into the real-life experiences of a Hungarian child named Eva Heyman, who kept a diary that chronicled everyday hardships like her parent’s divorce and the intensity of teenage crushes. Eva Stories culminated with her deportation and internment in Auschwitz.

Framing Eva’s tragic life from a modern perspective helped younger people visualize the plight of very real human beings affected by the Holocaust. Eva Stories captured audiences’ attention in record time; the Instagram account gained over a million followers within a day of going live. This powerful example helped expand the reach of Holocaust education to younger generations.

Image Source: KCRW

#2 Coca Cola Incorporates Augmented Reality

Augmented reality (AR) marketing is an easy way to incorporate visual storytelling. Coca Cola implemented storytelling by selling scannable soft drink cans. This technology made it possible for consumers to use their smartphones to scan a can of soda and subsequently watch a short advertisement. One of Coca Cola’s most beloved holiday advertising themes, its polar bears, were depicted in augmented reality videos. These videos displayed content like the polar bears playing Christmas songs with glass coke bottles or sledding over the snow.

Other storytelling campaigns via AR that Coca Cola implemented were videos of animated characters resolving conflict by sharing a coke. This campaign resonated well with tech-savvy, younger consumers in Mexico.

AR storytelling can easily be implemented on print advertising materials such as direct mail through QR codes and PURLs—something that our team at Pel Hughes is familiar with producing for our clients.

Image Source: Marketing Dive

#3 Guinness’ “Made of More” Campaign 

In an effort to promote more inclusivity in marketing, Guinness deployed the “Made of More” campaign, which highlighted diversity of Rugby athletes. In one video used in this campaign, Guinness showed the history of the Japanese female rugby team, Liberty Fields RFC. This short video depicted the gender norms of 1989 juxtaposed with Liberty Fields RFC defying those norms as formidable and successful athletes. The imagery used in this campaign involved video footage from actual rugby games along with reenactments performed by actors to illustrate the dedication and resilience of a pioneering team of female athletes.

You can view the entire advertisement on Vimeo.

Image Source: Attest

Marketing with storytelling can take your advertising game to the next level. Pel Hughes can help you implement storytelling campaigns into your e-mail marketing and direct mail advertising with QR codes and PURLs. Give our helpful team a call at (504) 486-8646 to learn more about our services for businesses and non-profit organizations.

Changing Consumer Habits and How to Respond to Them 

Changing consumer habits has entrepreneurs across the world rethinking how their messaging and sales reach their customer base. These trends will also impact how businesses advertise and market their products or offerings. According to the Harvard Business Review, these changing consumer habits could make conventional sales obsolete. As a specific example, when it comes to B2B sales, more than 54% of millennials prefer making purchases without the help of a traditional sales rep. 

Historically, marketing was used to present compelling content to help sales professionals complete a transaction. In light of widespread digital consumership, pandemics, and a host of other factors, marketing and sales seem to be merging. The days of employing sales professionals to serve as an intermediary between the consumer and the product are dwindling. A great example of this the auto industry. Today, consumers have abundant options for purchasing cars and quite a lot of these options don’t involve physically visiting an auto dealership. Instead, purchasers can search for cars online and can even purchase a vehicle digitally—all without a traditional dealership representative. This phenomenon is happening across the world in nearly every industry, too. 

On the one hand, this trend can be great for business. After all, getting the customer directly to a product reduces the need for a large labor force. On the other hand, though, the messaging that compels a consumer to buy a product must be very precise and informative. Today, marketing and advertising is so much more than promoting a product. This messaging must also inform the consumer on where and how to purchase a product or service, then supply the infrastructure to facilitate sales transactions quickly and easily.

Responding to Changing Consumer Habits

One successful example businesses can draw on is a Canadian software company, called SMART, which supplies technology to educators. When this company’s leaders realized changing consumer trends, they overhauled their business model. Now, SMART operates with a “Unified Commercial Engine” that maps the consumer experience without conventional sales reps. In this process, SMART identified the chain of events for consumers, which includes: learning about a product, buying/ordering a product, installing a product, and receiving tech support after a purchase has been made. This company shifted its labor force to accommodate the stages of consumer interaction and has seen significant success in aligning their procedures to changing consumer trends.

Businesses can draw inspiration from SMART’s proactive approach. By understanding their clientele’s purchasing experience, SMART was able to align their brand’s messaging to educate consumers on specific products and purchasing options.

One important aspect of delving into the consumer’s experience and purchasing behavior involves analyzing data and feedback from clientele. Today’s consumers dedicate ample time to researching products and services before making purchases. Accommodating this behavior involves providing visual story content in the form of infographics, videos, and photo-supported marketing copy. Humans can process visual content at a rate 60,000 times faster than standalone text. Information about your products and services should be easily scannable. This means, marketing content should incorporate bullet points and concise sentence structure.  Presenting information in an easily digestible format has a positive effect on consumer engagement.

Another way to facilitate consumer engagement is by merging print and digital marketing. Print advertising can be used to enhance a consumer’s online interactions with your brand. A great example of this is utilizing direct mail retargeting after a potential customer demonstrates interest in your services or products. For example, direct mail retargeting can send advertising materials like coupons or discount codes after a consumer has added items to a digital shopping cart or submitted an e-mail subscription form.

Responding to changing consumer habits is a massive undertaking but facilitating a great consumer experience is attainable with well-executed marketing and a proactive approach. The experts at Pel Hughes can help. We offer database services, direct mail retargeting, graphic design, and a number of other services to help businesses attract today’s savvy consumers. Give our team a call at (504) 486-8646 to learn more.