
Adopting an integrated marketing communications strategy in Arkansas is the key to taking your business to new heights in the new year.
Print marketing is a tried-and-true way to promote your business and connect with your customers. But in addition to print as a marketing medium, there are other innovative tools that can help you identify even more qualified potential customers for your products and services. Combining your print campaigns with creative digital tactics will help position your business to succeed in an era dominated by the Internet.
Print and digital marketing are more powerful together
Advances in technology have made it easier than ever to reach countless potential customers through digital marketing. All business owners now have access to innovative digital solutions that can transform a company’s growth trajectory. This isn’t to say, as some erroneously predicted, that the advent of digital marketing will mean the demise of print marketing. Far from it, in fact! But when used together, a collaborative print and digital marketing effort can be extremely powerful.
Examples of combined efforts
Direct Mail to Promote Your Website
Your current customer list is a great place to start. This highly-targeted mailing list should be comprised of people who have purchased from you before, and are already likely to be a captivated audience. Postcards that promote your website can include coupons redeemable online or tease customers by giving them some information about a new product or service, and directing them to learn more on the site.
Including Social Media on Corporate Branding Materials
So much business starts with something someone saw on a social network. Research often includes looking at a company’s social pages prior to making a purchasing decision. Invite potential customers and other contacts to connect with you online via your social media pages to get the conversation rolling by printing any networks you’re a part of prominently on business cards, letterheads, and other collateral.
Crowdsource Online Content with Print
You’d be hard pressed to find anything more powerful than user or customer testimonials, however, in some cases, they can be difficult to procure. There are so many avenues for users to provide feedback, give testimonials of their own experiences, and to rate your business. For products that are shipped, printed paper inserts can be included to encourage users to upload images of themselves using the item they purchased on their social media pages or yours and to use a branded hashtag for identification.
At events or conferences, cardboard cutout standup boards are a fun way to engage attendees. Event hashtags are extremely popular right now and if your business is tagged in a photo uploaded online, that’s a marketing lead with whom your sales team can start a conversation.
In brick and mortar stores, window decals encourage users to review your business online on sites such as Yelp, Google+, and Trip Advisor. The bags and receipts given to customers can include incentives for their online feedback, or you can ask them to sign up with their email address for exclusive online deals while they’re in the store.
Use mixed-media marketing tactics to generate the best possible leads
Further integration of digital marketing into a print marketing strategy can also include sophisticated tactics such as variable data and imaging, QR codes, PURLs, and digital storefronts. These systems use the customer data you have to personalize the customer’s online experience. Cross media marketing takes personalization to another level, sending customers to web pages that are completely customized. For example, the page may have the customer’s name on it. It may be gender specific. It could include product specific savings based on a company’s loyalty program. Or it might increase awareness for something going on in a specific community.
If you’re ready to maximize the ROI of your integrated marketing communications strategy in Arkansas, see how Arkansas Graphics can help you unlock the potential of your print media campaign and integrate it cohesively with your digital initiative by calling 501-263-2649 today.