Marketing | BizSieve.com

Can Print & Digital Marketing Methods Interact Together?

Digital platforms are the main go-to for many companies when it comes to planning their marketing strategies. But where does print advertising fit into the equation?

Contrary to the belief that print has had its day, recent research indicates that print still remains powerful and has found a way to align with digital methods. Hold that thought for now and carry on reading, to gather a balanced perspective on the subject.

Digital methods are favoured by many businesses

Many campaigns today are lost without digital. With more consumers than ever before spending time on the internet, businesses would be foolish not to get involved with online marketing.

Search engine marketing is one area of advertising that companies are becoming more involved with. As the name suggests, this side of digital marketing focuses on driving a business’ site to the top of the search results around relevant target phrases — from corporate keywords like ‘personalised travel mugs’ to more fashion-focused targets like ‘dresses’. As a result, this can increase brand exposure and site traffic while improving sales figures.

Social media marketing is another area of business activity that wasn’t popular a few years back. From paid adverts to viral campaigns, the digital world has opened up many doors for small and medium companies in particular — exposing themselves to an audience that may not have known they existed and in turn, generating mass interest.

The digital world has made room for businesses to begin analysing their audience, allowing them to gain a greater insight to their general behaviour and spending patterns. From tracking analytics, whether this is across social media platforms or the main website, marketing managers are able to identify key areas of interest and create campaigns around this to drive sales.

There are many methods businesses can follow to hook an online audience and stay ahead of their competitors. Through a combination of search engine and social media marketing, many brands are beginning to run competitions and deals that are only exclusive to an online following. These low-cost campaigns will benefit from extensive reach.

Print strategies still hold credibility

Although more businesses are beginning to take their focuses online, they shouldn’t neglect the power of print and the opportunities that can come off the back of it. Print very much has a place in modern advertising as it can offer a personal touch unlike no other and generally has a longer life cycle which is always beneficial for the exposure of your brand. Take printed leaflets for example, once they have been posted through the door, whoever picks them up will have to acknowledge your materials!

As well as estate agent board advertising, business merchandise has not taken a backseat since the sprout in popularity of online promotions. Brand image has never been more important for businesses and shouldn’t be ignored — as a result, more companies are making investments in personalised products that represent what they stand for. Whether this is to help them externally, with the likes of outdoor banners, or internally for your office with the likes of customised calendars.

Although printed goods can often be higher in price, they can drive exceptional ROI to your campaign and create a memorable experience for the receiver which should be a core focus for your print campaign. This can be achieved through eye-catching designs and a choice of luxury materials which will lead to a meaningful engagement.

Print and digital: a new-found alignment

Although online and offline advertising are two entirely separate entities, they can work well together, and some brands are already utilising such methods.

Take QR codes for example, more businesses are trying to audiences in the real world to their online solutions. As QR codes are unique and can entice people to be more inquisitive, they can drive immense traffic to online campaigns when printed on banners. Through this method of advertising, marketing departments can track success and gather data on users when they’re interacting with the code. With the data collected from campaigns like this, businesses can record contact information (such as email addresses) if users decide they want to opt-in.

When looking closer to news publications, many of them still offer printed versions of their product — blurring the line between print and digital. With an understanding of the influence they have online, they’ve been able to merge two channels together and to distribute stories to a wider audience.

Near field communication is another area that should be further looked into when it comes to the relationship between online and offline platforms. Essentially, near field communication is a type of technology that has the ability to connect two smart devices — often with the help of a print medium. For example, a section of a poster can be tapped with a mobile phone which will then take the user to the ecommerce site for a specific product.

Digital companies employing print… surprising but true

Online hospitality marketplace, Airbnb has made huge waves in the way that we now book our holidays. Predominantly a digital business with its own website and downloadable app, the company decided to launch its own magazine for registered hosts (those who advertise their property) which is around 18,000 people.

This magazine included personal stories of hosts and their accommodation, encouraging interaction with the digital business through print. Although the magazine production has been put on hold since, it’s a good example of how an online business can promote its services elsewhere.

Remember those iconic Coca Cola bottles that had labels with your name on? The printed labels for the Share A Coke campaign allowed the drink manufacturer to become more personal with its customers and as a result, buyers then shared their bottles on social media which made it an integrated campaign.

As we can see, digital and print both play huge parts in the marketing of a business. But often, they can be most successful when they’re brought together.

Sources:

https://www.jeffbullas.com/mixed-marketing-create-joined-print-and-digital-campaigns/

https://www.wsj.com/articles/heres-what-happened-to-pineapple-airbnbs-one-off-print-magazine-1449684006

3 Creative Ways to Use QR Codes in Your Marketing

All businesses must use a diverse mix of marketing strategies to attract new customers and increase sales. A business doesn’t need to be a big corporate entity though to utilize some of the best cutting edge strategies available with recent technological advancements. Quick response codes are one of those technologies you can take advantage of today!

A QR code is a special barcode that people with smartphones can scan using an app. They are an engagement tool that allows you to attract the public to your business and products/services by sharing in a “scavenger-hunt” fashion facts about your company or industry, such as new product/service or job offerings, latest industry news or upcoming events.

The Look of QR Codes

Gone are the days when a QR code had to be a solid color on a white background. A QR code today can also double as a visually stimulating printed advertisement. Instead of two contrasting colors, your QR codes can be many different colors. Additionally, you can customize a QR code by inserting your logo into the center of it or by designing it to look like your logo. You can also use individual images as tiny blocks that make up the barcode. For example, you might use product images and link to your e-store, or employee pics and link to a video about them.

The Other Paper Options

It goes without saying that you should have QR codes printed on advertisements and product packaging. You might not have thought though to print QR codes on the back of business cards, receipts, sales slicks and correspondence letters or envelopes. These codes might link to a special message from you thanking customers, discount or details about a future event. If you sell or give away gift tags and wrapping paper, you might print Quick Response codes on them that link to an app that permits the buyer to create a personal message for the gift recipient.

The QR Code Arts

A QR code on its own already looks like artwork, but you can actually attract more people by creatively presenting codes as artwork. For example, if you sell food products, you might offer new food items shaped like Quick Response codes or print codes on different foodstuffs with edible ink. If your a fashion designer, you might create code-inspired designs on clothes. If you have a brick-and-mortar store, you might hang QR codes in frames on the walls or code-shaped objects from the ceilings; or display an entire wall of Quick Response codes. Outside your shop, you might use chalk or painted QR code designs on your building, sidewalk or parking lot, or create QR-code-shaped sculptures. You might even invest in a sculpture that doesn’t look a Quick Response code, but that creates a scannable shadow at a certain time on a sunny day.

Your opportunities to creatively use QR codes are only limited by your imagination, presentation space and budget. Even if you have limited funds, there are numerous low-cost, creative ways to engage the public with QR codes!

About the Author: Amanda Sozak is a car nut who loves to travel and talk about small business. She’s also a regular contributor at www.rittersprinting.com, and loves spending time in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale area.

Three Reasons Why Instagram Is Good For Your Business

Instagram is an application for mobile devices that let you take photos and upload them instantly to social networking sites. This is one of the fastest growing social media networks at this time and it is growing daily. Many users say that Instagram is addictive and nearly all iPhone and Android users are using it more and more. The savvy business owner knows that when a social media platform hits these heights that they need to take advantage of it. The following are just three reasons why Instagram is good for your business and why need to get on board today.

The Instantaneous Uploads

One of the top reasons for using Instagram is that the uploads are instantaneous so you don’t have to wait to post the pictures. When you use a digital camera does not offer the instant uploads because you have to attach the camera or media card to a computer in order to upload them. With Instagram, all you need to do is take the picture, make your edits to the photo or add your filters and you can instantly upload it to all of your social networking sites. This allows you to share your brand with your viewers and fans immediately.

You can Make Your Brand More Interesting

They main point of using Instagram is to promote your business and your products. When you take pictures that are interesting to your fans there is a higher chance that they will share and like these photos. The more likes and shares you get the higher you go into the search engine rankings and that’s never a bad thing. You can also give your brand a personality that they would lack otherwise and you can also offer your fans candid moments of your employees. But more than anything, Instagram makes your products and services look cool and everyone likes that.

Get Followers Easily

You cannot post any types of links on Instagram so your followers don’t feel as if they are being advertised to. It also keeps them from feeling like that are being spammed if they want to follow your business page. An added benefit to this is that when you are uploading photos that are interesting people are more likely to want to follow you. You can build your brand presence much easier on this site than other social media network. You can also associate your Instagram account with other social media networks like Facebook and Twitter. This allows you to upload one picture to all your social media sites that are supported. Instagram is a great marketing tool if it is used properly and search engines like Google are now targeting these sites for SEO purposes. You have the ability to make instantaneous uploads of your photos and you can also make your brand more interesting to your followers. Also, because there are no links allowed, it is much easier to get people to follow you than it would be on other sites. Ryan Leeds has had an interest in social media since he started his blog ten years ago and has been activity writing on the topic.

Increasing small business profit with recession proof marketing plan – top concerns

Sales in small business are usually all that keeps the lifeblood of the entire set up going and hence it’s no big deal to conclude that the marketing plans are nearly the soul of every business strategy making. When the strategy goes wrong – everything goes wrong and when the real damage has been made, there is hardly any ‘good fix’ available for the solution to make a comeback. Though it may seem to be a little boring to some entrepreneurs but they are required to invest some portion of their quality time to develop a market plan that is not just operative but also recession proof.

Marketing plans should be made to ensure business success in the long run but there are various factors that might affect the entire setup and one of them is recession. However, when you know you have taken time to get back to the basics and walked on the path you were expected to, even recession fails to hamper your business productivity. Curious to know what they are? Very quickly, we will tell you about the pointers you should keep in mind while designing your small business marketing plan that would also help you boost your small business profits.

So who is your target market?

This is one of the concerns that may be sounding obviously noticeable but unfortunately not many prefer to have an eye for detail on this one. If you are not thinking on this one at an early stage, you are probably going to spend a lot of your time and energy sometime soon. You are wasting a lot of your budget, time and effort when you are not figuring out your target market. Here are a few more pointers that can help you with this

It is always better to design immensely great and effective marketing campaigns which are also designed keeping in mind the much smaller audience than targeting wider audience poorly
It is not always possible to offer and be everything for every group or market; it is rather advisable to focus entirely on a smaller section that is your target audience and work in that direction
Look for the other businesses in the same sector and find out how and what they are marketing and to whom. You can also join their online communities and learn a few things from them but don’t plainly imitate

How are you going to reach your prospects?

Now when you have explored your target audience, the next obvious concern in line should be – how you are going to get your message delivered to them. A lot of entrepreneurs feel that keeping their active feet on social networking websites is going to serve the purpose completely – this is a prevailing myth! You can choose to focus on your local market first, particularly when you are a local small business. Your presence in some much notable industry trade show should do the needful. A good telecommunication campaign should also be capable of serving the purpose.

You will actually require a good mix of the marketing channels in order to reach to your target market rather than chasing every ‘looks to be promising’ networking channel without identifying your goals.

Are you going to keep your marketing strategy ‘agile’?

This is going to be one of the toughest calls – full of challenges. It is extremely important for you to ensure that your business has adopted agile marketing approach to the strategy in place. Since the modern and the digital marketplace are well known to change at the blink of an eye, it becomes important to position your business in a way such that it is open to marketing strategies. This will ensure that your business remains recession proof which means adaptability is the key.

Make sure that you analyse and also measure your marketing strategy from time to time rather than looking through it after months. Don’t forget that it is equally important to have a good deal of flexibility in your small business marketing plan. This would also help you in smartly adapting to the changing customer requirements and the shifting markets. This would further ensure that your small business can not only generate the desirable leads but is also capable of bringing on the new prospects even during the most unpredictable times! Face the recession and challenge the market with your recession proof strategy and by now you know that it’s possible!

About the Author: Colin Boykins is a passionate blogger and social media addict. He is currently associated with a UK based supplier of platform trucks – Flatbed-Truck.co.uk.

4 Common Mistakes For Social Media Business Promotion

If you have caught onto the fact that social media is an excellent way to promote your business but don’t seem to be hitting the highs just yet, perhaps it is time to readdress your marketing strategy. As with all advertising tools, there is a right way and many wrong ways to approach them. You can do far more harm than good if you steam in head first and pay little heed to good advice. Take a look at this article to see if your methods have mirrored any of these common errors.

The Hard Sell

We all know that your social media business page is there for a reason, but try not to overdo it. Your visitors are there because they enjoy the interaction and they just might put some business your way, but only when they are good and ready. If you find that most of your posts are about how great you and your firm are, don’t be surprised if they are rarely answered, if ever. You have to find some middle ground with your Facebook friends and try to make about 75% of your page about fun and interesting topics. The other 25% is plenty for your promotional needs and this will ensure that you still have some people to connect with.

Real Friends?

In real life you are pretty selective about who you choose as friends, you can afford to be a little less fussy on social media but try to avoid falling into the trap of buying friends. There are a number of websites that actually sell fake friends to individuals who have an inferiority complex about their buddy list. These people will bring zero value to your Facebook Fan Page and are probably not even real characters. Give this sad activity a wide berth!

Respond In a Timely Fashion

The name of the game is creating new and interesting connections, hopefully some of these will lead into a business relationship, but only if you treat everyone fairly. If you have answers about your page or your business, show some respect and answer them swiftly. If you ignore your friends they won’t hang around very long and just might turn into your rival’s new customers. Be approachable and always make your buddies feel at home on your Fan Page.

Mix It Up

Don’t spend all of your computer time hovering around your Facebook Fan Page, especially if it is empty for the time being. Socialise and make your presence known on other sites. Send out a few tweets and make new friends. If you spend some time on other profiles, they are more likely to return the favour someday. Try to allot at least ten minutes a day looking at other profiles and similar business pages. You can only improve your standings if you have a good idea of what everyone else is currently talking about. Nobody enjoys spending their time with a wallflower, so make sure you are here there and everywhere, as the Beatles once sang!

Any More?

If you avoid these 4 bloopers, you will increase the chances of making your promotional efforts worthwhile, there are plenty of other ways to alienate your potential customers but most of them are just common sense!

About the Author: Mark Thomas is an employee at CommercialSpaceToronto.com, which is an online portal designed to connect users who are looking for space and commercial real estate services. He enjoys testing his potential and he is very passionate about adventure sports.