Marketing Blitz Are Out - Are You Personalizing Enough?

Hello person,

Here’s some stuff.  Buy it.  Done?

Now think about that.  How did that make you feel?  If you’re like most people, you certainly aren’t in the mood to buy something.  This brings up our topic for this week: personalized marketing.  This will not only help establish your relationship with your target demographic, but more than likely will help you increase your sales by an average of 19%. ¹

With the overwhelming amount of ads that are hitting us on a daily basis, people want to know that they are the one you’re speaking to.  Marketing can no longer be sustained by throwing it at a large group and hoping you hit the right person.  Even if that person is there, they want to feel like you are talking to them on a personal level and you have customized your marketing for them.

Here are some statistics:

·      Personalized emails improve clickthrough rates by 14% and conversion rates by 10%.²

·      Leads who are nurtured with targeted content produce a 20% increase in sales opportunities.²

·      A high-impact recommendation from a trusted friend conveying a relevant message is up to 50 times more likely to trigger a purchase than a low-impact recommendation. ²

What can you do to improve your marketing?

Homework

Find out more things about your customer.  If you’re talking to them on a website such as Linkedin, read their profile.  What can you pick up from that?  Can you customize your marketing to better appeal to them?  Establishing rapport early is an easy step to developing a strong relationship.

Research

Research statistics and find out what data already exists about your market.  There could be research readily available at the click of a button.   The information may help you curate your messages to better suit your customers.

Real personalization

Remember that project your client was talking to you about a couple weeks ago?  Are they still working on that?  How about sending them a great recommendation?

We hope these tips and information helped.  We also highly recommend checking out the article from hubspot.  Have a great week!

1.  Lucas, Chris. (Jan 15, 2015).  Why Personalized Marketing Will Dominate in 2015.  Topdogsocialmedia.com.  Retrieved from: http://topdogsocialmedia.com/personalized-marketing-will-dominate-2015/

2.  Anderson, Meghan Keaney. (Sep 12, 2013).  Stop Being Rude: 22 Data-Backed Reasons to Personalize Your Marketing.  Hubspot.com.  Retrieved from: http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/data-personalize-marketing-li

How You Can Meet Those "Minimums" and More.

Hi again,

Thank you for staying tuned in.  Another week, another great topic to discuss and today we‘re talking minimums.  Did you know that minimums are not as cut and dry as you would assume?  There are ways to mix and match and additional ways to save.

Here are some great tips on how to get more bang out of your buck on those minimums.

Screen Sharing

For your apparel orders, you can use screens across products – say on a t-shirt and hoodie.  This will lower your initial costs and can even be used towards a future order.  How is that for mileage?

Same Product Type Mixing 

You want apparel for both genders, yet you don’t need as many as, let’s say, a dozen for each – no worries! Simply combine the quantities together and as long as all pieces are decorated the same, the minimum requirement is satisfied.

Here’s another example:  Let’s say you want highlighters in all colors.  No problem – simply combine various colors to meet the quantity requirements.  Again, as long as they’re all being decorated with the same artwork, you’re meeting the quantity requirements.

Less-Than-Minimum

Some products will allow a less-than-minimum. Let’s say the minimum quantity on tote bags is 100 pieces.  Some manufacturers may allow you to purchase as few as 50 (½ of the minimum quantity requirement), at the 100-piece price, plus a less-than-minimum fee, along with the standard set up charge.  This will not always be the cheapest route, but will allow you to purchase the lower quantity to fit your needs.

Blank Goods

Many products can be purchased in as few as 1 or 2 pieces, without decoration.

Thanks for reading again.  Let us know if you have any questions on today's topics or want to suggest a blog topic.

Are You Utilizing Your Marketing Partner Fully? Find Out!

Hello again,

This week our blog is going to discuss using resources you may not know exist.  We recently reconnected with a client to see if there was anything that needed to be ordered and we were told that there weren’t any tradeshows or promotional events planned at the moment.  This brings up the point that we are not exclusive to just event marketing.  

Did you know that your promotional marketing supplier can also provide on-boarding kits, employee recognition awards, and many other useful items that can be used year round?

A few orders that we’ve had include:

Human resources departments order prepackaged kit that includes mission statements and the employee handbooks along with pens, lanyards, a tumbler, and a USB.  Perfect for year round use and great to have in stock for those growing companies.

Recognition awards are great for lower minimums because you can order the same item personalized to each individual recipient. 

Nothing says team spirit like personalized company apparel.  T-shirts, polos, jackets – lower quantity minimums are not a problem and of course your creative partner would be able to find good deals for you. 

We know that in this industry minimums can be a source of concern, so definitely reach out to your creative partner to see what is available to fit your project needs.

Thanks for reading!

Quality Versus Quantity

Hi,

This week our focus is on quality over quantity.  In order for a business to be successful it is very important to focus on your target market.  What does this mean?  It means to aim your marketing and advertising energies on leads that will actually result in a return.

It might seem counter intuitive if you’re trying to get your name out, but having meaningful connections will result in more of a return than many meaningless connections.  If you have 30,000 followers but only engage 30 of them, is it really worth your while to have the 30,000?  You’ll be expending energy to keep the number of followers you have without actually having 30,000 sales.

Some companies have more than halved their posts to maintain the integrity of their social media content.¹

So what are things to avoid?

1.     Buying likes or follows.  The companies you are sourcing these from do not actually care if they result in sales.  These likes or follows may not be from your country or even from an actual person. ²

2.     Posting to post.  Keeping your name in front of your followers may seem like the important thing, but losing their trust with posts that do not apply or result in negative feelings would be even worse.    

What can you do?

1.     Continue posting useful content that is directed at your demographic.  As tempting as it is to post a cat video and see how many people love it as much as you do, does it really apply.  You want to be taken seriously and not be taken as trite.

2.     Become a feature.  It’s true that backlinking and reference links are important, but being a feature is much more prominent and encourages more traffic.

3.     Engage your followers.  Social media marketers know that engagement is more important than gaining followers.³  Engagement will lead to followers naturally.

Thanks for reading!

1.  McDermott, John. (Aug 4, 2014).  Hooray, Brands Get Choosier About Their Social Content.  DigiDay.  Retrieved from: http://digiday.com/platforms/brands-social-media-content/

2.  Demers, Jason. (Oct 20, 2014).  Quality Over Quantity: The Overblown Importance of Likes and Followers.  Forbes.com.  Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/10/20/quality-over-quantity-the-overblown-importance-of-likes-and-followers/

2.  Dacri, Bryana. (Oct 20, 2014).  Social Media Strategy: It’s About Quality, Not Quantity.  socialmediatoday.com.  Retrieved from: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/social-media-strategy-its-about-quality-not-quantity