Data Hygiene – 5 Best Practices

Business contacts represent a lot of value, so it is both important and potentially profitable to invest in data hygiene. Here are some ways to keep your customer and prospect data fresh and up to date.

• Begin by entering the data correctly in the first place. Create a standard operating procedure for data-entry, and train your key personnel on it.
• Standardize your format of business addresses. For additional details, refer to Publication 28 from the United States Postal Service. For examples of recommended field selection and layout of business addresses, visit: http://pe.usps.gov/text/pub28/welcome.htm.
• Pay for postal returns and update your files with the returns. This should be done before every mailing.
• Take regular statistical samples of the data and check it manually using an outbound phone call.
• Ask for customer data regularly, and make it very easy for the customer to provide the information. Always ask for the information the same way – no matter where you ask for it.

At Professional Print & Mail we’ve always known that printing and mailing go together and have offered both services for over 25 years. From maintaining your existing list or purchasing a new prospect list to designing, printing and mailing your direct mail campaign – have it all done in one place.

Call or Click Today

559/237-7468

Info@PrintFresno.com

Mobile Barcode Postage Discount

You may remember, last summer the USPS offered a postage discount if you included a mobile barcode (QR code) on your direct mail piece. Well, the USPS has decided to bring this program back for the summer of 2012 (July 1 – August 31, 2012).

Click here if you would like all the details, but for your convenience, here are the main facts you need to know:

• Qualifying mailings may receive an upfront 2% discount off eligible postage.

•  Qualifying mailings are presorted and automation mailings of First-Class Mail cards, letters, and flats and Standard Mail (including Nonprofit Standard Mail) letters and flats with a mobile barcode inside or on the mailpiece.
  
  
• The mobile barcode must lead the recipient of the mailpiece either to a webpage that allows the recipient to purchase a product or service on a mobile device, or to a personalized URL, which leads to a web page that is unique to an individual recipient.
   
• Participation requires electronic documentation.
  

Professional Print & Mail can help with your entire direct mail campaign including adding QR codes that are integrated with personalized URLs. For more information or to get started on a direct mail campaign give us a call at 559/237-7468, or email info@PrintFresno.com.

Think BIG! Print BIG!

BIG dreams, BIG ideas, BIG plans? Then you need BIG printing!

Large format printing is an effective marketing choice for creating an eye-catching statement. Think about the visual impact you could make with banners, adhesive wall clings, vehicle wraps, event signage and even wall and floor graphics.

Now, large format design and printing is more affordable than ever and with our fast turn around time, is a great way for you to stand out from the crowd.

Take a moment a look around. You are surrounded by valuable advertising real estate: storefront windows, your company vehicle, even the walls and floor of your waiting room or shop. These are perfect places to add:

·         Banners

·         Trade Show Booths & Pop Up Banners

·         Wall Graphics & Murals

·         Vehicle Wraps

·         Floor Graphics

·         Window Clings

·         Product Exhibits

·         Point-of-Purchase Displays

Thinking BIG can grow your business and sales, and large format printing is a creative and eye-catching way to do it. Contact Professional Print & Mail for all your large format printing needs. From design and printing to installation, our team of experts can do it all!  

Call or Click Today

559/237-7468

info@PrintFresno.com

Pushing the Envelope

Marketers thoughtfully develop the inside components of a direct mail package. But the best letter, brimming with features and benefits and a measurable call to action, is worthless if it’s never read. The envelope is the key tool that determines whether your direct mail gets opened or tossed.

A poorly designed envelope that fails to motivate the recipient to open it is like mailing money out the door. Carefully consider every element, including physical dimensions, copy, layout, and design.

Anything outside of the standard #10 envelope, either larger or smaller, will set you apart. Make sure the envelope is at least ¼” larger than your largest insert. Steer clear of window envelopes unless it’s the only way to achieve personalization. Smooth, heavier stocks show off your color designs, while textured stocks, such as linen or laid, offer high-end feel. Explore the myriad of options now available.

Technology has advanced to the point that you can place dynamic messaging on the front, back, and even the inside of the envelope. Your copy should provoke curiosity, but not give everything away. The goal is to pique interest so the recipient looks inside, but there should be something more – new information, a special offer – as a reward for opening it.

The envelope should be clean and well-designed, but that means different things to different marketers. Some, concerned that documents with too much visual flair will be dismissed as “junk mail,” choose plain white envelopes imprinted with the corporate logo to lend credibility and seriousness. The other extreme is the marketer who uses starbursts and call-outs that shout, “Open Now!” The best strategy is somewhere in between – a mix of bright colors, interesting textures, vivid imagery and bold messaging to grab attention quickly. While it’s important to keep the design cohesive with your other printed materials, using the same envelope design for multiple mailings may work against you. Even a friendly prospect might assume he’s already heard the message inside.

Personalization increases response rates, whether it’s through variable-data messaging, using a legible script font, or actual handwriting. Postage stamps add another personal touch. An envelope has the best chance of being open if it’s delivered on Tuesday or Wednesday, the lightest postal delivery days. Six weeks seems to be a good interval between mailings – you want to stay fresh in your prospect’s mind without becoming a nuisance.

It is really important to not assume what will work best for your business and test, test, test to be certain. The abundance of creative options makes envelopes a versatile vehicle for presenting your message. Give these precious communication-carriers a try as you plan your next direct mail campaign.

Five Good Reasons to Tap into Print Opportunities

Print versus e-marketing isn’t an either/or choice. Much of what we print is also available electronically. One isn’t wrong and the other right, some information just needs to pace of print. Thanks to innovations in print technology, it has never been easier or less expensive to get high-quality printed materials in the hands of your target audience. Here are five compelling reasons to tap into print opportunities:

1. Cut through the clutter. Remember the days when you opened your mailbox and catalogs, brochures, newsletters and postcards tumbled out? Today there is simply less postal mail, so your printed pieces get noticed. Let the competition fight it out in the Inbox; your will have the prospect’s attention as he interacts with your printed collateral.

2. Add credibility. In a time of economic uncertainty, print collateral tells the reader that your company plans to be around for the long term. Your message is so important it deserves to be preserved in a physical form rather than simply being posted on the vaporous Internet. The consumer trusts that if you put it in print you’re going to stand by your word.

3. Stay connected. Customer retention was the reason targeted mailings, such as custom magazines and newsletters, were developed in the first place. More and more, people are tiring of 24/7 electronic connectivity; so make sure the prospect has your information at his fingertips when he unplugs from digital devices. Print never runs out of power.

4. Print makes sense. You can see and hear electronic messages at the same time; it’s like getting two exposures for the price of one. But what about the other senses? Print is the clear winner in the categories of touch, smell and taste. We like to feel special papers and finishes, and cut out things of special interest and save them or pass them along. Smell, which is handled by the same part of the brain that handles memories and emotions, has been used to create a brand impression for years. Who can pass a scratch-and-sniff insert without scratching and sniffing? And there is no better way to get prospects to taste your product than by mailing a sample to try at their leisure.

5. You can’t hide from print. The same developers who introduced the electronic platforms that have revolutionized the way we deliver our messages are developing technologies to empower consumers to avoid these same messages. Think TiVo and spam filters. The mail carrier, on the other hand, has to deliver your mail. High quality, creative print pieces will capture your target audience’s interest.

Direct Mail Goes Digital

What was old is new again thanks to thinking inside the box. Add a QR code to any printed marketing piece, such as direct mail, and you’ve opened your marketing to a multiplatform experience for your customers and prospects.

What is a QR code? You’ve probably seen them cropping up in magazines and other printed materials over the past few months as smart phone technology continues to reach more hands in the U.S. In essence, a QR code is a relatively new type of two-dimensional barcode box that, when scanned by an app on a smart phone’s camera, generates information that causes a smart phone to take a desired action.

Those actions range from opening a website browser with specific information, providing a phone number to be dialed or triggering a text message to be sent. Here are some ways you can capitalize on using printed material in concert with other digital marketing channels.

Direct mail. QR codes are still relatively new to many smart phone users, and so are their phones. That means many are anxious to see where a QR code will take them. Add them to your direct mail to send prospects to your website, a landing page on your website for a coupon or drive them to your social media pages like Facebook or Twitter.

Brochures, menus and catalogs. Imagine having customers peruse your catalog or menu and giving them a QR code to go directly to a detailed information page where they can order online instantly. Maybe your brochure has a QR code that gives them instant access to a video demonstration of how your product works.

Business cards. We’ve all had to enter contact information into our little black books. Now with a quick scan, your contact information can be uploaded to your customer’s address book.

With this new technology, all of the possibilities are limited only by your imagination. To get started, give the print-to-mail experts at Professional Print & Mail a call at 559/237-7468 or email us at info@PrintFresno.com. We can help you with your new integrated marketing campaign.

The 5-Step Plan to Win Business

STEP 1 – Put together a mailing list.

If you don’t already have an existing customer list, this is not hard. All you need to do is give people a reason to give you their names and addresses. This could be as easy as a notebook on your counter or a form on your website that invites customers to “Join our mailing list.” Or a fishbowl that says “Enter a drawing.”

STEP 2 – Devise an offer.

Once you have a list of names and addresses, you need to give the people/businesses on that list a reason to do business with you. Or better yet, a reason to do business with you now.

Discounts and sales are among the most common offers because they steer business your way that might otherwise go to competitors. But anyone can have a sale. Make it a private sale only for people on your mailing list, your valued customers, and you gain loyalty and sales.

STEP 3 – Create the offer, print it, and mail it.

Now it’s time to present your offer to the list.

STEP 4 – Review your results.

One of the benefits of direct mail is that it’s measurable. You know right away if it’s working or not. By testing different offers and mailing formats you can discover what works best for your business.

STEP 5 – Repeat.

A successful direct mail program is just that, a Program. To be successful, you need to mail consistently and frequently.