When I first was introduced to this piece of offset printing equipment and shown all that it can do, my jaw dropped and my mouth fell open.  I had been in the offset printing industry. working around all types of equipment from small offset presses to large 8 unit heat-set web presses for the past 20 years.

But this HP Indigo was truly amazing!!

A true offset press, totally digital in it’s operation, using liquid inks and producing as fine of offset printing as I had ever seen.  But the truly amazing feature is that every press sheet that is delivered from the press can be completely different from the press sheet before and the press sheet following.

This gives our customers the ability to provide a database of client information with a link from each entry to a linked database of images.  With every revolution of the digital plate cylinder, all images and information being printed can change.  This is as the press is running at full speed.

What this does for you is allows you to personalize all marketing information that you want to present to your audiance of one, in full 4 color process, whether it be colored type, graphics, or photos.

This a truly beautiful way to market.  Truly customized marketing material directed to that all important client, in the best format to reach that one client.  And this can be done for one client or a hundred thousand clients or prospects.

At A Digital Printer we can show you how and prove it to your satisfaction.  http://www.ADigitalPrinter.com  Toll Free 877-930-5200

I call this concept of the time to act is now, “Nike consciousness”,  Just Do It!!

Any research proof that you want can be found on the web.  A great amount is available at The Direct Marketing Association, (http://www.the-dma.org), under the research tab, white papers section.

A wonderful resource of knowledge on the tremendous benefits of personalized direct mail marketing and how to effectively do it right is Brook Vericker, owner, President, CEO and General Manager at A Digital Printer.  He can show you how or direct you to the resource that you need.

 Call or email him today.  Start the process of increasing your sales, profits and ROI with personalized, direct mail marketing.

Remember, Just Do It!!.  As General George S. Patton put it in the movie Patton, “A good, workable plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow”.

At A Digital Printer we can show you how and prove it to your satisfaction.  Toll Free 877-930-5200, or http://www.ADigitalPrinter.com

Have a mail piece designed by a professional designer who understands the incredible value of highly targeted and personalized direct mail.  This uses your customer list to it’s fullest advantages and potential.

Market to an audience of one, with a highly targeted and personalized message.  If you don’t do this, The Direct Marketing Association research and statistics show that;  85% or more of a companies advertising goes un-noticed along with 85% or more of their advertising dollars wasted!  97% or more of a companies direct mail marketing materials go into the trash or recycle bin . . . unopened, along with 97% or more of their direct mail marketing dollars!

The answer to this terrible waste of a companies advertising and marketing dollars is individually personalized and customized printing via direct mail to a highly targeted client or prospect.  According to The Direct Marketing Association research and statistics, personalized direct mail campaigns, which utilize variable data printing, have proven to be extremely effective, particularly as the level of personalization leads to increased relevance.

You can expect;  An increase in client or prospect response by 3 to 10 times and more, (that’s 300% to 1000% and more).  An increase in client retention, loyalty of existing clients while attracting new clients.  An increase in the Return on Investment, (R.O.I.), of your marketing dollars, as shown in the following example;

Traditional Fixed Image Direct Mail

Production costs: 25,000 pieces @ $0.40 each = $10,000

2% Response rate = 500

Revenue model: 500 @ $100 average sale = $50,000

Production cost as % of revenue = 20%

R.O.I. = 5.0 x

Cost per response = $20

Profit = $40,000

Highly Targeted, Personalized Direct Mail

Production costs: 12,500 pieces @ $0.80 each = $10,000

10% Response rate = 1,250

Revenue model: 1,250 @ $100 average sale = $125,000

Production cost as % of revenue = 8%

R.O.I. = 12.5 x

Cost per response = $8

Profit = $115,000

Our clients that use variable data printing and personalized direct mail marketing are experiencing the kind of client response rates that are usually only dreamed of.  Our finished products are always full color, high quality materials from our digital offset printing equipment.  True on-demand printing from a single personalized piece to however many you need.  Both competitively priced fixed image, digital printing or personalized, variable data imaging from one trusted source.With our digital press equipment you save money by printing only the quantities you need, printing only when you need the materials and for a fraction of the cost of fixed image offset printing.  This saves you money on the costs of higher quantity print runs, storage and warehousing costs and obsolete printed materials that end up being recycled.If a higher return on investment (ROI) and a higher response rate on what you print, interests and excites you, then call us today for a quote on your next printing project!

At A Digital Printer we can show you how and prove it to your satisfaction.  http://www.ADigitalPrinter.com, Toll Free 877-930-5200

One approach that I’ve seen small business owners use is to:

Spend their time and creative juices to write an award winning, (but generic), letter, (and usually re-write, and re-write, and re-write, etc).  Lets call this 2 hours of labor, at maybe $50 per hour, this is $100 worth of the owners time and effort.

Print out 600 copies, (we just made up 600 clients for our illustration), on their pre-printed company letterhead.  At maybe $25 per 100 sheets plus printer time and ink lets call it $40 per 100 or $240 for the 600 letters.

Hand sign each letter.  Lets be generous and say 10 letters per minute.  That is another hour of the owners time.  $50.

Hand fold each letter.  Throw another hour at that task.  $50.

Hand insert each letter into their pre-printed company envelopes.  Printed envelopes at another $25 per 100 is another $150

Hand stamp each envelope.  Throw another hour at that.  $50.  Plus the 39 cent first class stamp or postage, is $234 in postage.  Total is $284.

And finally hand deliver the pile of advertising material to the local post office, (or mail drop box on the corner).  Done on the way home, free.

Total for this generic advertising letter, printed in black only is $874.  Or about $1.41 for each letter.

The response to the generic letter to actual customers might be as high as say 10 percent.  That is 60 responses, or a cost of $14.57 per response.

If you convert about 1/3 of the responses to actual sales, this would be 20 sales, at an advertising cost of $43.70 per sale.

Hope you are selling something that will pay for this and give you an actual positive return on your investment.

That is one way to do it.

Next we will explore some other methods that can be less costly per sale and a better return on your invested time and money.

At A Digital Printer we can show you how and prove it to your satisfaction.  http://www.ADigitalPrinter.com, Toll Free 877-930-5200

Marketing is a broad based subject and by looking at the various categories of marketing it is easier to understand some of the principles involved.  Sometimes a little humor helps in remembering and understanding how this all works in our daily lives.

Marketing Categories:

You see a handsome guy at a party. You go up to him and say, “I’m fantastic in bed.”  That’s Direct Marketing.

You’re at a party with a bunch of friends and see a handsome guy. One of your friends goes up to him and, pointing at you, says, “She’s fantastic in bed.”  That’s Advertising.

You see a handsome guy at a party. You go up to him and get his telephone number. The next day you call and say, “Hi, I’m fantastic in bed.”  That’s Telemarketing.

You’re at a party and see a handsome guy. You get up and straighten your dress. You walk up to him and pour him a drink. You say “May I?” and reach up to straighten his tie, brushing your breast lightly against his arm, and then say, “By the way, I’m fantastic in bed.”  That’s Public Relations.

You’re at a party and see a handsome guy. He walks up to you and says, “I hear you’re fantastic in bed.”  That’s Brand Name Recognition.

You’re at a party and see a handsome guy. You talk him into going home with your friend.  That’s a Sales Rep.

Your friend can’t satisfy him so she calls you.  That’s Tech Support.

You’re on your way to a party when you realize that there could be handsome men in all these houses you’re passing. So you climb onto the roof of one situated toward the center and shout out at the top of your lungs, “I’m fantastic in bed!”  That’s SPAM!

The best marketing programs will use a mixture of all these methods to get results.  However the single most effective method is Direct Marketing.  Performed correctly or properly this can also give you the highest return or payback on the dollars invested in the marketing program.  That of course is what business is all about, (ROI, Return on Investment), maximizing the return on the dollars invested in the business, and of course the dollars invested in the marketing program.

This brings us back to the methods of Direct Marketing.  Jumping right to the bottom line, the most cost effective method, with potentially the highest Return on Investment, (ROI), is Direct Mail Marketing.

In many ways your past clients are your best potential future customers.  They are the core and reason you are in business.  They have already bought what you are offering at least once and if, through yourself and your employees, you have worked to build a positive emotional experience for them in their dealings with you and your company, they will most likely return with more business for you and or recommend your company to others.

The positive emotional experience is the relationship you are continually building.  Every contact with a client, (or potential client), is important.  It has been called, “The Moment of Truth”.  In the client’s mind it tells them how they are being treated now and will be treated by you in the future.

I learned of “The Moment of Truth” concept at a seminar given by the President of Disney College, at a large business conference I was attending years ago in
San Francisco.  I learned about “The Moment of Truth” in real life after leaving the seminar and returning to my room in the very large, high end hotel where the conference was hosted.  I stepped into the elevator to go catch a shower and nap before the formal dinner that evening.  The only other person on the elevator as I got on was a maintenance technician, employee of the hotel.  He was dressed in work clothes and carrying a belt of maintenance tools.  After the doors closed and we had begun our ascent he turned to me, in that Moment of Truth between an employee and customer, and asked, ”How is your stay at the (hotel)?  Is there anything we can do for you to make your stay more pleasurable?”  A maintenance tech.  My jaw dropped to the floor.  I was stunned but managed to mumble a thank you, no, everything is fine type of response.

Do you train your employees in the importance of “The Moment of Truth” with your customers?  That hotel did.  It showed in everything they did.  It showed in how the waiters polished the spoons as they set them down for the dinner that night and how the busboys cleared the tables after the meals.  Although I don’t have any current plans to return to
San Francisco, I know where I will stay when I do.  Also I know where to recommend to anyone who wants to know where to stay in
San Francisco.

In Direct Mail Marketing your customer lists of your clients and customers are arguably the most important resource you have for many reasons.  We will get to the reasons later, however the form and format of you list is of major importance.  This will enable you to find more clients that match all of the characteristics of your current best clients.  How to do that is the coolest trick I ever learned in my years in business.  How to find more clients just like your current top 20 percent or so.  WOW!!  I almost can’t wait to get to that part of the story.

If you don’t currently have a usable mailing list of your clients, you can start by exporting one from your accounting software system.  All accounting software systems need the basics of client information to function.  And all accounting software systems that I know of can export this information in a database format.  To be able to use it properly you must be disciplined to accumulate the client information correctly.

The following are in my mind the basic requirements for the start of a usable mailing list;

Ø        Mr. / Ms.

Ø        First Name

Ø        Last Name

Ø        Complete Mailing Address

Ø        City

Ø        State

Ø        Zip Code

You will also want the clients home phone, cell phone, work phone and e-mail address.

If you don’t currently have a mailing list and your accounting system seems to be only first names or last names or some other garbage, fix it.  If you only fix 5 client names a day, you will have a useable list in no time at all.  Be disciplined.  Do it now.  There are reasons why a very large percentage of businesses fail in this nation of ours.  Not having a usable mailing list of complete information for marketing is one of those reasons.

A Digital Printer can help you with everything needed to put sales and marketing information in the hands of your best and greatest resource.  That best and greatest resource would be your present clients.  You already have a relationship established with them and are not starting from scratch here.  We can also help you find prospective clients that match the characteristics of your best clients.

Once you have a useable mailing list, how are you going to use it to your best advantage?

No problem, that will be the subject of our next session together.

At A Digital Printer we can show you how and prove it to your satisfaction.  http://www.ADigitalPrinter.com, Toll Free 877-930-5200

Being in business, (of any size), and selling product(s) or services, you have already done some market research either formally or informally as to what your clients, (and hopefully others like them), want to buy.

For example:

Informal market research;  If you are a small business and already know all of your clients on a first name basis, (you already have a relationship with them), you always ask them when they are purchasing something from you, (goods or services), “What else can I do for you?”, or “What else do you need?”  “We also carry (or can do) . . . blah, blah, blah.”  Always an open ended question and a something to make them think.  Never a question that can be answered with a yes or no.  Their answers to your probing questions can give you a feeling of what the clients wants and needs are.  It also continues to build that all important client relationship.  This is the reason they will continue to come back to you for their needs and not go to your competitor.  It’s all about the relationship and Trust.

Formal market research;  Questions, whether by mail, phone, e-mail, websites, door to door, etc.  Soliciting responses to questions to find out the who, what, when, why, where and how of peoples wants, needs and desires of where they want to spend their hard earned cash.  Compiling information and statistics of peoples spending behaviors in various situations.  (Granted, this is a pretty simplistic view of formal market research, but you get the idea.)

So as a business manager you have found out who wants what, when they want it and how much they’re willing to spend to get “it”.  How are you going to let your clients know that you have the “it” they want at the price they are willing to pay.

Ok, how many of you know what’s coming next? 

Why yes, you could send a simple little postcard to all of your clients on your mailing list and announce that you are the answer to their needs, wants and desires with this ungodly special you will be running.

A Digital Printer can help you with everything needed to put sales and marketing information in the hands of your best and greatest resource.  That best and greatest resource would be your present clients.  You already have a relationship established with them and are not starting from scratch here.

You do have a mailing list of all your clients don’t you?  No problem, that will be the subject of our next blog.

Call A Digital Printer for answers to your questions.  http://www.ADigitalPrinter.com, Toll Free 877-930-5200

So, marketing means many different things to many different people. 

(see comments for the complete text)

PardonMyFrench,

Eric
E-mail : eric@pardonmyfrench.net
URI    : http://www.ericfrenchman.com
Thank you Eric.

Yes, marketing means many different things to many different people.

Jay Conrad Levinson, the founder and guru of Geurrilla Marketing, (http://www.gmarketing.com) has some very good advise in this article posted on his website;

Thank you Mr. Levinson.  Powerfully strong advise for marketing your business.

Any one of these 12 points of marketing can increase your business.  Set up a system and method to focus on one item in your business.  Get that to be a part of your business culture, then focus on the next item in the list.  "Baby Steps" will over a period of time make an incredible difference to your bottem line of profits.

Next will come more direct information on Direct Mail Marketing and improving your results.  Results means your Return On Investment, or more money to your bottem line for the time and money you put into your direct mail marketing plan.

Marketing, as suggested by the American Marketing Association, is "an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders".[1]

Another definition, perhaps simpler and more universal, is the process of moving people closer to making a decision to purchase or repurchase a company's products. Simply, if it does not facilitate a "sale" then it is not marketing. [2]

Perhaps the simplest Western definition of all was that summarized by Philip Kotler in his earlier books as: "Marketing is human activity directed at satisfying needs and wants through exchange processes".

On the other hand, Christian Grönroos, in the context of a move to relationship marketing, summarized a rather different European view in his definition: "Marketing is to establish, maintain and enhance long-term customer relationships at a profit, so that the objectives of the parties involved are met. This is done by mutual exchange and fulfilment of promises". [3] 

However, the most widely accepted definition of marketing on a global scale comes from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) [4] in the UK which is the largest marketing body in the world in terms of membership. The definition claims marketing to be the "management process of anticipating, identifying and satisfying customer requirements profitably". Thus, operative marketing involves the processes of market research, new product development, product life cycle management, pricing, channel management as well as promotion.

However, marketing is more of a process-oriented cross function, not a direct decision maker in these processes. It is one of the company's management tools to ensure that products and services are developed according to market requirements, and that they are profitable.

Prior to the advent of market research, most companies were product-focused, employing teams of salespeople to push their products into or onto the market, regardless of market desire. A market-focused, or customer-focused, organization instead first determines what its potential customers desire, and then builds the product or service.

Marketing theory and practice is justified on the belief that customers use a product/service because they have a need, or because a product/service has a perceived benefit. Two major aspects of marketing are the recruitment of new customers (acquisition) and the retention and expansion of relationships with existing customers (base management).

An emerging area of study and practice concerns internal marketing, or how employees are trained and managed to deliver the brand in a way that positively impacts the acquisition and retention of customers.

Once a marketer has converted the prospective buyer, base management marketing takes over. The process for base management shifts the marketer to building a relationship, nurturing the links, enhancing the benefits that sold the buyer in the first place, and improving the product/service continuously to protect her business from competitive encroachments.

Marketing methods are informed by many of the social sciences, particularly psychology, sociology, and economics.  Anthropology is also a small, but growing, influence. Market research underpins these activities. Through advertising, it is also related to many of the creative arts.

At A Digital Printer we can show you how and prove it to your satisfaction.  http://www.ADigitalPrinter.com, Toll Free 877-930-5200