“I'm a Marketing Professional...

and I'm interested in ideas that will enable me to leverage 3rd Generation print technology to increase sales while making a contribution to conservation…

Marketing is Simple: have something good to say… say it well… say it often!

We didn't author this phrase, but it has become Riverside's mantra. We like its simplicity. We like its clarity. We like its comprehensiveness.

Everyone in your organization, from your CEO down, can remember this simple mission statement…and understand it. Therefore, it's easy for you to get everyone on board to execute your plan.

As a Marketing Consultant, or in-house Marketing Executive, you no doubt already have your arms around content (something good to say…) and message (say it well…), so our focus here is on delivery (say it often!)

Saying it often involves a variety of media tools including the internet, but you might be shocked to discover current marketing strategies actually dictate greater reliance and more funding for 3rd generation print production.

The Internet

Every Marketing Professional worth his or her salt is focused on the internet as the low-cost, eco-friendly strategy to drive new sales. This means you're probably finding yourself shifting marketing dollars to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay-per-Click, and Web advertising.

Your rationale: In today's World, buyers turn to Google, or Yahoo, or MSN, to search for the products and services they need. With SEO or Pay-per-Click you have an opportunity to be one of the first five providers ‘found’ by Search Engines.

So, although you may have hundreds of competitors, with SEO you've just narrowed your odds to 1 in 5. In addition, there's a high probability the surfer who has just discovered you, is actually in the market for the products and services you sell.

Therefore, when you use SEO and Pay-per-Click, you're only presenting your products or services to ‘hot’ prospects that are actually interested in buying, and are likely to make a purchase. It translates, or so the current thinking goes, into a high Return on Marketing Investment (ROM).

Some issues to consider…

Three of the biggest challenges facing every Marketing Professional are:

1) Buyers that have never heard of you…
With the exception of first-time-shoppers, buyers that have never heard of you are probably buying from one of your competitors, and they are ‘satisfied’, or ‘somewhat satisfied’, with the products or services provided.

Search Engine Optimization isn't going to help these buyers find you… BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT LOOKING.

So, if you currently ‘own’ 1%, 5%, 10% of your market, congratulations. But if you're relying totally on SEO and Pay-per-Click to drive new sales, you may essentially be invisible to 70% or more of your total sales opportunity.

It's also possible prospective buyers may not have heard of you because they don't know you offer products or services that could solve specific problems in their business.

While these buyers may be frustrated by problems they can't quite put their finger on, they're probably not ‘Googling’ for your type of product or service, simply because they do not know it exists. So, once again, Search Engine Optimization and Pay-per-Click aren't likely to drive these buyers to your website.

2) Buyers that know about you, but aren't buying from you…
Buyers that know about you and aren't buying from you are either satisfied with their current supplier, or they have a poor understanding of your capabilities.

Once again, if they already know about you, and aren't buying from you, it's unlikely they'll be searching for you on the internet. And, if they're not ‘Googling,’ SEO can't move your sales needle.

Targeted Direct Mail is the most cost-effective marketing tool available to persuade, educate, change attitudes, and keep your organization's brand in the minds of prospective buyers.

Remember, buyers are like apples… they're not always ripe. If you're not in front of them when they're ready to buy, someone else will be picking your fruit. A – B – C. Always. Be. Close-at-Hand.

3) Current customers that could be buying more…
The Cardinal sin of business is discovering loyal customers buying certain products or services from your competitors simply because they didn't know you offer them. Ugh!

Will SEO and Pay-per-Click help here? Unlikely. Make that NO!

So, let's examine a second Cardinal sin: marketing to everyone but your existing customers. Successful Direct Mail must include your existing customers. Educate. Inform. Offer. Let them know you appreciate their business. Let them know you can do even more. It takes so little effort to keep-in-touch each month.

Imagine the impact on your organization if you could increase sales to existing customers just a few percentage points next year.

What can be done?

Studies show Targeted Direct Mail is the most effective tool for driving traffic to your website. Period.

So, you have two options.

You can passively wait for prospective buyers to:

become dissatisfied with their current vendor,
take the initiative to shop the internet,
use the ‘correct’ key words so they'll find your website,
explore your website rather than one of your competitors (you'll all be displayed together thanks to SEO), and
contact you, to place an order.

Or,

You can target your competitor's customers, and do what you do best.

Educate, with a steady stream of Direct Mail communications, regarding the benefits of your products or services.
Change their attitudes from ‘satisfied,’ to ‘somewhat satisfied,’ to ‘somewhat dissatisfied,’ to ‘totally dissatisfied’
Convert them to new customers.

As a side benefit, your Direct Mail communications will also land in the hands of many first-time-buyers, including buyers who now realize you offer products or services that can help them address and solve nagging business issues.

Why be passive, and wait for buyers to find you? It takes so little time and effort to keep your message -- your ‘something good to say’ -- in the hands of buyers month-after-month-after-month. It takes so little to help your organization increase market share and sales, there's no reason not to execute this simple tactical plan.

What's the connection between Direct Mail marketing and 3rd Generation printing?
For Marketing Professionals, the key benefit of 3rd generation print technology is: TARGET MARKETING. 3^RD Generation offset printing places a powerful, flexible, fast and cost-effective 21st Century marketing weapon in your hands to maximize your effectiveness in target marketing.

Your job is keeping targeted messages in the hands of targeted buyers month-after-month-after-month… at an affordable price. You can't do that with old technology designed to produce huge quantities of generic materials.

OK, but how can Targeted Direct Mail be ‘Green?’ Isn't the internet a ‘Greener’ solution?
Good questions. But have you ever considered the staggering amount of electric power required to run all the computers and networks on the World Wide Web? Internet Data Centers alone devour enough electricity each year to power 10 million homes. And electric power isn't ‘green’ by any means. It's generated, for the most part, from non-renewable fossil fuels.

Paper, on the other hand, comes from a renewable resource – trees. Trees are eco-friendly, unlike coal or petroleum, and after they're harvested new trees are planted to take their place. In contrast, when miners blow the top off a mountain, and rip coal from its veins, no new coal is ‘planted.’ And when petroleum companies suck oil from the Earth, there's no new oil to replace it. Add to that the fact that paper, unlike oil or coal, is recyclable.

Finally, there's the issue of performance. Large Business-to-Business marketers that have tried using the internet to replace direct mail have discovered, for a variety of reasons, the internet simply doesn't generate sales. These marketing professionals have returned to Targeted Direct Mail, and found print partners with 3rd generation offset print technology to execute their strategy.