Month: February 2021

Do printed catalogs still work?

The Harvard Business Review (HBR) worked with a U.S. based specialty jewelry company to find out.

This e-commerce retailer (which had no physical store presence) typically generated an annual operating profit of $12 million, with a database of approximately 28,000 customers. This company partnered with HBR to study the impacts of bi-monthly print catalogs through field experiments involving 30% of its customers over a span of six months.

Of those customers, 5% received neither email nor catalogs, 55% received a weekly marketing email, and 40% received the new bi-monthly catalogs in addition to the weekly email marketing. Over 90% of photos and product descriptions were the same between emails and catalogs to control the content’s effects.

The results were impressive. Compared to the Control group, the “Email + catalog” group experienced a 49% lift in sales and a 125% lift in inquiries. In comparison, the “Email-only” group only had a 28% increase in sales and a 77% lift in inquiries over the control group; the sales and inquiry lifts from catalogs almost doubled those generated by email marketing!

Furthermore, of those customers that received the catalogs and made inquiries, 90% said they had browsed through the catalogs and kept them for an average of seven days.

Using Hard Copy Catalogs in Your Omnichannel Marketing

Catalogs are here to stay, and companies like L.L. Bean, Ikea, J. Crew, and Athleta continue to dominate sales by distributing printed catalogs.

The simple fact of the matter is that buyers don’t want to connect with brands exclusively online. Yes, the stats show that the number of people researching and shopping online versus in-store continues to grow.

But many buyers purchase online because they’ve seen something marketed through a printed medium. According to BRAND United, around 86% of shoppers buy an item online after looking at it in a printed catalog first.

5 Ways to Keep Your Campaign on Track

If you are considering catalog marketing, here are some suggestions to get you started.

1. Conduct Market Research

Study your current customers and make a note of gender, geographic location, and the strategic personas you’d like to target.

Match the items you want to sell with the target audience you want to reach.

2. Create Campaign Goals

These goals should be measurable, clear, and realistic – like driving customers to a retail location, increasing “product of the month” sales online, or growing your subscription base.

3. Develop Your Story

Catalogs don’t share information; they sell stories!

Your piece should invite prospects into a story that helps them visualize their “ideal self.” And remember, when people are heavily invested in a bigger financial commitment, they need narratives that justify this expense (like, “you deserve something delectable”). Work hard to set their conscience at ease, and you will be rewarded with loyalty and sales.

4. Stay Focused

Continue to send your catalog to existing customers to reinforce the idea that you have the products they want.

In addition, mail your catalog to individuals who fit the description of your target customer.

5. Connect Timelines and Expectations

Create a schedule and execute the campaign.

By using a schedule, you can see if you are achieving the benchmarks you’ve articulated. You can measure the outcome by having customers refer to catalog codes, measuring the number of new accounts generated, or conducting surveys.

A One-Two Punch

Direct mail meets customers where they live, and catalogs are a long-standing customer favorite.

Want to explore catalog marketing options for your business? Give us a call today or hop online for a free estimate!

You want your prospects to understand how your products can solve their problems, so they’ll be moved to make a purchase.

But people don’t go from uninterested observers to committed buyers overnight. Asking for a sale is a relational proposition. And relationships have rules. Understanding the stages of a marketing relationship is important because it helps you understand what your sales funnel needs to accomplish.

Just as you wouldn’t propose marriage before a first date, you can’t rush a customer into a purchase.

What do romantic relationships, friendships, and committed customers have in common? They all move through three stages:

1. Curiosity

2. Enlightenment

3. Commitment

People will not want to know more about you (enlightenment) unless they are curious about you. And until they know how you can help them, they will never commit.

Curiosity is a Snap Judgment

The curiosity stage of a relationship is about instant impressions.

Whether you are scanning a print ad or sorting piles of mail, your mind is always evaluating information. Anything not relevant to your survival is perceived as “junk.” You’ll toss it aside completely, or you’ll procrastinate and plan to give it attention later.

At the curiosity stage, prospects decide whether to keep or discard the information you’re offering. At this stage, if you don’t tell somebody how you can make their life better, they will set you aside.

When it comes to marketing – whether it’s the tagline on your direct mail envelope or your entire elevator pitch – you will never succeed if you can’t succinctly express how you will help people survive.

Want to build engagement by provoking curiosity? Get them wondering about something or look for ways to turn information into a quest. A few ideas:

—  Strive to make the information personally relevant

—  Avoid using material that is given away freely elsewhere

—  Use a compelling “missing information” teaser

—  Offer the promise of something worthwhile

—  Combine a curiosity headline with a self-interest subheading

—  Use visuals to suggest or create the perception of mystery

Samples of Curiosity Teasers

• Learn why you never want to eat this before flying!
• Is the Honeymoon Over?
• If You Live in Siberia, This Trick Could Save You Thousands!
• The Secret of a Clutter-Free Office
• Why You Don’t Want to Drink the Pool Water
• Are You Maintaining Your Life or Actually Enjoying It?

Finally, remember to provoke customers with a vision of the “ideal version” of themselves.

Very little of what makes people curious is rational. People don’t buy products or join a movement because they are thinking rationally. They commit based on emotion, status, or dreams of their aspirational identity. If you can stoke curiosity by tugging these heartstrings, you’re already halfway to a sale!

Have you ever wondered how the most iconic brands got their names?

The Lego story is as elegantly simple as the blocks themselves.

The Lego company began in the workshop of Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1932, where he crafted wooden toys. Christianson’s inspiration for the brand name came from the Danish term for “play well” – leg godt. By combining the first two letters of each word, he created a unique and meaningful brand name that has transcended countries and generations.

In 2016, Lego’s turnover grew 6% to 5.1 billion euro, surpassing Mattel’s measly $4.9 billion, making them, for the first time, the world’s largest toy company.

Making Your Name Stick

A great name can make a brand.

In today’s expansive global market, it gets harder and harder to win the name game. If you want your name to be known and respected, you have to pick a winner and make it stick.

What makes a great brand name? The “stickiness” of the word can make all the difference. Names that closely align with the service they offer are especially memorable (like Twitter, Smuckers, Naked Wines, SnapChat, Netflix, PayPal, Red Bull, Dollar Shave Club, and Snuggie).

Names with engaging metaphors are powerful too. When paired with a clear graphic device, names that suggest something beyond their literal meaning create some of the most evocative brand identities.

Take Amazon, for example. When Jeff Bezos was looking to carve out space as the biggest bookstore globally, he wanted to convey his company’s sense of mystery and endless possibility, available to any customer with an internet connection. Bezos tried two or three names before settling on “Amazon.”

The metaphorical impact of this name had great appeal: the Amazon River was the biggest in the world, home to a vibrant ecosystem as exotic and different as Beso’s dreams. It was the ideal metaphor for his new venture. The Amazon was striking and boundless, just as he wanted his online store to be. It was also the largest river in the world, 10 times larger than the next contender – perfectly fitting the vision for Amazon’s status today!

Growing Top-of-Mind Awareness

Once you’ve found the right name, it’s time to get it in circulation.

Brand awareness is the extent to which a brand is recognized by potential customers and correctly associated with its particular product or service. When your name becomes familiar, you will enjoy all kinds of perks:

— People will know who you are and what you do

— A viewer will be more open to reading your ads or mailings

— Search engine users will be more likely to visit your website

— Prospects will be warmer toward a referral from one of your current customers

— Customers will be more likely to choose your brand over others, even if there are cheaper options available

Looking for ways to get your name out in your community or industry? Here are 10 ideas:

1. Create a custom hashtag that plugs your unique selling proposition 

2. Participate in or sponsor local events

3. Build bright, colorful infographics 

4. Post regularly to social media using your brand voice

5. Sell your name through special shapes (i.e., die-cut postcards, magnets, or key chains)

6. Go mobile by creating colorful decals for vehicles

7. Hang full-size posters in “can’t miss” locations

8. Add a blog to your website and feature it in printed inserts or newsletters

9. Invite your employees or VIP customers to wear branded clothing at key community events

10. Design beautiful labels for all your products

It’s a good idea to use a mix of online and offline strategies to build awareness in most cases. The more customers see your company, the more likely they are to think of you when they’re ready to buy.